According to Michael Pickard and Gurpreet Singh, the creators of "The Windmills of Your Mind" illusion, the dots of the windmill are always at constant speed and direction throughout the video clip.

So why did your mind see both clockwise and counter-clockwise movement? The answer, the two researchers at the University of Sunderland, United Kingdom, said, is that perceived direction is changed when the dot pitch is changed (by removing alternate dots or using alternate light and dark colors).

No place is safe from advertisement anymore - not even the restroom.

Mr.Friendly, a Dutch toilet company, has created a high-tech urinal with neat features like waterless/flushless function and anti-bacterial surface. But the unique feature here is the built-in display with an automatic sensor that'll play advertisement while you pee.

Image: Martin Lopez-Garcia, et al./Science Advances

All that glitters is not gold ... sometimes, they're opal.

Researchers at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom have discovered an iridescent algae species called Cystoseira tamariscifolia that got its dazzling colors from its light-controlling crystals inside its cells.

"We have living jewels in the environment," study author Heather Whitney said to Gizmodo, "It’s a Fabergé seaweed":

Looking at it under a microscope reveals a shimmering iridescence. An even closer analysis reveals two to three fat-filled vesicles in each of its cells, according to the paper published last week in Science Advances.

Inside these sacs, lots of spherical fat globules arrange themselves into a three-dimensional lattice, similar to the lattice structure that silicon dioxide takes in opals, to give the alga its special iridescent property. Not only that, but it appears that the algae can choose to order and disorder the spheres to control how light is scattered (or not) inside cells.

No date for the prom? No problem!

When a teenager named Dee found herself without a date to the prom, she decided to bring the man of her dreams - Black Panther actor Michael B. Jordan - albeit in cardboard cutout form.

"After not being able to get a prom date from procrastinating and waiting til the last minute, i spent 3 hours making my sexy prom date," Dee tweeted.

Now, the crafty teen is campaigning to meet the real Michael B. Jordan.

Image: Ileana Micarelli et al./Journal of Anthropological Sciences

Even Captain Hook would be so jealous of this medieval man!

Archaeologist Ileana Micarelli from the University of Rome discovered a tomb at the Longobard necropolis of Povegliano Veronese in Veneto, Italy, which contained the remains of a medieval man who had attached a sword to his amputated right arm.

He had his right arm bent at the elbow, the arm laid across his torso. Next to it was a knife blade, the butt aligned with his amputated wrist. Also at the amputation site, archaeologists found a D-shaped buckle, and decomposed organic material - most likely leather.

This suggests a leather cap over the amputated limb, a buckle used for fastening - and a knife attached to the cap, although the purpose is unclear. However, given the advanced healing of the bone, it is clear the man lived for a long time after his hand had been amputated.

Read the full story over at Science Alert.

There's a million bucks worth of golf carts in the picture above (image: Justin Chin/Bloomberg)

Forget Teslas and Porsches! There's a new hot ride in Hong Kong that's more expensive than luxury cars: golf carts!

Want one? It'll cost you more than a quarter million dollars.

Anjali Cordeiro of Bloomberg has the story:

On the two-lane streets of Discovery Bay — a residential development about a 30-minute ferry ride from downtown Hong Kong — the golf carts are both the transportation of choice and an investment play for the wealthy. The buggies can sell for more than HK$2 million ($255,000) in the upscale neighborhood that’s home to airline pilots, bankers and lawyers.

Business executives drive them, expatriates love them and nannies ferry kids to school in them. Private passenger cars aren’t allowed in this neighborhood, and the Transport Department has capped golf-cart licenses at about 500. The supply crunch has transformed these slow gas-guzzlers into luxury transportation. Some buyers view them as investments — renting them out or reselling to make money.

Let's face it: nothing makes sense in the topsy turvy world of quantum physics. Light can be both wave and particle. Schrödinger's cat is both dead and alive. Things can simultaneously sync up, even when they're separated by a large distance.

Why, it's enough to make Einstein throw up his hands and despair!

Well, add this to the weirdness that is quantum physics: quantum systems can heat up by cooling down.

Nemoto and her team examined a double sub-domain system coupled to a single constant temperature reservoir. Each sub-domain contained multiple spins -- a form of angular momentum carried by elementary particles such as electrons and nuclei. The researchers considered the situation where the spins within each sub-domain are aligned with respect to each other but the sub-domains themselves are oppositely aligned (for instance all up in one and all down in the second). This creates a certain symmetry in the system.

As time progresses, the components of the subdomain decay in a process called relaxation.

"Usually, we expect both domains to decay to the reservoir temperature; however, when the two domains coupled with a reservoir maintain a certain symmetry, the decay process can apparently heat the smaller domain up, even beyond the high temperature limit," Nemoto said.

See if you can understand what's going on in this article over at Science Daily, then tell the rest of the class, mkay? (Image: Future Quantum Physicist by Mike Jacobsen)

KFC Hong Kong's new ad campaign for their "Hot & Spicy" fried chicken is ON FIRE!

Designed by art director John Koay of Ogilvy & Mather Hong Kong, the print campaign uses fried chicken instead of fiery explosions. Clever (and yummy!)

via Campaign Brief Asia and Design Taxi

Psst! Want two FREE T-shirts? Click here to enter our April 2018 T-shirt giveaway, in celebration of NeatoShop's Sci-Fi & Fantasy sale (hurry - sale ends April 18, 2018).

(YouTube clip by MasikBon Origami Paper Crafts)

So. What color is that diamond-shaped piece of paper?

Give up? The secret is revealed below:

Go on, whip out that calculator and confirm the mathemagical equation above. From @Pickover.

Image: Erik Johansson

We've featured some of Erik Johansson's surreal photography before on Neatorama, but I just came across this 2010 interview of the Swedish photographer by Matilda Battersby of The Independent, so it's a great excuse to show you another one of his masterpieces.

Find out many, many more excellent surreal photographs over at Erik's website and Instagram.

This one above is called "Full Moon Service" and you can find the Behind the Scenes video clip below:

Image: Dylan Martinez

A bunch of plastic bags filled with water? Tricked ya! Those are actually hollow and solid glass sculptures by Dylan Martinez titled "H20/SiO2." Gorgeous!

(Image: Monkey Business Image/Shutterstock)

You've experience this before: after you place your order, the cashier smiles at you and turn the touchscreen to face you to reveal a tip option. How much do you tip? Fifteen percent? Twenty? Or - gasp - none at all?

Now, I understand tipping at restaurants after the meal service. In this case, you can decide how much to tip based on how good of a service you received. I also understand putting a buck or two in a tip jar by the cash register.

But there's no mistaking the new trend of tipping ten, fifteen, or even twenty percent of the bill at the register - before you receive any service.

Eun Kyung Kim wrote in this intriguing article over at TODAY:

Today, it’s nearly impossible to avoid deciding whether to add an extra dollar or two onto a bill for products or in businesses people never previously associated with gratuities.

“I don’t call it a guilt trip, but a guilt tip,” said Thomas Farley, an etiquette expert and modern manners coach.

“With that big ‘no tip’ button staring us in the face, and you know two seconds later that screen is going to be spun back around to the person who just waited on you, suddenly we feel we’re being cheap if we don’t give any kind of a tip.”

What do you think of this premature tipping (or "guilt tip" as Farley in the above quote called it)?

The weather may not know it yet, but Spring is here - and soon (if it's not already), it'll be time T-shirt weather all the time. So let's celebrate with a neat Sci-Fi and Fantasy T-Shirt sale over at the NeatoShop. For a limited time, all Sci-Fi and Fantasy T-shirts get up to 20% off.

And because we love you, how about if we make this Sale extra fun with a T-shirt giveaway. Here's how to enter:

1. Visit the NeatoShop and take a look around to find your favorite Sci-Fi and Fantasy designs.

2. In the comment below, tell us your favorite Sci-Fi T-shirt and your favorite Fantasy T-shirt, as well as the artists' names.

3. That's it! There's no step 3.

One entry per person. Multiple entries will be disqualified. We'll pick three winners at random. Each winner will win both of the shirts they selected.

The winners will be notified through our comment system below, so be sure to use a valid email address. (Did you win our previous giveaway but didn't claim the prize? Be sure to white list @neatorama.com so you won't miss the notification email) Good luck, everyone!