Illusions

27 articles
  • Article Image

    Technology

    The Long, Hard Quest to Create Digital Smells

    Of all of the wondrous feats accomplished by Willy Wonka in his candy factory, the most impressive may have been wedging an entire meal into just one unassuming stick of gum: Upon popping it in your mouth and chewing, you’d first taste tomato soup, then roast beef and baked potato, and finally blueberry pie and […]

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    Neuroscience

    What to Do When Your Brain Insists You’re Always on a Boat

    Zvonimir Orec via Shutterstock   Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Last July, Chris Perry went on an Alaskan cruise with her family to celebrate her parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. When she boarded the massive Norwegian Sun cruise ship, she felt “a little woozy and weird” from the boat’s […]

  • Weiner_HERO1

    Evolution

    The Last Word with Jonathan Weiner

    The more science knows, the more rich and mysterious the world becomes.

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    Psychology

    The New Way to Save Money: Playing the Lottery

    Chris Goldberg via Flickr Lotteries have often been called a tax on the poor and, alternately, a tax on the innumerate. There is something to both claims: Lottery tickets are disproportionately bought by lower-income people, and in aggregate the players win back only a small percentage of the money spent on tickets. Overall, lotteries suck […]

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    Psychology

    When Does a Consciousness Test Not Test for Consciousness?

    A pigeon looks at its reflection in the mirror. It sees a blue dot on the reflection’s breast. It reaches down and pecks at the dot on its own breast.This is the classic behavior required for passing the “mirror test,” an influential experiment used to test for self-awareness in animals. Chimpanzees became the first animal […]

  • Mlodinow_HERO

    Physics

    The Loneliest Genius

    Isaac Newton spurned social contact but also relied on it for his greatest work.