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Guy uses a Ziploc bag to show why some things look backwards in mirrors while others don't

We get it now!

Photo credit: Canva

Why is text reversed in mirrors?

Have you ever wondered why text shows up backwards in a mirror? It's confusing to our brains because it doesn't seem like anything else is flipped like that. If we turn our head, it doesn't move the opposite direction in a mirror. Or does it? After all, right-handed you is actually left-handed you in the mirror. Right? (Wait, is that right?)

Mirrors can be confusing, despite not being very complicated. A mirror image is simply a reflection of what's before it. But when someone else is looking at us head on, they don't see text in reverse, so why don't we see what other people see when we see ourselves in a mirror?

mirrors, mirror, reflection, mirror image, science, how mirrors work Beyonce Mirror GIF Giphy

(If you think this is a super stupid question with a super obvious answer, congratulations. Pat yourself on the back and scootch along so the folks who don't fully grasp the physics of mirrors can enjoy a demonstration that makes it a little easier to understand.)

"Why do mirrors reverse text?" asks the creator behind @humanteneleven on YouTube. "You might think it's just a property of mirrors—they flip things from left to right—but that's not true." He then picks up a metal arrow to show that it points the same direction in the mirror as it does in real life. So why is the text flipped when the arrow isn't?

- YouTube youtu.be

He then holds up a book to show how the text on the book cover appears backwards, just like the shirt. But when he holds up a Ziploc bag with the word "HELLO" written on it, the word shows up properly.

That's because he had to flip the book over to see the cover text in the mirror. The baggy he could just hold up and see the letters through the transparent plastic, just as we see them in real life. If he flips the baggy over like he did the book, the text shows up backwards in the mirror, just like it does in real life.

"So it's actually not the mirror that's flipping anything from left to right," he says. "It's the human."

People appreciated the simple, straightforward explanation and demonstrations.

"One of the most insightful demonstrations I've seen. It's simple and explains the phenomenon. Well done!"

"While I've heard this explanation many times before, I've only recently seen it demonstrated with text-on-transparency, which is what really makes it click. Great video!"

"Love these sorts of demonstrations. It’s a bit of a complicated one, but I love seeing how different people's minds work when explaining simple things like this. My kid explains it with “left is on the left, right is on the right, things aren’t flipped, they are mirrored” but it’s true that you are the one who flips things and I’ve never thought of it that way before."

"Oh my God, I haven't understood explanations from physics videos about why mirrors flip but this, gosh this helps."

Mirrors have been hilariously befuddling people in other videos as they try to figure out how the mirror knows what's behind a barrier placed in front of objects.

@sarahcoome

this is kinda creepy 👀 #mirror #relatable #creepy

Is this something all of us should probably have learned in high school? Yes. Do all of us remember everything we learned in high school? No. Does the scientific explanation make perfect sense to everyone even if it's explained in detail? Um, no.

Like the reversed text question, having a simplified explanation that doesn't fully get into the nitty gritty physics and geometry of how mirrors work is helpful for some folks.

- YouTube youtu.be

For those who do want a bit more scientific substance to their explanations, this next video does a good job of giving a bit more detail while still keeping the explanation simple. It even uses a visual diagram to explain:

- YouTube youtu.be

And for those who say, "This is so basic! How do people not understand this?" here's a video that really does get into the nitty gritty physics and geometry of how mirrors work, diving into ray and wave optics, photons, wave functions, probability, and quantum mechanics. It's only 12 minutes, and it manages to entertain while explaining, but it certainly blows the notion that understanding mirrors is super simple.

- YouTube youtu.be

As one commenter wrote, "I thought I understood mirrors. I understand mirrors even less now. And that's a compliment."

Isn't science fun?

This article originally appeared in May. It has been updated.

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Two comatose patients were taken off life support. What happened in their brains stunned scientists.

Research into our dying moments can help us understand Near Death Experiences, or even cheat death altogether.

Photo by Juliana Araujo the artist on Unsplash

A woman in the sun.

The one thing we all have in common is death. It's inevitable, and yet it's under-studied and often overlooked by many in the scientific community, even though it's the crux (or the bane, depending on who you ask) of existence.

A staggering number of people have reported Near Death Experiences (NDEs) after certain criteria were met. This includes, but is not limited to, seeing a bright light, feeling disassociated from one's body, and feeling a sense of overwhelming peace. In fact, according to research, studies show that one in ten people report having had a NDE.

