What I Learnt Today

Our senses are constantly processing sights, sounds, smells and touch. Most of these do not reach our consciousness. We only become aware of some of the inputs that pass through our brain.

How do we decide what to pay attention to?

On Feb 17th this year, psychologist Ulric Neisser passed away. He worked in the areas of cognition and memory, and was famous for his experiments on Inattentional Blindness – why don’t we notice things that are in plain view?

In his blog posting “How to Live Forever“, Richard Wiseman directs us to these videos,

Dan Simons made a famous ‘cover’ of Neisser’s original  experiment in 1999

This is the original 1975 version/

In focusing on the basketballers, did you miss the ‘out of the ordinary’ things in these videos?

Wiseman writes

“And that’s what great about science. Your work doesn’t die with you, but instead leaves a lasting legacy for future generations. In many ways, you live forever. Ulric, your work showed that people often don’t see what is right in front of their eyes. We shall miss you too.”

What I Learnt On 26th February in other years

26th February 2011 BoxWorld

The chef in our kitchen rules! *

Tomight she prepared a lovely oozy mushroom risotto accompanied by grilled mushrooms with garlic, rosemary and thyme and a cucumber, spinach and pinenut salad.

With a bit of help from Jamie and his 30 minute recipe series.

* PS Is it just me, or is My Kitchen Rules the worst show ever shown on television?

What I Learnt On 25th February in other years

25th February 2011 Zinc – Cure for the Common Cold?

Driven by the challenge of K Rudd, Ms Gillard has left no stone unturned to make sure that anything Tony can do, she can do better.

So, Mr Abbott may have won a Rhodes scholarship, been awarded two University Blues for boxing, and played first grade rugby for Syney University. These photos show that Ms Gillard is in secret training to nullify any advantage he might have from the sporting electorate.

You can box – but I can wrestle. Tap out, Tony

I may be skating on this ice, but at least I’m skating

Theres no me in team (unless you rearrange the letters and leave out ‘at’)

I’ll see your tight head and raise you a loose head.

The final nail – I’ve got the numbers to run for president of the Front Rowers Club.

What I Learnt On 24th February in other years

24th February 2011 The Origin of job Interviews

The Google Doodle today is in honour of Heinrich Hertz, who would have been celebrating his 155th birthday  – if he hadn’t died from Wegener’s granulomatosis in 1894, or something else since then.

Hertz was the first to conclusively prove the existence of electromagnetic waves.

In 1930, the Hertz was made the SI unit of frequency which measures the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon.

Google frequently replaces its familiar Goooogle logo with a special design to commemorate special days. It has used animated images such as the Hertz logo only rarely.

Happy birthday, Heinrich.

What I Learnt On 22nd February in other years

22nd February 2011 Confucius say…