What are those floaty things in your eye? - Michael Mauser

Explore the science of the phenomenon of “floaters,” those tiny blobs that swim across your field of vision.

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Sometimes, against a uniform, bright background such as a clear sky or a blank computer screen, you might see things floating across your field of vision. What are these moving objects, and how are you seeing them? Michael Mauser explains the visual phenomenon that is floaters.

Lesson by Michael Mauser, animation by Reflective Films.

[Thestellarquarrion]

8 yr old me in the shower looking up at the ceiling and seeing these floaters: Do I have germ vision?

[marcusvincevalencia]

I never thought this was ever gonna be answered

[maikehumernik]

When I was a kid, I always “played” with these things. I tried to keep those dots in the middle of my eye sight and I always wondered what it actually is. Thanks for finally telling me

[JanStue]

Seeing in the comments that so many other people also thought they could see atoms is so crazy. Last time I stumbled upon this phenomenon was in a comment section where someone asked if anyone knows the feeling of really wanting to punch in their dreams but the punch doesn't happen haha. I love it that so many other people experience the same stuff I do.

[TFLegacy]

Literally answered my childhood question 35 years ago

[amithpanoli]

I had to wait for more than 25 years for this.
When I was a kid, I used to think that I had a superpower to see micro organisms.

[henrygreen]

I NEVER realised they were _inside_ the eyeball, I thought they were on the surface of my pupil. Great educational video.

The tiny darts of light were always my favourite. When I was a kid I would induce heavy sneezes just to see them lol.

[bts_rollercosterlifepurplearmy]

I can't even explain the condition properly
And you easily explain the science behind this 👍

[ridgefrost]

Non of us searched for this but we all felt compelled to watch it

[davosmando]

I experience this two phenomena every once in a while, although the floaters are far more common. I’m so glad to finally get an answer to what they are and what differentiates them.

[clo.]

I've seen these since I was a child 😭They're usually colourful and move around wherever I look, I genuinely thought I was going blind back then. So glad someone finally answered my childhood question!

[Leo-gqyi]

The question everyone was wondering about and no one actually bothered to ask

[sadoman]

Imagine being the first person to discover this and had to explain to the others

[ZeparOP]

I am Glad that Many of us have faced these common issues and I am a bit calm and relaxed that I am not the only one who experienced this!

[samuelphom]

I thought I was the only one experiencing this phenomenon, I tried explaining this so many times to the people around me but they never really understood me or my situation. Well now Im glad that I'm not the only one who experiences this and I can show others this videos whenever I need to explain about this phenomenon. Thank you Teded.

[gebruikersnaamhuh]

I asked my high school biology teacher about this years ago. he clearly didn't know what i meant and told me to stop doing drugs lol

[giselle]

nobody:


me after seeing the thumbnail: *i knew i wasn’t the only one*

[shaansylvain]

i have what’s called visual snow so i have excessive floaters as well as many other visual phenomena. sometimes it’s very overwhelming but this video brings me sm peace.

[Gab]

What a beautiful way to end the video. It’s a reminder that what we see depends on us as much as what’s in there.

[young_ww]

Everyone thought that they were the only ones who could see these but actually, everybody was aware of it and they hardly discussed this...