# Wynmind

> A place for things worth wondering about. Wynmind is an independent, curiosity-driven publication by Sir Newson that explores science, psychology, neuroscience, nature and philosophy through questions. Each article starts from one question and follows it from the mechanism, to the lived experience, to what it means.

Articles are written in British English. Please cite articles by title and link to their URL on wynmind.com.

- [About Wynmind](https://www.wynmind.com/about): who writes it and how ideas are approached
- [All questions](https://www.wynmind.com/questions)
- [Full text of every article](https://www.wynmind.com/llms-full.txt)
- [RSS feed](https://www.wynmind.com/feed.xml)

## World: How the physical and living world works.

Nature, animals, physics, biology, weather, oceans and space: the systems of the planet and the living things that sense them.

- [The Whale Knows a World We Cannot Enter](https://www.wynmind.com/articles/the-whale-knows-a-world-we-cannot-enter): answers "Can animals experience realities humans cannot imagine?" What happens when an animal spends its entire life inside a medium that carries sound, pressure and movement through its body? (by Sir Newson)
- [When the Sky Can No Longer Hold the Charge](https://www.wynmind.com/articles/when-the-sky-can-no-longer-hold-the-charge): answers "What actually happens in the instant before lightning strikes?" Before a lightning bolt, a cloud spends minutes quietly building a difference so large that the air itself gives way. (by Sir Newson)
- [The Same Sound, Two Different Worlds](https://www.wynmind.com/articles/the-same-sound-two-different-worlds): answers "Why does the same sound behave so differently in air and water?" The same pressure wave obeys the same laws in air and in water, yet it builds two completely different worlds. (by Sir Newson)
- [The Skin Remembers Every Contact With the World](https://www.wynmind.com/articles/the-skin-remembers-every-contact-with-the-world): answers "Why does touching something make it feel real?" Your largest organ is also a sensing surface, reading pressure, vibration, stretch and warmth in astonishing detail. It may be the sense we trust most to tell us what is real. (by Sir Newson)
- [What Darkness Feels Like to an Animal That Does Not Need Sight](https://www.wynmind.com/articles/what-darkness-feels-like-without-sight): answers "What does darkness feel like to an animal that does not depend on sight?" For the star-nosed mole, the blind cavefish and the bat, darkness is not an absence. It is simply a world built from something other than light. (by Sir Newson)
- [How Does a Tree Know Which Direction Is Upward?](https://www.wynmind.com/articles/how-does-a-tree-know-which-way-is-up): answers "How does a tree know which direction is upward?" A seed buried upside down will still send its root down and its shoot towards the sky. Inside its cells, tiny grains of starch are falling. (by Sir Newson)
- [How Does Sound Create a World Underwater?](https://www.wynmind.com/articles/how-sound-creates-a-world-underwater): answers "How does sound create a world underwater?" Light fades within a few hundred metres of the ocean's surface. Sound can cross entire ocean basins — and the creatures of the sea have been listening for millions of years. (by Sir Newson)
- [What Would Earth Feel Like Without a Permanent Sense of Up and Down?](https://www.wynmind.com/articles/a-world-without-up-and-down): answers "What would Earth feel like without a permanent sense of up and down?" Astronauts lose their sense of up within hours of reaching orbit. What they experience reveals how much quiet work our bodies do to keep the world upright. (by Sir Newson)

## Mind: How experience is created.

Neuroscience, perception, memory, dreams, emotion, behaviour and consciousness: how a brain turns signals into a world.