More and more researchers are taking notice and using these self-described NDEs as roadmaps for their empirical studies of what physically happens in the brain as we're dying .

death, dying, near death experiences, science, brain waves Lord Byron on his death-bed commons.wikimedia.org

Death and dying are a fascinating, perplexing puzzle for doctors and researchers. In 2024 article for The Guardian titled, "The new science of death: ‘There’s something happening in the brain that makes no sense,’" author Alex Blasdel discusses the focused curiosity Jimo Borjigin, Ph.D., a professor of neurology at the University of Michigan, has on the topic. "She had read about the near-death experiences of certain cardiac-arrest survivors who had undergone extraordinary psychic journeys before being resuscitated. Sometimes, these people reported travelling outside of their bodies towards overwhelming sources of light where they were greeted by dead relatives. Others spoke of coming to a new understanding of their lives, or encountering beings of profound goodness."

The thing of it is, one doesn't have to have a belief in a "higher" power to experience these events. A self-described atheist has given many talks and interviews about her experience.

A self described atheist shares her NDE experience www.youtube.com, Coming Home Channel

Borjigin was a skeptic but began to investigate. In a 2023 piece for Michigan Medicine, lead research editor Kelly Malcolm writes that Borjigin led the study for The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. She and her team found two patients who "upon removal of ventilator support, showed an increase in heart rate along with a surge of gamma wave activity, considered the fastest brain activity and associated with consciousness."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Altered states, indeed. To get more specific, when one of the patients (referred to as Patient One) was taken off life support, something extraordinary happened. Blasdel reports, "In the moments after Patient One was taken off oxygen, there was a surge of activity in her dying brain. Areas that had been nearly silent while she was on life support suddenly thrummed with high-frequency electrical signals called gamma waves. In particular, the parts of the brain that scientists consider a 'hot zone' for consciousness became dramatically alive."

It gets even more fascinating. Blasdel continues, "For about two minutes after her (Patient One's) oxygen was cut off, there was an intense synchronisation of her brain waves, a state associated with many cognitive functions, including heightened attention and memory. The synchronisation dampened for about 18 seconds, then intensified again for more than four minutes. It faded for a minute, then came back for a third time."

In other words, the patient's life may have flashed before their eyes, as the cliché goes. Unfortunately, Patient One didn't recover, but based on the brain waves, it's likely they experienced a cacophony of neurotransmitters exploding into light, guiding them through tunnels of memories. Maybe?

Upworthy spoke with Dr. Elreacy Dock, DBH, D.Th., Certified Grief Educator, and Adjunct Professor of Thanatology. She shares that NDEs have actually been reported in about 17 percent of patients, with a notable amount coming from cardiac arrest survivors. The why of it is much more tricky. "Theories as to why they may occur, which range from the possibility of cerebral anoxia and a significant release of neurotransmitters to other alternatives such as having consciousness independent of the brain."

brain, mind, life, death, research A plastic model of a brain. Photo by Lisa Yount on Unsplash

Furthermore, there are probably a lot more that aren't even talked about than we even know. "It has been argued that NDEs are far more prevalent than documented and that some remain unreported because people have difficulty recalling NDEs due to trauma, heavy sedation or medication use, and impaired memory," Dock concludes.

Dock reiterates that, "Some researchers believe that these waves may reflect a 'life recall' process that is similar to what some individuals have mentioned encountering in near-death experiences (e.g., a life review). Studies have also shown that when near-death experiencers have recalled their memories of these experiences, these were associated with delta and theta brain waves. These are generally attributed to trance states, episodic memory, and recollection of past events, which makes these NDE memories distinguishable as actual experiences rather than imagined experiences."

The idea being that the patient who can recall their NDE isn't making it up. Their brain waves prove that their experience, no matter what it's attributed to, was very real to them and not a fictionalized part of their imagination.

She also notes, as have many researchers, that while these NDEs are often reported as positive, that's not always the case. "It is not uncommon for individuals to report negative experiences, some of which have also been said to influence an increase in suicidal ideation among those who have made previous attempts."

