What do you see here? A moss-covered tree trunk, yes, but take a closer look. Your brain's ability to find familiar objects, such as a face or body part, in random stimuli has a name: pareidolia. (For more, read "Seeing Faces," another story in this issue.)
This tree was photographed by Pat Bernstein, who turned surgical recovery into artistic and philanthropic passion. Her pareidolic photographs have served as the basis of a book called Blink to See, cutting-edge research, and now a standing exhibit at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.
Posted in Science+Technology
