Build your own window to another world

Our News in Briefs often get overlooked.

They are, well, brief. So I thought I'd expand on one of the stories from our latest episode. Chris told us all about a new type of camera lens, which can be made extremely quickly and cheaply from a polymer solution. Great news for anybody wanting to make a cheap microscope – for example health workers or vets out 'in the field'. 

But a microscope is more than just a lens, there are sample platforms, light sources and focussing dials. What use is making a cheap lens if no one can use it?

Some clever engineers from Stanford University might have just answered this question. And the answer is? Origami!

An origami microscope from engineers in Stanford University.
The paper, published in PLoS ONE, even contained this lovely origami planning sheet.

The authors claim that their origami microscope – called the 'Foldscope' – can be constructed in under 10 minutes, costs less than $1 in parts and can even survive being dropped from a three-storey building!

The designers see the main function of the microscope as being for engaging school children with the 'microworld' – imagine catching a glimpse of a hidden world from a microscope that you printed and built yourself!

The 'Do It Yourself' nature of this microscope reminded me of an experiment that Musings's very own Chris showed Dave and I after we recorded the last episode. Using only a laser pointer, Chris was able to cast a shadow of a drop of water, showing microscopic strands of hair (which might have been yeast colonies). We even saw something moving in the water drop. This was a single bacterium.

Here's a photo that Chris posted on Twitter. You can just about see a bacterium in the bottom left of the image. Cool huh?

Try it yourself. Pass a laser pointer through a drop of water to cast a shadow – you might be amazed by what you see! 

There's something very 'Through The Looking Glass'-ish about peering into the microscopic world that covers our planet, and this 'build it yourself' microscope, published in an open source journal, is an incredible way for scientists to share this world with everybody.

Forgetful mice and supernatural gloves

The plot from Total Recall (the Arnie version, of course) is one step closer to coming true, as a team of scientists appear to have been able to make mice forget past experiences. Dave tells us about these forgetful mice and what it all might mean for science, society and ... penalty shoot outs!

Meanwhile, Chris tells us all about materials inspired by the world around us - can we make materials superior to those found in nature? 

Check out these fantastic all-natural nano-structures!

Sharks appear to be covered with tiny, nano 'teeth'. In this episode of The Musings Pod, Chris explains how this helpes the animals save energy.

A gecko foot holds even more secrets when viewed with a bigger microscope...

.....tiny, sticking hairs.

Would you like to wear some clothing inspired by nature? Not impressed with our #supernaturalsuit suggestions? Well get involved and join the @musingspod discussion on Twitter.

Radio Killed the Optical Illusion

Radio is not a visual medium.

This makes it no less fantastic. I find radio story-telling way more engaging than anything with moving pictures. Sometimes images can distract from a story...

But other times images are needed! Like when the Neural Correlate Society announce their top ten optical illusions of 2014.

How would an optical illusion work without some images? I thought I could use this blog to show off a couple of these illusions because they are eye-strainingly, confusingly, mind-blowingly awesome!

The winner was an animation based on the well-known Ebbinghaus Illusion – you've probably seen this one before, but if not have a look at the image below.



Amazingly, the two orange circles are the same size. It turns out, we perceive an object's size as relative to the objects next to it. Well, things get even crazier if this illusion is animated. 

Pretty impressive – but my favourite illusion has to be The McThatcher Illusion. This is a combination of the Thatcher Illusion and – my personal favourite – the McGurk Effect, in which we literally hear what our eyes are seeing.



Now, I've tried to figure out what is going on in this video. I think that the person is always saying "ba", but if you look at the central dot as the head spins around to nearly upright, an optical illusion make your ears 'think' he's saying "va".

I could be completely wrong about this, but one thing for certain is that it's the most surreal-ly disturbing optical illusion I have ever seen.

Check out some of the other Top Ten Optical Illusions of 2014.

Have you seen any weird optical illusions? Please share them below if you have.