 Full AccessSubscribe now at only USD $5.95 for your first 4 issues and get New Scientist, the world's leading science & technology News magazine delivered direct to your door every week. As a magazine subscriber you will benefit from instant access to:
 |
Article PreviewThis is a preview of the full article. New Scientist Full Access is available free to magazine subscribers. To continue reading log in now, on the right. Senses special: Doors of perception
TRY something for me, will you? Close your eyes. Now stretch out your arms. How do you know where they are? Now wiggle your fingers. How do you know they are moving? Now do it all again, standing on one leg (eyes still closed, remember). Did you fall over, and if so, did it hurt? It won't come as any surprise that you have your senses to thank for managing this feat at all. But which ones? It certainly wasn't sight, sound, taste, smell or touch. While schools still teach us that there are five senses - an idea that came courtesy of Aristotle and permeates popular culture - the count is at odds with science. Try grabbing an ice cube with one hand and a red-hot poker with the other, and tell me that what you feel can be encompassed by the favourite five. Go on a white-knuckle ride ... The complete article is 1591 words long.
To continue reading this article, subscribe to New Scientist. 
If you are in the UK please click here, if you are in US or Canada please click here. Users in Australia or New Zealand please click here.  |
|