The trailer for the docuseries "Surviving Death." www.youtube.com, Netflix

This is discussed at length in Netflix's docuseries Surviving Death, which ran the gamut of emotions from those who experienced NDEs and lived to tell about them. Some saw it as a spiritual awakening, while others were merely baffled by how odd the experience was. Many had beautiful sensations to report, while others felt darkness and fear. Much like life itself, our experience with death sounds pretty personalized.

As Blasdel writes, "Death may be far more alive than we ever thought possible."

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People with 'spiky' names are less likely to get job interviews. Do you have one?

Name-based bias goes even beyond race, sex, and class.

via Canva/Photos

People lined up for job interviews.

There have been many studies in the past that show people face a lot of bias when they turn in a job application. A 2021 study found that job applicants who had "Black-sounding" names were nine percent less likely to get a call back than those whose names sounded "white." People who review resumes are also looking for subtle clues of social class.

A 2016 Yale study found that men who appear to be upper-class in job applications fare much better than women of the same class when applying to elite positions. However, lower-class women perform better than lower-class men in the same process. Unfortunately, sex, race, and class bias are significant issues when it comes to hiring, but another prejudice has nothing to do with inherent characteristics: the way your name sounds can make a big difference when you send in a job application.

Do people judge job applications based on your name?

A recent study carried out by The Conversation found that people attribute personality characteristics to people based on whether their name sounds "smooth" or "spiky." The researchers designed a job ad looking for a candidate high in one of six personality factors: honesty/humility, emotionality, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness (how organized or hard-working someone is), and openness to experience.

spiky names, job interview, job application, job candidates, resumes, waiting, People lined up for job interviews.via Canva/Photos

The researchers sent in applications with people who had smooth-sounding names with sonorant consonants (l, m, n), and the others were spiky with voiceless stops (p, t, k).

Some examples of smooth names (sonorant consonants) include: Joanna, June, Norah, Allen, Linus, and Moses.

Some examples of spiky names (voiceless stops) include: Rita, Erica, Tia, Kurt, and Victor.

The researchers found that individuals with smooth-sounding names were perceived as more agreeable and emotional, whereas those with spikier names were seen as more extroverted. So, if people are hiring for a job where they were looking for agreeable characteristics, those with smooth-sounding names had a better chance of getting the gig.

Interestingly, according to researchers, the way a name sounds has nothing to do with someone’s personality. In real life, Lou and Erica may be just as agreeable as one another. But when hiring managers are just looking at names, Lou gets the gig.

What is sound symbolism?

The idea that the sound of a word can make it feel aligned with particular qualities is known as sound symbolism. It’s why we often say that so-and-so looks like an Emma or a Charles. A popular study on the phenomenon known as the Bouba / Kiki effect found that when given the two names Kiki (spiky) and Bouba (smooth), they are much more likely to call the figure on the left Kiki and the one on the right Bouba. Although researchers don’t know the exact reason why we map certain sounds to specific shapes, they believe it may reflect how we move our mouths to make those sounds.

bouba kiki, bouba kiki effect, shapes, sounds and shapes, sound symbolism, The Bouba / Kiki effect. via Wikimedia Commons

“The rounded shape may most commonly be named ‘Bouba’ because the mouth makes a more rounded shape to produce that sound, while a more taut, angular mouth shape is needed to make the sounds in ‘Kiki.’ Alternatively, the distinction may be between coronal or dorsal consonants like /k/ and labial consonants like /b/,” researchers at Mind Modeling wrote.

The study may reveal that there’s one more thing many of us have to worry about when applying for a job. But it’s also a reminder that we all have some sort of bias, and next time we see a name without knowing the person, we may be judging them based on criteria that doesn't reflect who they are. Much like it’s wrong to judge a book by its cover, judging someone by their name may mean you miss out on someone truly wonderful.

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22-year-old forgoes buying a home and spends life savings on a chunk of raw Colombian jungle

People are floored that he was able to create such a "dream life."

Photo credit: Canva

A 22-year-old spent his life savings not on a house, but on a jungle.

There comes a time in every young person's life where you find yourself facing down the path laid out for you. A path filled with all things you're "supposed" to do: get a college education, land a good job, make enough money so you can save up and eventually reach the mountaintop of buying your own home. Then…who knows.…

The problem is that settling down and buying property has become ridiculously, ludicrously out of reach for a lot of young people. Price-to-income ratios are the highest they've ever been in the history of the United States, and many of the new generation of adults who have achieved the dream of owning their own home have found it to be... a trap! Yes, there are a lot of amazing benefits to being a homeowner, but it can also be a massive drain on your finances, your time, and your freedom.

