Extraordinary claims. Ordinary investigations.

“The illustration below appears to show green and blue spirals….. But in fact the apparent green and blue are exactly the same colour! Don’t believe me?”

Check the revelation on Richard Wiseman’s blog. Fellow Ricardo Bittencourt, good skeptic that he is, also tested the image on Photoshop and found the colors didn’t appear to be the same, as he found there’s some color dithering (which means the spirals are actually two tones of color). The original image, with solid colors would be much better to confirm the effect.

Meanwhile, we can deal with a crude paint bucket tool and our eyes. The image below strongly suggests the colors are indeed the same, as changing the other colors changes our perception of the “green” and “blue” spirals.

If someone can reproduce this with solid colors, just to be sure, this would surely be the best illusion this year… or in many years.

UPDATE: I have found the image in PNG version, with no color dithering and solid colors. Keep reading.

Praised be TinEye. And this is surely the best illusion in many years. Want to know what’s going on? Perhaps this will help.

UPDATE: The image is originally by Akiyoshi Kitaoka, famous for his other creations. I also made the Flash animation below: