Lumera

Science · Body · Tech

8 whys told, 3 on video

human body
physics
technology
brain
chemistry

Start with the most surprising

The whys of this universe

When you speak, you hear two voices at once: one through the air, one vibrating through your skull. A recording only keeps the first.

Oddity
Video 34 s
4 min

Why does your own voice sound strange when you hear it recorded?

You hear yourself in intimate stereo and come out in mono: bone conduction adds several decibels in the low frequencies a microphone never picks up.

A square with violet patterns and, offset to the right, its pale yellow double fading away like an after-image; a trail of navy and lilac droplets rises from the lower-left corner toward the two squares.

Video 30 s
4 min

Why do you see the opposite color after staring at one?

Stare at a red square for thirty seconds, look at a white wall: a green ghost appears. Not general fatigue, not a trick of the wall, the culprit is elsewhere.

A still escalator seen from the side, its steps and handrail drawn in flat lavender shapes, climbing diagonally across the frame.

Video 34 s
4 min

Why do you stumble on a stopped escalator?

4 min

Why does a voice assistant struggle to truly understand?

Two words, Call Mom, and a four-year-old gets it instantly while Siri asks which Mom you mean. Researchers have a name for that gap: the stochastic parrot.

Eyes follow the words, but somewhere in the head, a voice speaks them. Not for everyone: a meaningful share of people read in complete silence, and they often only realise it when they discover others don't.

Oddity
5 min

Why do we hear an inner voice when we read?

Place electrodes on the throat of a silent reader and you pick up tiny contractions near the vocal cords. Reading is an act of speech turned inward.

A reflex left over from a coat we no longer have. In the cold or under strong feeling, every hair gets pulled upright.

3 min

Why do we get goosebumps?

Watching someone yawn lights up the same circuits in your brain: an old way for social animals to keep their arousal levels in step.

3 min

Why is yawning contagious?

Not in the sky, not in a cloud. In climate-controlled warehouses and on the ocean floor: 1.5 million km of cables and millions of servers.

Oddity
4 min

Why isn't the internet in the sky?

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Luméra is the universe of the body, the senses and machines. Here you understand why we get goosebumps, why your voice sounds strange recorded, and why a voice assistant struggles to understand. Many of these reflexes come from far away, inherited from furred ancestors.

Nature · Animals

Sylvora

The universe next door

SylvoraNature · Animals

Sylvora is the wide clearing where animals and leaves whisper their secrets. From a cat's purr to a hummingbird's wingbeat, every living thing carries its own why.

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