Comments on: Square Circle Spiral

By: scgvlmike

scgvlmike — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 19:16:05 +0000

I scrolled down to see the first image in full, and discovered a secondary illusion: the smaller shapes appear to move around the circumferences of the circles as I scroll– and the interpreted movement looks as if it’s following a spiral, not a circle, even though I can see (with effort) that I’m looking at circles, not spirals.

Odd one!

By: Kilian

Kilian — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 17:34:08 +0000

Hmm, nope, I can’t see spirals… All I see are circumferences made out of squares. I see the inner ones kind of dislodged from the center when I give them a glance but not spirals, even before I read the ‘trick’ is something wrong with me? =P

By: garbarharyarb

garbarharyarb — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 14:05:20 +0000

“There has to be someway to incorporate this into camouflage for military applications.”

OH MY GOD, YES, THIS MAN MUST BE JESUS

They already do, you oaf.

By: garbarharyarb

garbarharyarb — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 14:03:57 +0000

“And as always, I like to point out that when someone swears they saw something and then say “Seeing is believing,” you can point them to things like this and say, “Not always.”"

Uh, no you can’t.

By: Phil E. Drifter

Phil E. Drifter — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 09:11:28 +0000

Obviously photoshopped.

By: Nestor

Nestor — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:40:26 +0000

I can see the circles if I relax focus, but it’s a persistent illusion. The one with the lines drawn in completely breaks it for me though.

By: How Are Your Eyes? — Doodads and Gimcracks

How Are Your Eyes? — Doodads and Gimcracks — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:40:16 +0000

[...] Would you be interested to know that it’s actually a series of concentric perfect circles? [...]

By: How Are Your Eyes? — Doodads and Gimcracks

How Are Your Eyes? — Doodads and Gimcracks — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:40:15 +0000

[...] Would you be interested to know that it’s actually a series of concentric perfect circles? [...]

By: ZanderArch

ZanderArch — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:59:42 +0000

There has to be someway to incorporate this into camouflage for military applications.

By: Richard Kastelein – Adventures in Social Media and Online Publishing » looking at Brain melty optical…

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 08:17:12 +0000

[...] at Brain melty optical illusion http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/08/18/square-circle-spiral/ [...]

By: Chris Miller’s Blog » Blog Archive » Linkdump for August 18th through August 26th

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:03:47 +0000

[...] Square Circle Spiral – This makes my head hurt. I love this stuff.tags: neuroscience illusion graphics Leave a Reply [...]

By: Never Say Dice

Never Say Dice — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:52:47 +0000

Shrink the page and the circles appear.

By: DensityDuck

DensityDuck — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 06:02:55 +0000

oh god my brain wants it to be a spiral IT WANTS TO BE A SPIRAL OHHHHHH GAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNN (paf)

By: Friday Link Love 8/21 | Brad’s Reader

Friday Link Love 8/21 | Brad’s Reader — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:17:01 +0000

[...] Square Circle Spiral (cool optical illusion) [...]

By: frank

frank — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:57:51 +0000

All you have to do is squint your eyes and the circles tend to disappear.

By: StevieB’s Shared Items – August 21, 2009 at Lost in Cyberspace

StevieB’s Shared Items – August 21, 2009 at Lost in Cyberspace — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:54:14 +0000

[...] Square Circle SpiralAugust 18, 2009 [...]

By: Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:14:44 +0000

E pur si muove!

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 01:48:05 +0000

A bit OT: Here’s a report from today where someone claimed they saw a helicopter crashing but it was just a 2′ toy. Kind of blows holes in the “it was x feet across” and “moving y miles per hour” statements UFO sightings bring.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090821/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_toy_chopper_crash

By: EconTech » Links for 2009.08.20

EconTech » Links for 2009.08.20 — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:34:26 +0000

[...] Square Circle Spiral | Bad Astronomy | Discover MagazineThis is one of the best visual illusions I’ve seen in a while. addthis_pub = ‘econtech’; addthis_options = ‘email, digg, delicious, google, newsvine, reddit, stumbleupon, technorati, twitter, more ‘; Posted by: computer.economist on 20 Aug 2009 at 17:33 -0500 Categories: Links [...]

By: SanguineMonk

SanguineMonk — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:07:32 +0000

I don’t know if it’s just me or not, but I see 4 circles, no illusion at all. Am I missing something? Not trying to be a jerk, just really don’t see it at all!

By: Debbie Walker

Debbie Walker — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:36:54 +0000

I see only spirals. Even after the lines are drawn through the circles, my eyes (brain?) still only see spirals.

My daughter only sees circles. No matter how long she studied the picture she didn’t see the spirals. She could never make out those 3D posters that were so popular a few years ago either, while I could spot the dolphin or hand or whatever right away.

Interesting.

By: janes'_kid

janes'_kid — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:12:02 +0000

When I am moving my head in toward the screen I see the circles clearly but briefly.

The professionals should probably have some explanation for this.

By: Square Circle Spiral | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine « The Maudlin Press

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:08:26 +0000

[...] Square Circle Spiral | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine Posted on August 20, 2009 by photozz Square Circle Spiral | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine. [...]

By: jabjubi

jabjubi — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:55:09 +0000

for me they moved.

By: John Baxter

John Baxter — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:43:01 +0000

Stephen, I’ve seen the expanding Budda effect when on the rear platform of a high speed (in US terms–pretty slow to those in Europe or Japan) train which comes to a stop after a period at speed.