THE MATRIX 1999, Dir. The Wachowskis

Dark Mech #2 -- assisted by Midjourney

“Impossible Figures” Minimalist Posters by  Éric Le Tutour

An Impossible Figure is an optical illusion in which a physically impossible three-dimensional object is depicted in two-dimensions. Humans have a natural tendency to try to interpret drawings as three-dimensional objects, which is why when viewing an impossible figure, you may feel confused or find the image unsettling! 

Reutersvärd’s Triangle and the Penrose Triangle were first created by graphic artist Oscar Reutersvärd, the Impossible Cube (the kind of Necker Cube portrayed on the poster) was invented by M.C. Escher for his artwork Belvedere, and the Penrose Stairs were created by psychologist Lionel Penrose and his mathematician son, Roger Penrose. (The Penrose pair also created the Penrose Triangle independently from and later than Reutersvärd.) These inventors clearly show that “impossible objects are of interest to psychologists, mathematicians and artists without falling entirely into any one discipline”. Source. 

More pictures of these awesome minimalist posters can be found here. Find more work by Eric Le Tutour at his site www.ericletutour.fr/!

Help by Hamza Kulenovic

Daily fish fact #360

Glasshead barreleye!

This deep sea fish has essentially two pairs of eyes! Along with its main pair of eyes, it has two round, light-collecting mirror organs on the sides of its head which even have a kind of retina! With its four eyes, the fish can see shadows from above and bioluminescence from sides and below!

girl from the deep oceans of space !!!!! ＞△＜

Vessel sound is temporarily causing hearing loss in squids

Globally, anthropogenic sounds have become louder and more persistent, however, little is known about how invertebrates detect and respond to human-made sound. Now, new research shown noise associated with boats causes  causes temporal hearing loss in squids across different stages of their life cycle.

The hummingbird bobtail squid (Euprymna berryi) has a short lifespan of at least 6 months, which make them a convenient animal for lab studies. Hearing and behavioural observations were made by researchers before, during and after 15 minutes of vessel sound playback, to test how these squids react to noise pollution, and noted that these squids decrease their hearing sensitivity after exposure to noise, and particularly noise affected juveniles. Juvenile squids experienced an important hearing loss sensitivity after noise exposure between 400 and 800 Hz, while adult and mature squids decreased their sensibility after 200 to 600 Hz exposure, showing more resistence. All squids recovered auditory sensitivity within two hours.

Researchers aim the inclusion of cephalopods within management and policy, because anthropogenic activities and associated sound levels in the ocean are increasing, while the role sound plays in cephalopod life history is only just beginning to be understood.

Photo by Pascal Girard

Reference ()  Putland et al. 2023. Vessel sound causes hearing loss for hummingbird bobtail squid (Euprymna berryi). Frontiers in Marine Science 

by Natan Vance