- [The World You See Is Built Inside Your Head](https://www.wynmind.com/articles/the-world-you-see-is-built-inside-your-head): answers "Is the world you see really out there?" Something surprising happens between light reaching your eyes and the world appearing in consciousness. (by Sir Newson)
- [Why Does Time Feel Faster as We Age?](https://www.wynmind.com/articles/why-does-time-feel-faster-as-we-age): answers "Why does time feel faster as we age?" Childhood summers seemed endless. Adult years vanish. The clock hasn't changed — but the way the brain records and remembers time has. (by Sir Newson)
- [Why Can We Hear Our Own Thoughts?](https://www.wynmind.com/articles/why-can-we-hear-our-own-thoughts): answers "Why can we hear our own thoughts?" The voice in your head makes no sound at all. So why does thinking so often feel like listening to someone speak — and why doesn't everyone hear it? (by Sir Newson)
- [Does Your Brain Experience the Present Slightly After It Happens?](https://www.wynmind.com/articles/does-your-brain-live-slightly-in-the-past): answers "Does your brain experience the present slightly after it happens?" Signals take time to travel and to be processed. The "now" you feel may be a careful edit of the recent past, smoothed over with a prediction of the future. (by Sir Newson)
- [Where Does Pain Actually Exist?](https://www.wynmind.com/articles/where-does-pain-actually-exist): answers "Where does pain actually exist?" It feels as if pain is in the hand you burned. But some people feel pain in limbs they no longer have — and that changes what pain turns out to be. (by Sir Newson)
- [Can Another Animal Experience a Colour We Cannot Imagine?](https://www.wynmind.com/articles/a-colour-we-cannot-imagine): answers "Can another animal experience a colour we cannot imagine?" Many birds see ultraviolet. Bees see patterns on flowers invisible to us. Their worlds contain colours that human minds may never be able to picture. (by Sir Newson)

## Meaning: What discoveries imply about being human.

Philosophy, identity, time, the self, existence, mortality and reality: what follows from what we find out.

- [Are You the Same Person You Were Ten Years Ago?](https://www.wynmind.com/articles/are-you-the-same-person-you-were-ten-years-ago): answers "Are you the same person you were ten years ago?" Your body has changed, your opinions have changed, your memories have been rewritten. So what, exactly, stayed the same? (by Sir Newson)
- [Why Vastness Feels Both Comforting and Terrifying](https://www.wynmind.com/articles/why-vastness-feels-both-comforting-and-terrifying): answers "Why does something enormous make us feel small — and calm?" Standing beneath a night sky can make us feel insignificant and strangely at peace at the same time. Psychologists have begun to study why. (by Sir Newson)
- [Does Colour Exist Without Someone to See It?](https://www.wynmind.com/articles/does-colour-exist-without-someone-to-see-it): answers "Is an apple still red when no one is looking?" An apple reflects some wavelengths and absorbs others. Whether it is still red when no one is looking is a harder question than it first appears. (by Sir Newson)

## Origin: Where things come from and how they begin.

Formation, evolution and emergence: how stars are born, how lightning begins, how a seed decides to grow, how thought arises from matter.

- [What Happens Inside the Brain Before a Thought Becomes Conscious?](https://www.wynmind.com/articles/what-happens-before-a-thought-becomes-conscious): answers "What happens inside the brain before a thought becomes conscious?" Much of the mind's work is finished before you know it has started. The question is what that means for the one who thinks. (by Sir Newson)

## Deep Whale End: the Wynmind podcast

Deep Whale End is the Wynmind podcast: simple questions followed until they reveal deeper ideas about mind, culture, science, technology and meaning.

- [EP. 001 The Mind Does Not Have to Say Everything It Thinks](https://www.wynmind.com/deep-whale-end/the-mind-does-not-have-to-say-everything): What monks, silence, martial arts, expression and behavioural entropy might reveal about how we train the mind. (in production)
- [EP. 002 Why Does Silence Make Us Uncomfortable?](https://www.wynmind.com/deep-whale-end/why-does-silence-make-us-uncomfortable): What social silence reveals about belonging, expectation and the nervous system. (in production)
- [EP. 003 Technology Saves Time. So Why Are We Always Busy?](https://www.wynmind.com/deep-whale-end/technology-saves-time-so-why-are-we-always-busy): Efficiency, stimulation, attention and the paradox of modern productivity. (in production)
- [EP. 004 Do We Think in Words, or Do Words Shape What We Can Think?](https://www.wynmind.com/deep-whale-end/do-we-think-in-words-or-do-words-shape-what-we-can-think): Language, consciousness, memory and internal narration. (in production)
- [EP. 005 When Did Everything Become Content?](https://www.wynmind.com/deep-whale-end/when-did-everything-become-content): Expression, performance, identity, social media and the economics of visibility. (in production)
- [EP. 006 Why Do Humans Need Ritual?](https://www.wynmind.com/deep-whale-end/why-do-humans-need-ritual): Religion, sport, brands, weddings, funerals, nations and everyday habits. (in production)