snakes on a plane

摘要

UNLIKE ACTUAL SNAKES, YOU DON'T need to keep a keen eye on the spiraling ones above. In fact, for your sanity, it's probably best to ignore them: These playful circles stay still when you stare them down one at a time, but spin frustratingly when spied all together. Akiyoshi Kitaoka, a psychologist at Rit-sumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan, made this take on peripheral drift illusions-which make the brain miscast patterns as motion.