Pareidolia: Can you see faces in these photos of the natural world?
- Published
Do you see a face in the breaking wave by this lighthouse? Ian Sproat said his passion was taking photos of recognisable shapes made by the sea, but he couldn't believe his eyes when he captured this image. It is just one of 4,000 pictures he took during a 12 hour shoot at Roker Pier in Sunderland.
Here's another photo that got everyone talking! BBC photographer Jeff Overs captured this amazing image of the "face" of the God of the Sea, Neptune, as waves crashed over Newhaven harbour wall in 2021. These wave sightings seem to be an example of pareidolia - when an image is seen in an otherwise random visual pattern. Experts say our human brains can instinctively look for things we recognise to help us make sense of the world.
Strange things seeming to appear in the clouds is an experience many of us have - often when our brains try to make sense of random shapes and information. Is this fish in the sea or up in the clouds? Author Gavin Pretor-Pinney was so interested in these shapes that he collected lots together in a book called Clouds That Look Like Things.
How many girls do you see? This image has also left people baffled. It was posted with the caption "same but different". People find it really hard to tell how many girls are actually featured in the picture and where their reflections start and end. When asked about the photo, the person who shared it would only say that they have two daughters.
Space next where a huge star - bigger than our Sun - has been found in space in the shape of a snowman. It was found by scientists at the University of Warwick, who say the snowman was probably formed after two dwarf stars joined together and exploded.
Back down on Earth, check out these zebras passing each other. This incredible image was taken by wildlife photographer Sarosh Lohdi. It shows a pair of beautiful zebras on a wildlife reserve in Kenya, but the question is - which one is facing the camera? The photo was posted on social media and thousands of people had a go at guessing which zebra the head belongs to.
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