Archive

Topic: The mind

Fact A mirror can relieve pain in a limb that is gone The hand was amputated years ago. It was still clenched, and it still hurt. 1 min read Fact Half of people miss a person swapping places mid-conversation A stranger asked you for directions. Then a different stranger finished the conversation. 1 min read Fact Sleep paralysis is your body’s own safety catch, caught in the open The terror that sits on your chest has been reported in nearly every culture on Earth. 1 min read Fact You cannot tickle yourself The reason is the same reason you can catch a ball. 1 min read Fact Bilingual people make colder moral choices in their second language The same dilemma, the same person, a different answer - depending on the language it was posed in. 1 min read Fact Some people have no mind’s eye at all Asked to picture an apple, a small share of humanity sees nothing whatsoever. 1 min read Fact Learning to read physically rewires the adult brain Adults taught to read late show changes visible on a scan. 1 min read Fact You have a hole in your vision and your brain paints over it There is a patch of your visual field with no receptors at all. You have never seen it. 1 min read Fact The invisible gorilla walked through and nobody saw it Counting basketball passes made half the audience blind to a person in a gorilla suit. 1 min read Fact A placebo can work when you know it is a placebo Patients were told outright the pills were inert. They improved anyway. 1 min read