Showing posts with label walking in circles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label walking in circles. Show all posts

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Am I Going In Circles...?

Sometimes the seemingly easiest things are not easy at all.

For instance, why can't we walk in a straight line when blindfolded? We do OK when we can see, but cover our eyes and ...BAM! We go in circles. Worst part is, no one knows why.

Why Can’t We Walk In A Straight Line With Our Eyes Closed?



Try this: Go out to a park, put on a blindfold, and try to walk in a straight line. When you take your blindfold off, you’ll discover something strange, other than that your wallet’s now missing. No matter how careful you were, most people will end up spinning around in circles if they don’t have a clear target to walk toward, and nobody knows why.

Scientists have done multiple experiments on this effect, watching how people walk visually and even mapping out how they move with GPS. They’ve learned a few things: We know that the darker the sky is, the more people spin in circles, but we still don’t know why it happens.

There are certainly theories. Some scientists have speculated that it’s because of brain dominance, and others think it’s due to differences in the lengths of our legs—but the only thing experiments have been able to prove for sure is that every theory we’ve ever come up with is definitely wrong.

I pretty much can't walk a straight line at the best of times, even with my eyes wide open. I tend to lean a lot and bump into things. Maybe I'm just clumsy or something...who knows?

Coffee out on the patio this morning. It's chilly, but nothing we can't handle.

Monday, June 20, 2016

Walking In Circles On Monday Mystery...!

Here's an interesting mystery for ya, and it doesn't involve murder or anything like that! Just an interesting experiment with a strange result.

Why Can’t Humans Walk Straight?

A German research scientist named Jan Souman conducted an experiment that showed that humans are incapable of walking in a straight line. Souman blindfolded his subjects and instructed them “to try to walk straight for up to an hour.” Instead of walking straight, the volunteers walked in circles. The German scientist conducted the experiment in various locations, such as the beach and the Sahara Desert, but the results were the same.

Souman then tried another experiment, and this time there were no blindfolds. The results were different and a bit surprising. If it was cloudy out, the subjects walked in circles. When the weather was good and sunny, only one of the subjects was able to walk relatively straight.

So why does this phenomenon exist? Scientists don’t really have an explanation, and Jan Souman is still working on a multi-causal theory.

I've heard of something like this before, but didn't know that anyone actually studied it. Really strange, if you ask me!

Coffee out on the patio this morning. I have some sweet potato pie I'll share!