February 18, 2025

Optical illusions never fail to amaze, but few are as striking as this one, which seems to reveal the future—almost. When viewers focus on the center of the black hole, it appears to expand toward them, even though the image itself remains completely still. This effect is simply the brain’s way of predicting what it expects to see. A study published in the Frontiers in Human Neuroscience journal found that over 86% of people experience this illusion. Do you?