The 10 Most Mind-Boggling Optical Illusions

For centuries, optical illusions have used our visual shortcuts and brain inklings against us, turning everyday objects into false 3D images, strange floating ships, and seriously confusing arguments. Let’s take a look—and then take another—at some classic and contemporary illusions.

This confounding rabbit (or is it a raven?) divided the Popular Mechanics staff. It’s a new spin on a classic illusion, where one drawing could be a rabbit or a duck, depending on how you look.

Many viewers look at this illusion and see elaborately decorated rectangles, like picture frame decorations or panels on a coffer. But if you look again, the effect is made by floating circles that are perpendicular to the striped background.

Earlier this year, MIT researchers published new experiments exploring an old illusion. These two stones are the same color—so why do we see them differently?

This prehistoric stone carving depicts what experts believe is the earliest known "duck rabbit"-style dual illusion. With a keen eye, you can see both a buffalo and a mammoth.

This illusion happens when a bicycle travels at the speed of light while a pair of human eyes looks on. And surprisingly, trying to understand it is an important physics problem.

A fata morgana is a naturally occurring optical phenomenon where layers of cold and hot air distort what we see at the horizon. In this case, it’s caused a phantom boat to float in midair.

Sometimes, like a movie T. rex, we can only see things that continue to move. If you stare at this optical illusion long enough, the pastel colors will slowly fade away until they disappear. Try it!

This waving tile floor is the result of careful tile cutting, creating an illusion of forced perspective. For people in older apartment buildings, this could just look like a bad maintenance day.