we can see our nose all the time, but our brain filters it out. if you close one eye and keep the other open you'll suddenly see one side of your nose.
Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
11–20 of 189 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
#12https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-adult-brain-d...
Re: Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
#13Re: Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
#14The 100-step rule in neuroscience, that states that no primary brain operation (e.g., face recognition) can take more than 100 neuron firing “steps.” (Feldman & Ballard, 1982)
Re: Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
#15Re: Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
#16Obvious when you think about it, but I didn't realise for ages that all the planets orbit in the same plane.
Re: Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
#17Re: Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
#18Re: Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
#19Our eyes collect light that is "left over"(not reflected) from other surfaces.
Can't explain why but I had always had a sense that objects somehow emanated their own "image". Learning that colors manifest themselves because every other wavelength was absorbed was fascinating.
Re: Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
#20That despite the apparent complexity of the weather many atmospheric phenomena can be explained from first principles with pen and paper calculations.
That the existence of elementary particles can be derived from simple symmetry considerations (That one blows my mind every time.)
That when we look out into the universe we see elements roughly in the same proportions as they appear on earth. (We are all made out of star dust!)