Body
Hearing, an incredible sense to discover with Houtopia, a universe of senses
At Houtopia, the hearing will no longer hold any secrets for you! Discover the McGurk effect, stereophony, and the Chladni table. […]
Heritage
Artistic
Understanding optical illusions with René Magritte
Sometimes your brain shows you images that in reality don’t exist or are physically impossible. Images that present a different reality. These are called optical illusions. A principle that René Magritte, the famous Belgian painter, was able to exploit to create remarkable and world-famous paintings. […]
Belgian inventors
The phenakistiscope, the ancestor of cartoons
A very fast succession of images gives the impression of continuous movement, like in cartoons. It works thanks to a phenomenon called the retinal persistence. It was the Brussels native Joseph Plateau who discovered it and created the first phenakistiscope. […]
Heard on the radio
The protective mask through History
If there is one object that symbolizes the coronavirus pandemic that affects the entire planet these days, it is the mask. A small square of plastic or fabric that has become essential to protect ourselves from the spread of Covid-19. This accessory, which acts as a barrier to microbes and other harmful substances, is not new. Thanks to the observation of the first “scientists” and doctors of the past, the mask was created, it must be said, to protect us. Here is the little story of the mask. […]
Animals
How does the chameleon blend into its environment?
When we change clothes, it’s for the pleasure of wearing what we like, playing sports or dressing up. The chameleon makes fun of fashion or carnival, if it changes skin color, it is for more primary reasons. Green, brown, yellow, but also blue or pink, the chameleon is the undisputed master for changing skin. But how does it work? […]
Artistic
How are Gilles de Binche’s masks made?
The Gille is the most important character in the carnival of Binche, a village located in the Province of Hainaut in Belgium. We can easily recognize him by his orange suit, his big white feathers that he wears on Mardi Gras on his head, and by his mask, his mustaches and red favorites, green glasses! But how are these masks made? […]
Chemistry
White chocolate, real or fake chocolate?
Belgium’s flagship product, recognized beyond its borders, chocolate is a delicacy you may enjoy almost daily. In a spread, in cocoa, or a stick, decorated by hazelnut fragments or filled with praline, the possibilities are numerous as long as you can lick your fingers afterward. But chocolate is brown, right? So what is white chocolate? […]
Belgian inventors
The praline of Jean Neuhaus, a Belgian delight recognized all over the world.
Belgium is the country of chocolate. The whole world knows it! But what people don’t know is that before it was a praline, chocolate was used to make drugs taste better. So it wasn’t in a chocolate factory that it all started, but in a pharmacy in Brussels, where we sold drugs to treat people. […]
Belgian inventors
Robert Cailliau, the forgotten co-inventor of www!
Two of them have developed the web: an Englishman named Tim Berners-Lee, and a brilliant Belgian scientist who has been forgotten, Robert Cailliau. How could we forget the name of a man behind the technology we use every day? Even the Britannica encyclopedia attributes the invention of the web to the English scientist, neglecting his Belgian colleague. […]
Belgian inventors
Andreas Vesalius, the father of anatomy
Anatomy is the science that studies the shape, structure, and positioning of the organs in our body. And the father of anatomy is none other than the Belgian André Vésale. […]