Josh Witten

Drowning Can Be Subtle

I suspect that people at our pool judge me for being that parent that’s too distracted watching his kids. It makes me an even worse conversationalist than usual. The social norm is that the kids play and the adults socialize, after all, there is an admirably diligent lifeguard. I am a quadcopter drone of a parent at the pool and beach for two reasons. One, I like playing with my kids (they are more interesting than you – I have data). Two, drowning doesn’t look like drowning:

The Instinctive Drowning Response—so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. And it does not look like most people expect. There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind. – Mario Vittone

Vampire Ontogeny

I was awakened this morning by my five-year old informing me, “Daddy, I can’t eat your soul. My teeth aren’t long enough or sharp enough, yet. How reassuring. That inspired a very quick and badly drawn vampire comic.

Perrin, Ireland

I checked on Google Maps and Perrin, Ireland does not seem to exist*; but the science artist Perrin R. Ireland does. She creates amazing resources for communicating science for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

She also has her own website that you should examine closely, regardless of how much free time you claim to not have. Perrin is a talented artist, creative thinker, and a mad genius when it comes to the art of “scribing”.

Art by Perrin R Ireland; Photo by Russ Creech (All Rights Reserved; Used with Permission)

*Though there is a Perrin Way in Lusk, Ireland.

O(K Go)ptical Illusion

OK Go are known, in addition to their music, for their quirky videos, particularly a no-edit style that reduces “production values” (and costs) while making the whole thing that much more impressive. They’ve done a Rube Goldberg machine and a sound generating car-obstacle course combo. Now they have an entire video based on optical illusions.

One of my favorite things about optical illusions is not that they show that our brain can be tricked (which it can). It is that optical illusions are entertaining proof that the reality we perceive is a processed version of actual reality. Optical illusions represent a hack of that system.

Hat tip to Lauren Davis at io9.