A series of dots will flash on the screen.  You’ll have somewhere around one or two seconds to type in the number of dots you see.  There will be no way for you to actually count the dots one by one so you’ll have to rely on your ability to make a split second response if you want to get ANY answer correct on this test.

Does that sound like a good challenge? 

Try it for yourself.

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The Harder Riddles

1. What row of numbers comes next in this series?

1
11
21
1211
111221
312211
13112221

2. A man was to be sentenced, and the judge told him, “You may make a statement. If it is true, I’ll sentence you to four years in prison. If it is false, I’ll sentence you to six years in prison.” After the man made his statement, the judge decided to let him go free. What did the man say?

3. You have a barrel of oil, and you need to measure out just one gallon. How do you do this if you only have a three-gallon container and a five-gallon container?

4. If your sock drawer has 6 black socks, 4 brown socks, 8 white socks, and 2 tan socks, how many socks would you have to pull out in the dark to be sure you had a matching pair?

5. What is broken every time it’s spoken?

6. How did Mark legally marry three women in Michigan, without divorcing any of them, becoming legally separated, or any of them dying?

7. Mom and Dad have four daughters, and each daughter has one brother. How many people are in the family?

Short Hard Riddles

8. What English word retains the same pronunciation, even after you take away four of its five letters?

9. If I say “Everything I tell you is a lie,” am I telling you the truth or a lie?

10. What work can a painter never quite finish?

11. Why wasn’t Bertha put in jail after killing dozens of people?

12. Why wasn’t John able to take a photo of his mother with curlers?

13. If there are three cups of sugar and you take one away, how many do you have?

14. What has a mouth but can’t chew?

15. How many letters are in the alphabet?

16. What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?

17. What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?

18. Food can help me survive, but water will kill me. What am I?

19. Take away the whole and some still remains. What is it?

20. What stinks when living and smells good when dead?

21. When is it bad luck to meet a white cat?

22. If it has a quart capacity, how many pennies can you put into a empty piggy bank?

And One More Hard Riddle

23. Which of the following statements are true?

1. At least one of these ten statements is false.
2. At least two of these ten statements are false.
3. At least three of these ten statements are false.
4. At least four of these ten statements are false.
5. At least five of these ten statements are false.
6. At least six of these ten statements are false.
7. At least seven of these ten statements are false.
8. At least eight of these ten statements are false.
9. At least nine of these ten statements are false.
10. At least ten of these ten statements are false.

Ready for the answers?  Click here.

from http://www.increasebrainpower.com/hard-riddles.html

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You may know this as the “Mastermind” game.  The object is to determine, by process of elimination, the sequence of pegs hidden under the end of the board.  Your attempts are limited, so think carefully before you choose.

When you’ve practice a bit, be sure to share your most successful game.  I wonder who our Mastermind champion will be…

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The more we learn about our physical bodies, the more we realize that we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the knowledge of what we are capable.  The activity within our brains that scientists once thought was influenced completely by what we see has been turned upside down by a man who has never once even seen light.

I won’t give you any more details.  Let’s just say you might be totally amazed at what’s possible.

Watch.

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Here are the instructions:

This task measures your brain’s spatial planning ability.

Numbered tiles will originally appear in numerical order on a grid.  Then they’ll then be shuffled so that they’re all mixed up.

Your job is to put them back in the correct order in as few moves as possible by sliding the tiles into the blank spaces available.

And you’ve only got 3 minutes to solve as many problems as you can.

Try it!

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In 1951, 31 year old Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer, which she died from within the year. Unknown to her and her family (i.e. without informed consent) a surgeon took a tissue sample from her tumor that was passed on to a Dr. George Gey. A scientist for the John Hopkins University Tissue Culture Laboratory, Gey propagated Lacks’ tissue sample into an immortal cell line – the HeLa cell line (pictured above). The cells from Lacks’ tumour have an active version of the telomerase enzyme (telomerase is the mechanism by which cells age or are aged) and proliferate abnormally fast. On the day of Henrietta Lacks’ death, Dr. Gey announced to the world that a new age in medical research had begun – one that might provide a cure for cancer.

HeLa cells were utilised in 1954 by Jonas Salk to develop the cure for polio. Since then they’ve been used in researching cancer, AIDS, the effects of radiation and toxic substances, and for mapping genes, among other things.

Today, the HeLa cells are so common in laboratories that they contaminate many other cell cultures and have rendered some biological studies invalid through their presence. There are also more HeLa cells alive today than when Henrietta Lacks was alive – they outweigh her physical mass by many times. Tragically, Lacks was never told of the immensely valuable contribution her cells made to science and her family was not informed until many years later that her cells were being used for research purposes (a 1990 court ruling later verified Lacks’ hospital as the owner of her discarded tissue and cells).

…What an amazing story, don’t you think?

Source

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Take this test…

Then come back here and explore this interesting phenomenon.

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In this puzzle you have to use some lateral thinking and toss out the usual ways you look at a sentence.  Your brain, by default, will want to take the words at face value, so be prepared to experience some brain strain as you force yourself to think about them in new ways, searching for the hidden words.

In each sentence is a hidden word belonging to one of the categories listed below. Find the word, and identify the category to which it belongs by clicking on the corresponding button.

For example:

When I grow up, I want to be a ranger.

• animal
• vegetable
• colour

In this case, the answer would be animal. The hidden word is bear (When I grow up, I want to be a r anger).  Got it?

Now it’s your turn.

1.  The sun setting against the horizon makes Cairo seem magnificent.

• musical instrument
• texture
• flower

2.  On a dare, Bob decided to jump in, knowing the water would be cold.

• sport
• plant
• colour

3.  The pet store owner had met Pavlov a lot of times.

• texture
• shape
• size

4.  Look, I will not tolerate this nonsense any more.

• fruit
• drink
• colour

5.  As the mug was full, I very carefully added the cream.

• body organ
• colour
• texture

6.  When you are thorough with washing the dishes, you may go and play.

• natural phenomenon
• food
• texture

7.  We found the cup and saucer, both under the bed.

• tree
• natural phenomenon
• colour

8. Mary buys Tom a cherry sundae.

• body part
• clothing
• flower

9.  I agree not to eat all the cookies.

• fruit
• drink
• colour

Would you like a hint?  Click here.

If you think you know the answers, see if  you’re right.

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A good many years ago “The Incredible Machine” game came out.  It was very popular and it tested your thinking as you assembled an assortment of unusual items to create a working mechanical system. It was so much of a success, soon after a newer version called “The Incredible Machine 2″ appeared, then later on came “The Incredible Machine 3″…

You get the picture.  Now they’re on version 7 or 8 or so and are still going strong.

If you’d like to get an idea about what The Incredible Machine puzzles are like, here’s an online version of a game similar to that one.  The idea is to get a marble to land in a bucket.  Easy enough, right?  You might be surprised…

Test out your logic and perceptual skills, and, oh yeah, don’t forget to have a little fun while your at it! 

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