Slow-Motion Owl in Flight

By Paul Ciampanelli Aug 9th 2011

Have you ever been in a car crash? If you have, you're probably familiar with the phenomenon that people often describe of time seeming to slow down in an emergency. You panic, and a crisis that takes place in a matter of seconds seems to take much longer in your mind. Fear stimulates the amygdala of the brain, which also regulates memory production. So scientists believe that in emergencies, your memory creation snaps into overdrive, which may account for the slow-mo effect.

Now imagine you're a field mouse. You're booking it across the open grass, trying to get home as fast as you can to your mouse wife and your mouse kids. Suddenly the air grows a bit cooler as a shadow overtakes you, and you feel and hear the beating of wings above. You look up. What do you see? And angel of death glides steadily toward you, and your amygdala starts going crazy, causing your brain to generate instant, detailed memories of the last thing you will ever see. You see every feather of an owl's wings creating aerodynamically perfect flight. You see its legs unfold and extend forward toward you. You watch its talons spread out, opening slowly, ready to--