Ben Balas
Vision Scientist, Dad, Would-be artist & dreadful chess player. Check out my new #visionscience textbook here: routledge.com/Practical-Vision-Sc… All opinions my own.
- I've got a new #visionscience video for you! Today I'm showing off how to see the hidden object in Magic Eye stereograms without worrying about getting your eyes lined up the right way. If you're interested in reading why this works... <1/2>
- Great perspective by @juliafstrand.bsky.social on building an undergrad lab! I've mostly worked with undergrad RAs throughout my career and I think we've done a lot of work and made the lab a good place to gain skills and experience for a lot of different next steps. #PsychSciSky #visionscience
- Just out—a piece I wrote a piece for the APS Observer (@psychscience.bsky.social) in which I share recommendations and resources for running a research lab at a small, liberal arts college. I hope it helps others in the same boat! www.psychologicalscience.org/publications...
- New post from @blaisebalas.bsky.social at So Desensitized about Catherine O'Hara's passing and her wonderfully weird and always hilarious work on-screen. buttondown.com/blaisebalas/... #Movies #FilmSky
- Great #visionscience question from @michaelanes.bsky.social! The more you can get students to work on looking at things and talking through what they see, the more I think you can steer them away from thinking of learning as just the accumulation of facts.
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- After a rather long delay, I've finally got a new Science of #Chess post up on lichess! This time I'm looking at a very neat #neuroscience paper (co-authored by @hansopdebeeck.bsky.social) using chess as a model for studying expertise. Enjoy! #cogneuro #PsychSciSky
- I stand with @melville-society.bsky.social on this one! Moby Dick is in my top 5 of all time and I will defend Ishmael's long discourse on cetology to anyone at anytime.
- Oof - you guys, making videos people might actually want to watch is NOT easy. Spent most of today working on a ~10min video and now that I watch it, it is soooo freaking dull! Gotta work on talking without lecturing, among other things. #learningcurve #onward 👓🧠🎥
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- The #scicomm content creation journey continues! Here's a new short video showing off one of the benefits of living someplace horrendously cold: Sun dogs! #visionscience
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- I am beyond excited about the Cow Tools discussion happening now. Will definitely tune in to hear @cowtoolsdaily.bsky.social talk about this!
- Quick #behindthescenes confession about the last YT video I posted: I once had a student who combined reflection & refraction into the amazing word "reflaction" on a test and I ended up saying that like, 3 times before I got an acceptable take. I'm already debating a #visionscience outtakes channel.
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- This past weekend, I was excited to visit @museumofscience.bsky.social to start my work as a Science Communication fellow. Now that I'm back home, the #scicomm begins, starting with a new YouTube channel! Just published my 1st video & stay tuned for #visionscience content coming soon.
- If you're a fan of #DavidLynch (and even if you aren't), go check out @blaisebalas.bsky.social's post to mark the first anniversary of his passing. "Don’t feel any obligation to be understood by anyone." #FilmSky #MovieSky #Movies #Cinema
- Very excited to part of this collaboration between the Fargo-Moorhead Science Museum and NDSU! Thanks to Jessie Rock, @jennimomsen.bsky.social , and our PI, Kayla Adamek for working on this together!
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- New #HorrorMovies post from the incomparable @blaisebalas.bsky.social over at So Desensitized! Check it out for your latest dose of critical commentary on #horror from one of the Kids These Days.
- Reposted by Ben BalasPsychophysics is a human-facing science with interventions arguably more robust than medicine.
- Reposted by Ben BalasAre you thinking about doing neuroscience outreach but want to make it more exciting or hands on? Check out RetINaBox! (A collab led by the Trenholm lab) We tried to bring the experience of experimental neuroscience to a classroom setting: www.eneuro.org/content/13/1... #neuroscience 🧪
- This is seriously just in time for some stuff we're working on that had left us feeling very stuck. #visionscience
- I am happy to share that our preprint “𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗶𝗿𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮: 𝗔 𝗧𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵” is now out. Huge thanks to @bayslab.org, Julie de Falco, Zahara, @cjungerius.bsky.social, @ivntmc.bsky.social, Adam, and Xiaolu for the lovely collaboration. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
- Today makes it 21 years married to @erconwell.bsky.social! We even remembered that it was our anniversary today, which improves our track record to 3 years in a row. ❤️
- This is a great article!
- Putting some finishing touches on this afternoon's #visionscience talk at NITOP 2026: Red/Cyan glasses are ready, pushpins are at hand, and we should be good to go for 3pm! Excited to talk about analog demos and centering observation to teach S&P. <1/3>
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- If you're a fan of STRANGER THINGS, @blaisebalas.bsky.social's post is an excellent bit of #popculture and horror analysis. Go like, share, and subscribe! #horrorsky #strangerthings #horrormovies
- Happy New Year! We're off to the Nth annual Ben Balas Memorial Crokinole tournament, but 2026 is just a few hours away here in the Frozen North. The sun decided to put on one more show for us in 2025, so thought I'd share this look at the ND sky with you all. #happynewyear
- Weekend reading: Just finished @blacktopkid.bsky.social's BLACKTOP WASTELAND. This one doesn't let you go - I don't usually read straight through a book in a sitting or two, but I couldn't help it with this one. Definitely one of the best I've read this year. app.thestorygraph.com/books/9f10d1...
- I didn't grow up with these as a holiday tradition, but I now think of @nancykanwisher.bsky.social every year when we get them from our stockings. The 1st time I got one I was gently tapping it on the table to no avail & Nancy showed me the proper technique of whacking the hell out of it. 🎄🍊🔨
- Heck yeah! The Thin Man is fantastic.
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- I've been hooked recently on a solitaire game called Scoundrel that plays with a standard deck of cards and an optional D20. It's a dungeon crawl with weapons (diamonds), monsters (clubs and spades), and health potions (hearts). Finally won with the 10H last in the deck! <1/3>
- I've been in a bit of a #chess playing slump for the past few weeks, but the end of the term seems to have given me some of my brain back! Pretty pleased with this blitz game today - I've been working on learning the Grand Prix and I feel like it's started going a little more smoothly of late.
- Weekend reading: Miles Harvey's THE KING OF CONFIDENCE. This is one of those books that makes you wonder how this piece of US history isn't taught more widely - fascinating and strange (like the antebellum period in general) and very readable. 📚
- Welcome Yule!
- One of my favorite memories of college was being Omelette Man for Finals week breakfasts b/c I didn't have any exams. Cook on, Omelette Man!
- It's Williams-Sonoma time, people! I was just saying to @erconwell.bsky.social this morning that it hadn't quite set in that #Christmas was coming, but now I've got that holiday spirit.
- One more #ArtAdventCalendar post for your evening and it's another #StudioGhibli #snowflake design. Tonight, we switch to HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE and the fiery Calcifer! This one is especially for @k-a-baker.bsky.social who requested this guy a few snowflakes ago. ❄️✂️🔥🏰
- A hallway conversation today about AI, my Neuropsych students, and upcoming movies led to a brief moment of confusion for one of my colleagues who thought we were talking about a Phineas Gage biopic starring Nic Cage. Here me out - whatever's in the trailer, it ends with CAGE. IS. GAGE.
- Excellent piece about Ben Grimm (The Thing) being acknowledged as Jewish for the first time in Fantastic Four #56.
- Took in WAKE UP DEAD MAN at the Fargo Theatre this afternoon. I quite liked the different tone of this one - KNIVES OUT and GLASS ONION are great fun, but I liked that this one embraced genuineness more than snark. I do feel Andrew Scott was under-utilized, however.
- We are back in the #papercraft business! Thanks to the lovely @erconwell.bsky.social for making the run to get a new Cricut blade - tonight's #ArtAdventCalendar design is another #StudioGhibli #snowflake: Kiki and Jiji from KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE. ❄️✂️🧹🐈⬛
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- Alas, we had a busy evening & so for tonight's #ArtAdventCalendar I must give you a #snowflake from year's past. Part of tonight's schedule was a trip to the movies, so here's my @mst3kofficial.bsky.social Tom Servo and Crow designs from a few years ago. Enjoy, and stay tuned for new patterns soon!
- Tonight was movie night at the Fargo Theatre and our feature was DIE HARD. Still probably the best action movie there is and watching with a crowd was great fun.
- Link to my in-depth interview about snow removal: www.inforum.com/news/fargo/w...
