Esther Inglis-Arkell, Author at Gizmodo

This optical illusion discovered by Aristotle is still a brain-twister

It’s time for another bracing reminder that your brain is a screw-up and your eyes are liars. This particular illusion is known as the Motion Aftereffect Illusion. It’s pretty simple. Look at enough motion steadily and your brain will get tired and punk you for fun. You can even do it with a real waterfall.…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 20

The brain disorder that makes the world into a bad claymation film

The eye is just a pinhole that leaks light onto a bunch of reactive cells. It’s the brain that “sees” things. And if something goes wrong in the brain, all kinds of things can appear distorted. But one particular crossed wire brings moving objects to a standstill. It’s called akinetopsia. The first documented case of…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 19

How we first discovered the difference between XX and XY

Throughout history people puzzled over what exactly determined a whether a baby would be a boy or a girl. Theories tended to range from the woman’s diet, to the ambient temperature of the room. Until one woman, studying mealworms, finally determined what was the difference between little girls and little boys. Henry VIII would probably…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 18

The mysterious disease that kept people from speaking unless spoken to

We hear disputes about what exactly the Black Plague was, or what the English Sweat was, as if all the mystery diseases are far in the past. But there are some diseases that have flared up and died down in the last century, without anyone knowing exactly what caused them. Lytico Bodig was almost unknown…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 16

The Leidenfrost Effect makes water travel uphill!

We’ve seen water seem to travel uphill in gravity hills. That was an illusion, but physics has found a way to make water zip up some tiny stairs like it’s Rocky in a training montage, using the much-beloved Leidenfrost Effect. https://gizmodo.com/how-do-mystery-spots-and-gravity-hills-work-5931477 The Leidenfrost Effect is something that can be demonstrated in the kitchen at home,…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 16

When do gummy bears scream?

When they’re in molten potassium chlorate, of course! This quick demonstration shows a gummy bear wailing away while setting off a fire that looks like the inside of the sun. All done with potassium chlorate and a test tube. Potassium chlorate is that most sought-after material for all pyromaniacs, an oxidizer. It has a potassium…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 16

What are the worst pseudoscientific myths you ever learned from pop culture?

Anyone who has read adventure novels, especially from certain time periods, has picked up a few questionable pieces of “scientifically proven” information. The James Bond novels alone left me believing a couple of different myths (though not the one about homosexuals being unable to whistle). Recently I posted about a well-known science myth started by…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 15

Oliver Queen fights crime with the power of WASPiness

Last night’s episode of Arrow was a sweet outing, all about family, promises, and coming to terms with past misdeeds. It was also a field guide to the Grand High WASP tradition. From passive aggressiveness, to saving face with the careful use of euphemisms, to a steadfast commitment to prioritizing booze over food, you’ll find…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 15

The Joy of Gravitational Lensing, or Why You Are Seeing Five Lights Instead of One

These five lights are all the same object – a quasar. The middle one is the image we would normally see. The ones on the sides are four extra images that we can only see because there is a galaxy between us and the star. How does something getting between us and the star help…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 15

Can the Kuleshov Effect really control your perception of other people’s feelings?

In the 1910s and 1920s, Lev Kuleshov was a famous Russian filmmaker curious about how audiences responded to film. This was a time when the art form was extremely new, but audiences were already going nuts for stars. One such star was Ivan Mozhukin, a matinee idol and beloved actor. Kuleshov shot a short film…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 14

The chemical that links soap bubbles to explosions

Add a little glycerin to your soap bubble formula and you’ll have super-strong beautiful bubbles that, if you wear cotton gloves, you can hold in your hands. Add a little glycerin to sulfuric acid and nitric acid and you won’t read the rest of this post because you’ll blow yourself up. We’re going to take…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 13

These diseases can be diagnosed by smell

It’s not hard to tell when you’ve walked into a room, or a house, in which a person is sick with with a flu or a bad cold. There’s an immediate smell of stale sweat, cough medicine, and human misery. But can it be done with other diseases? According to doctors, there are some diseases,…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 12

The sumo science myth that James Bond started

Well, to be fair, Ian Fleming, the author of the Bond novels, started the myth. The popularity of James Bond kept it going. People still ask debunkers about it today. We’ll tell you what it was (some of you can guess) and put it to rest once and for all. There are plenty of reasons…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 11

Why do mosquitoes bite some people and not others?

Some people get ravaged by mosquitoes if they so much as take a walk at dusk. Others can walk through clouds of the insects and not get a single bite. What’s the difference? A lot. Scientists have figured out many reasons why mosquitoes can’t seem to resist some people, but are repulsed by others. Mosquitoes…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 9

Chemistry can induce “virgin birth” in animals

You’ve probably heard of parthenogenesis. Some female animals can produce offspring without having any eggs fertilized. But did you know that humans have found ways to induce parthenogenesis for hundreds of years? As with a lot of scientific discoveries, the induction of parthenogenesis came out of a deep-seated economic interest. In the 1800s, silk was…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 9

When mentos and coke are crossed with dominos

Here we see two people making the biggest mentos and coke explosion I have ever seen, or ever hope to see. They actually set it up so one bottle of coke exploding sets the next one off. By why does candy and soda react so violently? Let’s have a look. These are amazing reactions, and…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 9

The Biggest Myth About Polar Bear Fur (And the Weirdest Truth)

The humble polar bear has one interesting quirk to its fur, which has netted it two different problems. One is algae, and one is a piece of pseudoscientific nonsense. In the YouTube video above, you’re going to see a couple of green bears. This is actually pretty common among zoo bears, especially in hot and…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 9

On Arrow the villain we’ve been waiting for arrives

At last, the villain we’ve been anticipating since he was just an Easter Egg on the first episode arrives. And he is not the way we pictured him. But he’s slam bang in the middle of an episode with some good character moments, and an ending that leaves us wondering about my favorite couple. Before…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 8

When blind people hallucinate

There’s a relatively obscure medical condition called Charles Bonnet Syndrome. It happens to people who are either losing their sight, or completely blind. Suddenly, one day, they see vivid and detailed hallucinations. It’s been documented since the 1700s, and even today nobody is quite sure why it happens. Charles Bonnet, according to anyone who knew…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 8

The terrifying discovery of the Lawn Dart Effect

Whenever you see the word “aviation,” you don’t want to see the words “lawn dart” immediately afterwards. They just shouldn’t be linked. And yet, due to a quirk of the human brain, they are. The Lawn Dart Effect is the ultimate example of why you shouldn’t trust your gut — especially when flying. Early planes…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 8

Esther Inglis-Arkell

This optical illusion discovered by Aristotle is still a brain-twister

The brain disorder that makes the world into a bad claymation film

How we first discovered the difference between XX and XY

The mysterious disease that kept people from speaking unless spoken to

The Leidenfrost Effect makes water travel uphill!

When do gummy bears scream?

What are the worst pseudoscientific myths you ever learned from pop culture?

Oliver Queen fights crime with the power of WASPiness

The Joy of Gravitational Lensing, or Why You Are Seeing Five Lights Instead of One

Can the Kuleshov Effect really control your perception of other people’s feelings?

The chemical that links soap bubbles to explosions

These diseases can be diagnosed by smell

The sumo science myth that James Bond started

Why do mosquitoes bite some people and not others?

Chemistry can induce “virgin birth” in animals

When mentos and coke are crossed with dominos

The Biggest Myth About Polar Bear Fur (And the Weirdest Truth)

On Arrow the villain we’ve been waiting for arrives

When blind people hallucinate

The terrifying discovery of the Lawn Dart Effect

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