A new viral optical illusion will test the sharpness of your eyes and only those with the sharpest will be able to solve the hidden mystery within. Optical illusions can be a fun way to test the proficiency and speed of our brain, eyes and other sensory aspects of ourselves. A new and intriguing viral optical illusion challenges users to detect the number hidden within an image and it is leaving some people baffled. The image was shared on Twitter by @TheFigen_ who captioned the image: “Eye test! What number do you see?” The picture appears to show a blank square of red speckles, but if your eyes are sharp enough you may just about see a three-digit number hidden amongst the red speckles. Over 568,000 people have viewed the image and in the comments, people have commented on the number that they believe they can see. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter For those with sharp eyes, the number can be seen going across the centre of the image, blending almost seamlessly in with the background until you spot it. In the comments, one three-digit number appeared very frequently, while the answers some people gave were less unanimous. One person guessed “572”. A few posed “573” while someone else said “285”. The answer was actually “571”, with most of those commenting giving the correct answer to the challenge. Other optical illusions that have taken the internet by storm include the viral “fourth object” trend on TikTok that challenges people to locate four different objects in one image. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

SAVE 49%: Unblock ChatGPT from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN. A one-year subscription to

Pennsylvania state government will prepare to use artificial intelligence in its operations, as states are increasingly trying to gauge the impact of AI and how to regulate it

We don’t want to alarm anyone, but the sun is broken. A section of the sun has left the surface and begun circulating around the top of the star as if it were a huge polar vortex, and it’s not exactly clear why it’s happened. The observation was made possible thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope, and its no surprise that it piqued the interests of scientists everywhere. Tamitha Skov is a space weather physicist who regularly shares updates on social media, and she seemed incredibly excited about the latest developments. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “Talk about Polar Vortex! Material from a northern prominence just broke away from the main filament & is now circulating in a massive polar vortex around the north pole of our Star,” she wrote. “Implications for understanding the Sun's atmospheric dynamics above 55° here cannot be overstated!” Solar prominences consist of hydrogen and helium, and they extrude from the sun’s service releasing plasma. While there’s confusion around the cause of the phenomenon, it could be related to the reversal of the sun’s magnetic field, as well as the fact that something expected has been known to happen when the sun reaches a 55 degree latitude in every 11-year solar cycle. Solar physicist Scott McIntosh, who is the deputy director at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado told Space.com: "Once every solar cycle, it forms at the 55 degree latitude and it starts to march up to the solar poles. “It's very curious. There is a big 'why' question around it. Why does it only move toward the pole one time and then disappears and then comes back, magically, three or four years later in exactly the same region?" Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Pokimane, famous Twitch streamer adderessed assumptions about her sexuality during one of her live streams

The Madden 24 servers are currently live and players can check the Madden server status by following news on Twitter or heading to EAHelp or DownDector.

Instagram’s new Twitter competitor app “Threads” is slated to be rolled out on Thursday in the US and on Friday for the rest of the world, according to a listing spotted on Apple’s App Store. The Twitter alternative app from Instagram’s parent company Meta briefly showed up on Google Play on Saturday and was spotted by mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi, who flagged some of its features on the Elon Musk-owned social media platform. Screenshots and some initial details revealed some of the app’s UI elements, including its login screen, which suggested an ability to log into the app with one’s Instagram account. The interface, as seen on the screenshots, also appears similar to other text-based social media apps. “Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” said the app’s App Store preview notes. “Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things – or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions, and creativity with the world.” Meta has also launched a new webpage with a countdown ahead of Threads’ release. The tech giant has been working on the app for some time now, initially under the name “Barcelona”. The Threads app was being planned for an end-of-July release, but its launch is being sped up following Twitter users expressing frustration over Mr Musk’s “rate limiting” fiasco, 9to5Mac reported. Chaos erupted on Twitter on Saturday as the company’s owner and chief technology officer Mr Musk announced new limits on the number of posts accounts can read in a day. The Tesla boss said the decision was made to “address extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation”. He had previously expressed displeasure with artificial intelligence firms like ChatGPT-owner OpenAI using Twitter’s data to train their AI models. Many users expressed their frustration over the weekend as they got notifications saying, “Sorry, you are rate limited. Please wait a few moments then try again”. The growing frustration among Twitter’s users has also led to a new surge of activity on rival social networks like Mastodon and Bluesky. Threads’ rollout in this atmosphere of backlash against Twitter’s moves might see the new app get more takers. The Twitter competitor also appears to directly port over users’ Instagram followers and following lists, instead of rebuilding their communities from scratch. Read More Jack Dorsey calls for ‘open internet’ as Musk imposes new reading limits on Twitter Twitter down: Rival Mastodon sees huge increase in users as Elon Musk ‘destroys his site’ Twitter rival Bluesky halts sign-ups after huge surge in demand following Musk’s rate limits Twitter rival Bluesky halts sign-ups after huge surge in demand Twitter is breaking more and more Twitter rival sees huge increase in users as Elon Musk ‘destroys his site’

Brussels Midi isn’t the most seductive of Europe’s railway stations. The modern hub in the Belgian capital lacks

As Turkey prepares for a presidential election on Sunday that may have ricocheting effects on

Amazon.com Inc. plans to invest $12.7 billion in cloud infrastructure in India by 2030, joining other global tech

A high-quality yet affordable laptop can help you get things done, make work calls, and

An eight billion-year-old radio signal containing extreme levels of energy has been discovered by astronomers. According to the journal Science, a “fast radio burst” was recorded as lasting for just a millisecond. The radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation was identified as FRB 20220610A, and it contained a truly staggering level of energy – releasing the same amount that the sun releases in 30 years. As CNN reports, the true nature of these blasts can often be hard to determine, given that they last for such a short length of time. It is believed, however, that they result from galaxies merging to create new stars. Furthermore, they could also be 'weighed', in order to measure the mass of the elements in the universe which are found between galaxies and unaccounted for. Coauthor Ryan Shannon said: “If we count up the amount of normal matter in the universe - the atoms that we are all made of - we find that more than half of what should be there today is missing. “We think that the missing matter is hiding in the space between galaxies, but it may just be so hot and diffuse that it’s impossible to see using normal techniques.” The huge signal was discovered using the Australian SKA Pathfinder radio telescope, before further observation was undertaken using a telescope in China – which was able to determine that the fast radio burst was the oldest and more remote example discovered to date. It comes after scientists were left baffled following the discovery of a mysterious object which sends radio waves every 21 minutes earlier this year. The really strange thing is, it’s been doing the same thing for 45 years and astronomers are still unsure about what it could be. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings