“I saw it with my own eyes!” A statement from someone who witnessed an event is usually taken as absolute proof of the truth—but how reliable are eyewitnesses, really? Charles W. Bryant digs into some of the problems with relying on eyewitness testimony.
Photography has helped us to see things we couldn’t see with our eyes. It has captured important moments in time. It has even helped to some of the mysteries of the universe. Click through the features at this link to see some of the most significant photos of all time.
Click this link for some tips for keeping your eyes healthy, including protecting them from the sun’s UV rays.
Great thinkers can change how we see the world. In 1994, Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez wrote a tribute to Julio Cortázar, author of “The Night Face Up.” The piece begins with the story of a memorable night on a train to Prague. Click this link to read.
A recent study by scientists at the University of York found that different cultures place different amounts of importance on the five senses. Click this link to learn more.
This article explores the connections between vision and the other senses when it comes to our experience of eating and drinking.
If you really want to remember something, you take a picture of it. But a new study reveals that using that strategy may actually work against you: people remember more details about something if they don’t take a picture of it. NPR digs into the details and the implications.
Read this article to learn about several visual artists who continue to create works of art after suffering vision loss.
Click this link to read an interview with a neuroscientist who believes the next great innovation will not be a technological advancement but a shift in the way we see or perceive things.
Scientists have developed a new treatment for a common cause of blindness. Could it be a breakthrough for preventing vision loss? Click here to learn more.
Read to learn about an exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York that features interactive galleries which help visitors explore and challenge what they know about their sensory perceptions.
In what ways do we perceive the world beyond our basic senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell? Click this link to learn about some lesser-known senses, including equilibrioception, the sense that helps us keep our balance.
Imagery of vision and eyes permeates Emily Dickinson’s poetry. In this article, humanities professor and physician Larry Zaroff (with Tony Chan) provides a medical rationale for one of Dickinson’s most powerful metaphors.
A museum educator gives some practical tips for viewing art and refutes the idea that museum visitors need to study ahead of time or follow a prescribed approach.
When our view is distorted, we don’t perceive things as they really are. Find out why some people are making an extreme and permanent choice based on bad information.
The main character in “The Night Face Up” is unable to determine which of his two sets of experiences is reality. Read about a disorder with similar symptoms.
Even the cheesiest 3-D movie effects can be startling. How does a cheap pair of glasses make an image look like it’s coming right at us?
We may think we make our decisions in a rational way, based on the facts, but it turns out that our brains have other ideas.
The bizarre head shape of the hammerhead shark gives it a distinct advantage in hunting prey.
Get an overview of ideas that were once rejected but that we now see as valid.
