Your brain is lying to you right now. Not maliciously, and not because something’s wrong with it. It’s doing exactly what evolution designed it to do, making split-second decisions about the world ...

A grayscale ballerina who appears to be moving. A human who can fit in a doll box. A black-and-white prism that appears to change shape when... Optical illusions are a brain feature, not a bug. Here's ...

Have you ever looked at two circles of exactly the same size and sworn one was larger? If so, your eyes have been tricked by the Ebbinghaus illusion, a classic example of how context can shape what we ...

Optical illusions occur naturally in different habitats and conditions across the world. Cloud formations can sometimes make it seem like there's an ocean or a UFO in the sky. Whether it is salt flats ...

Duping a guppy is easier than duping a ring dove — at least when it comes to a classic optical illusion. In the Ebbinghaus illusion, two identical circles placed side by side are each framed by a set ...

It's time now for our science news roundup from Short Wave, NPR's science podcast. I am joined by the show's host, Regina Barber, and producer Rachel Carlson. Good to have you both here. RACHEL ...

Everyone loves an optical illusion — even if they leave us completely stumped — and they're all around us in the natural world. From an underwater waterfall in the Indian Ocean to a surrealist scene ...

The famous Ebbinghaus illusion, named for its discoverer, the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850–1909). Despite appearances, the two orange circles are the same size. Have you ever looked at ...