Professor Shapiro reaches back into history to show that artists, architects and mathematicians have also employed visual “tricks” to baffle and entertain us by manipulating perspective and challenging our ideas of what is real and what is fake.
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Part 1 of this eight-part series of shorts introduces the world of the visual scientist. Beyond boggling your mind, Prof. Arthur Shapiro explains how and why you see what you see -- and what part of what you see is actually "real", as opposed to how your mind fills in the blanks.
2017 • Brain
In part 2, Prof. Arthur Shapiro takes us through visual illusions that show how our brain processes retinal impressions from light and dark. Watch as things "move" while they are standing still. It will be hard to believe your eyes after watching this program!
2017 • Brain
Artists like M.C. Escher played with our visual perception in their art. In this 4th installment of the series, Prof. Arthur Shapiro returns to the classic visual illusions that show us that what we see is not exactly in plain sight.
2017 • Brain
Professor Shapiro shows us how some images can prompt two, or even three, equally valid interpretations. Rather than settling on one interpretation, our brains tend to switch among all of them – leading to some baffling and astonishing visual experiences.
2017 • Brain
Professor Shapiro shows us a range of objects that seem simple and unremarkable at first glance, but which on closer examination simply cannot be constructed in reality – or are not at all what they seem.
2017 • Brain
Professor Shapiro reaches back into history to show that artists, architects and mathematicians have also employed visual “tricks” to baffle and entertain us by manipulating perspective and challenging our ideas of what is real and what is fake.
2017 • Brain
I’ve always heard that it is much easier to grasp skills and learn as a child, but seeing this with something as seemingly simple as riding a bike took that to an entirely new level.
SmarterEveryDay • 2015 • Brain
Through interviews with leading psychologists and scientists, Neurons to Nirvana explores the history of four powerful psychedelic substances (LSD, Psilocybin, MDMA and Ayahuasca) and their previously established medicinal potential. Strictly focusing on the science and medicinal properties of these drugs, Neurons to Nirvana looks into why our society has created such a social and political bias against even allowing research to continue the exploration of any possible positive effects they can present in treating some of today's most challenging afflictions.
2013 • Brain
Chris Packham helps autistic people illustrate how their minds work, helping them connect with their friends and family in a new, more authentic way. Chapter 1: Since sharing his own autism diagnosis with the world, naturalist and presenter Chris Packham has been flooded with letters and emails from other autistic people, frustrated that their friends, families and co-workers don't understand them. And in this series, Chris wants to bridge the gap. By teaming up with top film-makers, graphic designers, animators and musicians, Chris helps a group of autistic people create short films to reveal to their family and friends how they're truly feeling inside – what's really going on in their autistic minds. He helps an autistic comedian reveal to her mum what's really going on inside her head, gives a non-speaking autistic man the chance to take his message to the world and visits the only state school in the country exclusively for autistic girls. Chapter 2: Chris meets Anton, a teaching assistant and trance DJ with a deep love of Middlesbrough FC, and Ethan, a 19-year-old student and aspiring rapper from Essex. He helps them make films to reveal to their friends and classmates how Anton feels about change and Ethan about hypersensitivity to noise. Chris also meets Dr Luke Beardon, an expert in autistic hypersensitivity, and Dr Punit Shah, who helps him to understand both Anton's restrictive and repetitive behaviours and Chris's own need for order in his life.
2023 • Brain
There are 100 billion individual neurons in the human brain. Working together, they allow us to make sense of, and move through, the world around us. Scientists have built replicas of the human brain with computers, but no one has ever successfully made a brain out of humans. On this episode, I’ll travel back to my hometown of Stilwell, Kansas, and turn it into a working brain!
S3E3 • Mind Field • 2018 • Brain
Feeling anxious? You're not alone. Stand-up comedian Maria Bamford shares her personal experience with OCD in this examination of anxiety disorders.
S1E3 • The Mind, Explained • 2019 • Brain