Can you see sounds and hear shapes?

Synaesthesia is a rare condition that results in a blending of the senses. For example, some people can ’see’ sounds, in the sense that sounds evoke certain colours in their mind.

While this condition affects around 1% of the population, according to Charles Spence, a professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University, everybody is a “synaesthete” to one degree or other. Try the test above and see if you can associate sounds and shapes.

Got it right? Most people do. The real question is why. Read more about synaesthesia and try out some more tests in this BBC article.

Size does in fact matter if you are a male beaked whale - the size of two of your teeth that is!

Actually, according to a recent study, it is also the shape of the two teeth that male beaked whale have on the outside of their jaws that is important. DNA analysis has shown that the teeth are probably a secondary sexual trait that evolved to help female beaked whales select a mate of the right species. Bite me honey!

In the words of Scott Baker, associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University, “Beaked whales are among the least known, least understood and, frankly, most bizarre whales in the ocean.” No kidding! They get the hots for a pair of teeth.

Read the full BBC article about the study here: Whales’ teeth are an aid to mating.