Watch This Cat Play With An Optical Illusion [Video]
Rotating Snakes Akiyoshi Kitaoka via RIKEN BSI Neuroinformatics Japan CenterAn important science question AND a cute cat video. Not that you need an additional reason to watch a cat video, but this clip of a cat looking at an optical illusion could be scientifically valuable, too. YouTube user rasmusab posted the clip of a cat attacking a version of the rotating snakes illusion like it just saw a laser pointer aimed at the ground, suggesting the cat might've seen the wheels "spinning" and tried to get a paw on them. Now rasmusab's created a Google doc for people to replicate the experiment and report their findings. (We could get so many cat videos out of this experiment, you guys.) For the record, other studies have found that animals--owls, in particular--might see and respond to optical illusions the same way people do. We love citizen science projects, and love them...