12 Mind-Bending Perceptual Illusions

Plus: this week's Behind the Scenes with Kristen French; what we really are is an agglomeration of cells; to stop illegal fishing, send a seabird ; a new doorway to the brain; and more. [View in browser]( | [Become a member]( EDITORS’ CHOICE October 16, 2022   Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here](. Good Morning! Start your Sunday with the latest in Nautilus and some of the week’s most popular stories—plus, go Behind the Scenes with science journalist Kristen French [DROP BY NAUTILUS](   [ZOOLOGY]( [To Stop Illegal Fishing, Send a Seabird]( Illegal fishing is too big a problem for humans to handle alone. BY CLAUDIA GEIB Every year, as shifting currents pull cold, nutrient-rich waters up from the Pacific Ocean depths, the western coast of South America floods with fish. [Continue reading →]( Experience the endless possibilities and deep human connections that science offers [SUBSCRIBE TODAY](   [Lessons from an Astronaut]( Chris Hadfield teaches you about the future of space travel—and the science that will get us there in his [MasterClass](, “Chris Hadfield Teaches Space Exploration.” [Join today]( to explore the final frontier with the former commander of the International Space Station. [Learn More](   Popular This Week [MICROBIOLOGY]( [What We Really Are Is an Agglomeration of Cells]( Siddhartha Mukherjee sings the praises of the cell to offer us a holistic portrait of life. BY MICHAEL DENHAM [Continue reading →]( [GENETICS]( [A Universal Cancer Treatment?]( A medicine that disrupts the DNA replication of cancer cells may be within reach. BY LINA ZELDOVICH [Continue reading →]( [TECHNOLOGY]( [A New Doorway to the Brain]( Neuroscientists can now explore the “wild west” in our heads in incredible detail—a boon to medicine and understanding what makes us tick. BY ELENA RENKEN [Continue reading →]( [PSYCHOLOGY]( [12 Mind-Bending Perceptual Illusions]( They show us in a clear and unambiguous way that we don’t directly experience the world. BY STEVE STEWART-WILLIAMS [Continue reading →](   [Liberating Ocean Data]( Ready to contribute to ocean conservation? The World Economic Forum's [UpLink Ocean and Friends of Ocean Action]( wants your ideas to scaling the ocean data for a sustainable ocean future. Submit your proposal by November 13, 2022, and the winner will be announced at the WEF’s Annual Meet in Davos next year. [Submit Your Solution](   BEHIND THE SCENES [Kristen French Takes Us Behind “The Afterlife Is in Our Heads”]( Recently, my father-in-law asked me if I wanted to have drinks with his neighbors’ son, Joseph. He had just completed his masters at NYU, my father-in-law told me, which involved him writing a thesis on the bioethics of using psychedelics to spark intimacy in a relationship. I got him talking, which wasn’t hard. Along with a huge bushy brown beard, he was pretty loquacious, and he eventually confessed or conceded that he was convinced spirits existed. While on LSD, he had a near-death experience, of sorts, at a concert. Out of nowhere, he said, he felt a “demonic presence.” He was overcome by a mixture of negative emotion. The next day, he said, he found out that someone had committed suicide at the venue, and this occured right when he was feeling this wave of sorrow and fear. For him, that realization was profound. The demonic feeling syncing up with the suicide, he said, couldn’t be mere coincidence. It had to mean something. I thought of Joseph while [speaking with Nautilus contributing editor Kristen French]( about her recent article, “[The Afterlife Is in Our Heads](,” a deep dive into near-death experiences. Many people, maybe including Joseph, believe the profound, emotional experiences are evidence of the supernatural. “The argument is partially based on the experiences of cardiac-arrest patients, because that’s where most of the research has been done on near-death experiences,” French said. “The idea is that, when a patient is in cardiac arrest, and the brain is not receiving blood or oxygen, neuroscience tells us the brain cells cannot operate. They can’t have perceptions. They can’t form memories, as far as we know. So, the fact that people have what seem like memories—pretty powerful memories—makes them think, ‘Well, if the brain wasn’t operating, but still our consciousness or our mind could operate, then it follows that our minds must not be dependent on the brain.’” What does French make of that argument? “I think that because people have such powerful experiences, they don’t want to think that it’s not a real memory, because if it’s a fabricated or false memory, that suggests the experience is pretend, or something,” [she said](. “That, maybe to some people, seems to devalue it. But the neuroscientists that I spoke to said there’s decades of research showing how closely linked the brain is to our perceptions and experiences. So the most likely thing is that it is a memory, constructed after the fact. But it’s not a real, true memory per se, but feels like a memory.” In our conversation, we also discussed why near-death experiences might happen, the drugs that can mimic near-death experiences, as well as her background growing up in a Christian Scientist family. (After our call, I followed up to ask her whether she ever believed in an afterlife. “I don’t remember feeling like there was a distinction between life and afterlife…mind was considered the only reality,” she wrote to me on Slack, “and the state of one’s physical material body was considered to be totally contingent on their quality of mind. I stopped believing and attending church at, I think, 13! And we always went to doctors actually, but were also encouraged to try to self-heal to a certain extent.) [Watch here](. —Brian Gallagher, associate editor   [“DNA has been our iconographic element. But a gene is lifeless without a cell.”]( [Pulitzer Prize-winning author Siddhartha Mukherjee sat down to discuss his latest book, The Song of the Cell.](   What Our Readers Are Saying   “Every [two] months this little slice of heaven arrives in my mailbox.”—[Joshua S.]( | On Nautilus’ [print magazine]( “Nautilus is a great print magazine. Beautiful covers. Heavy stock. And the subject matter (science and philosophy) is fascinating.”—[Benjamin L.](   “Great article, fascinating that the AI can play 40 moves ahead 🤯”—[reinen0ire]( On “[The Chess Cheat in the 21st Century](”   “A detailed and balanced analysis of near-death experiences.”—[Anil S.](| On “[The Afterlife Is in Our Heads](”   “Wow...”—[Esger J.](| “I Didn’t Know My Mind Was So Strange Until I Started Listening to It](�€   “OK, I have found an article that gets it right.”—[Sabine H.](| On “[They Probed Quantum Entanglement While Everyone Shrugged](”   “Today’s reading: funny AND educational.”—[Teresa W.](| On “Lose Weight the Slow and Incredibly Difficult Way](”   More in Zoology [That Snapper You’re Eating Might Be 80 Years Old]( Shouldn’t we respect our animal elders, too? BY JONATHAN BALCOMBE On July 31, my mother celebrated her 88th birthday. [Continue reading →]( [What Do Dolphins Talk About?]( In the latest episode of the Ignorance podcast, Diana Reiss takes us behind the scenes with some chatty dolphins. BY STUART FIRESTEIN & LESLIE VOSSHALL How can we tell if other animals have thoughts, desires, self-awareness? [Continue reading →](   Today’s newsletter was written by Brian Gallagher   GIVEAWAY [Explore the Intersection of Art and Oceanography]( Nautilus is proud to partner with Phaidon to bring you [Ocean: Exploring the Marine World.]( Published by Phaidon, oceanography and art collide in this visual celebration of humans' relationship with the marine world. To commemorate the release, five lucky people can win this gorgeous book. To enter, follow [@phaidonpress]( and [@nautilusmag](, then tag a friend on our [Instagram post](. The contest runs through 10/31, and five winners will be selected at random. 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