1Is This a Rabbit or a Raven?
Imgur 2Please Circle Your Squares
Anthony Norcia/Reddit/My_Memes_Will_Cure_U Many viewers look at this illusion and see elaborately decorated rectangles, like picture frame decorations or panels on a coffer. But if you look again, the effect is made by floating circles that are perpendicular to the striped background.
3The Spins
The 2019 Optical Illusion of the Year is a looping shape that appears to spin horizontally or vertically depending on how you look at it. This one is, well, a real head-spinner.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
4Just One Shade of Gray
Sinha et al., Vision Research, 2020 Last year, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published new experiments exploring an old illusion. These two stones are the same color—so why do we see them differently?
5Even Our Ancestors Weren't Sure
Duncan Caldwell This prehistoric stone carving depicts what experts believe is the earliest known "duck rabbit"-style dual illusion. With a keen eye, you can see both a buffalo and a mammoth.
6Superluminal Optical Illusion
University of Surrey Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
7A Tale of a Fata-ful Trip
Monika Schaffner A fata morgana is a naturally occurring optical phenomenon where layers of cold and hot air distort what we see at the horizon. In this case, it's caused a phantom boat to float in midair.
8The Disappearing Act
Nightbreeze13/Reddit Sometimes, like a movie T. rex, we can only see things that continue to move. In this illusion, the pastel colors slowly fade away until they disappear. Try it!
9Twisted Metal
Gianni Sarcone's animated version of the classic Müller-Lyon illusion features line segments that are always the same size as parts move around them. Keep watching—it never gets any less weird to think about.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
10The Wonderland Foyer
Twitter/DuncanCook10 This waving tile floor is the result of careful tile-cutting, creating an illusion of forced perspective. For people in older apartment buildings, this could just look like a bad maintenance day.
Caroline Delbert is a writer, avid reader, and contributing editor at Pop Mech. She's also an enthusiast of just about everything. Her favorite topics include nuclear energy, cosmology, math of everyday things, and the philosophy of it all.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below