Stare directly at the centre of this double-invert spiral for 30 seconds or a minute or so. Then look away, at something else.
I found it most effective to look at doorways and other straight, parallel lines, but reddit readers have reported interesting effects from faces and such. Weird!
I know nothing about this other than it is cool, it appears to be Russian, and it is best watched at 480p on fullscreen.
Now, will someone please come and do a similar show at my house?
This optical illusion tripped me out. I watched it several times, and eventually I resorted to holding fingers up over the screen convincing myself that what happened was real.
If you look really closely (and once you know it, it’s easier to see) the diamonds are not actually solid colour. Each diamond is a gradient — slightly darker on the bottom, slightly lighter up top — and your eye makes adjustments that make them seem solid.
I kept hoping that the guy in the video would turn the one diamond upside-down, to break the illusion, but he never did.
Here’s another, similar one:
Crazy, hey? These are both embedded on this, Spanish, site. But I was pointed in their direction via BoingBoing.
If you get weirded out by this illusion, you’re not a schizophrenic, but if you see what you’re “supposed” to see, then maybe you should see your doctor.
This article in Wired will be illuminating.
If you’re like me, against a backdrop of red and purple, you see alternating squares of blue and green.
Lean in real close to your screen — or download the image to your own computer and zoom in on Photoshop - and you’ll see that the “blue” and the “green” are actually the same colour.
There’s a spiral version of the same illusion here, but because it’s a jpg, you can’t zoom in endlessly like the one I’ve posted.
This has been passed around blogs for a couple of days. The instructions, from the TED blog, are simple:
1. Stare at the image for 10 seconds
2. Look at something — your hand, a book, your friend
3. Enjoy!
It’s an illusion, Michael. Tricks are something a whore does for money.
