There's an old adage about humor: Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog. Nobody's that interested, and the frog dies. It turns out that some people really are that interested. Here's a quick experiment that tries to figure out, scientifically speaking, which sort of slapstick is funnier.
Some people's entire lives are closed captioned. Whenever the people around them speak a word, they can see it spewing on a tape, like ticker tape. Here's what it's like to live in a world where the subtitles are always on.
You can take pictures of what you see, but what about what you hear? It is possible, using a photography trick that can make sound visible.
This musical interactive transforms your keyboard into an instrument, complete with accompanying animations.
People with a condition known as synesthesia are prone to swapping their senses. They can feel colors, see music, and smell words. This raises an important question for science: What's it like to have sex when you've got synesthesia? Thanks to some inquisitive researchers, we have the answer.
Ever wish you could see sounds? Now you can.
Do you know anybody who experiences synesthesia? Also known as "synesthetes," they're people whose cognitive pathways have become jumbled, such that they associate seemingly unrelated senses or mental states with other senses or experiences — hearing colors, for example, or tasting sounds.
No ideas? What about a passing train — has listening to one ever evoked a specific color in your mind?
An estimated 4% of the population have synesthesia, a condition where senses become confused. People with synesthesia may perceive that certain sounds have flavors, or that certain words have a specific color. Even though synesthesia is widely recognized, and at least vaguely understood, what we don't know is why it…
Synesthesia is a concept that has always fascinated people. People have long since claimed to process colors as sounds, or to associate colors with music or words.
According to researchers at Frankfurt's Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research, the sight of certain swimming strokes can evoke colors in synesthetic swimmers.
Take a look at the picture and honestly tell me which shape you would match to the word ‘bouba' and which you would match to the word ‘kiki'.