One Gen Z man is doing things a little differently. Instead of investing in his first house, he spent his life savings on 7.5 acres of undeveloped jungle in Colombia.

Twenty-two year old Robert Lennox-Hvenekilde from Denmark has always been an adventurer, filming his outdoorsy-escapades on TikTok for years. But a recent trip to Colombia left the Gen Z-er inspired to take his interest in nature to the next level.

"[I] realized that there were a lot of people living in these areas of the world who were maybe not rich in an economic sense, but they just seemed extremely free and to have an extremely high quality of life," he told Newsweek.

He decided to do something a lot of people only dream or fantasize about: live in Colombia, among nature, and create a sustainable homestead for himself. After months of researching, networking, and negotiations, he was able to purchase three hectares (or 7.4 acres) of undeveloped land for about $40,000. That equates to roughly five or six football fields, for reference.

The jungle land Lennox-Hvenekilde now calls home features a fresh water stream, avocado and other fruit trees, and sugar cane.

He's currently building a small structure on the land to live in, and he plans to be a good caretaker of the land. Outside of harvesting fruit and avocado to eat and sell, he says he'll continue to plant and nurture native plant species to provide a habitat for the several species of endangered monkeys living there. Lennox-Hvenekilde also says his property came with special trees planted specifically for wood production, which he's using to create his dwelling.

"I would not cut down any of the native jungle," he says.

Watch him give an amazing tour of his new home here:

@roba_tron Property break down #4you #foru #danmark #wildlife #nature #dk #offgrid ♬ original sound - roba_tron

Nearly two million people were fascinated by the wild video. Many were inspired by a way of life they'd previously thought completely unattainable.

"Dream life"

"can i come join you... sounds amazing"

"Bro made the best decision of his live"

It looks incredible on camera: the vibrant greens of the rainforest, working with your hands instead of staring at a computer all day, never having to commute or deal with rude strangers out in public. (Where do I sign up!?)

Still, others had mixed feelings:

"Please take care of the land and his water. Is our job to protect our nature. Plant trees and native flowers," one person implored.

More than a few commenters were uncomfortable with an outsider buying up endangered jungle land in a foreign country, likening it to gentrification.

Lennox-Hvenekilde's response has been that it's better for someone like him to take a small piece of the land for living, and harvest and care for the rest. Conversely, mass farmers burn down hundreds of thousands of acres of rainforest every single year in Colombia to make room for their crops. Compared to that, the 22-year-old's impact will be extremely minimal.

@roba_tron Project Property #4you #foru #wildlife #nature #offgrid #cabin #adventure #danmark #dk ♬ GONE, GONE / THANK YOU (I hate wasted potential) - Tyler, The Creator

We've all had the fantasy at one time or another. Disappear, leave our entire life and Earthly possessions behind, and flee deep into nature. Live off the land. Create a simpler life for ourselves. Be happy.

In fact, and perhaps unsurprisingly, interest in off-grid living has been steadily growing in popularity due to factors like rising costs, fierce political division, and an increasingly hectic and stressful modern lifestyle.

For most of us, though, the thought remains a fantasy. As appealing as it sounds, the idea of actually saying goodbye to our career, friends, family, and human pleasures is a little frightening. Even more so when we realize that living off the grid is a ridiculous amount of work. Sourcing our own food and fresh water? Having little to no access to medical care if we were to get injured or sick?

@roba_tron Day 36 #4you #foru #wildlife #nature #offgrid #cabin #danmark ♬ FEEL THE GROOVE - Queens Road, Fabian Graetz

It took a lot of bravery for Lennox-Hvenekilde to take such a big leap the way he did. And his journey is still not without its dangers. His viewers worry he might have run ins with the infamous Colombian drug cartels, which operate in the rainforest growing coca, which is used to make cocaine. And then there are all the bears, jaguars, and creepy crawlies.

"But how are the spiders?" one commenter asked Lennox-Hvenekilde. "Big," he said.

Yeah, on second thought, maybe that commute doesn't sound quite so bad. But kudos to him for showing us all what's possible.

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