Bruce Bridgeman, a 67-year-old neuroscientist at the University of California in Santa Cruz, grew up nearly stereoblind, or in Lehman’s terms, without depth perception. It’s difficult to imagine, but until February of this year, the world truly was flat for Bruce Bridgeman.

However, the BBC is reporting that on February 16, 2013, Bridgeman went to a theater with his wife to see Martin Scorcese’s ‘Hugo’ in 3D. As everyone does when seeing a 3D movie, Bridgeman purchased a pair of movie glasses, despite his lack of depth perception. Little did Bridgeman know that his (at the time) wasteful purchase of 3-dimensional viewing glasses would change his life forever. 

After the previews were over, Bridgeman entered a completely different dimension of life after 67 years of living in a flat world. “It was just literally like a whole new dimension of sight. Exciting,” says Bridgeman. However, the amazement didn’t stop there - when he stepped out of the cinema, the world took on a whole new life of its own.

Miraculously, he’s seen the world in 3D every single day since. “Riding to work on my bike, I look into a forest beside the road and see a riot of depth, every tree standing out from all the others,” he says. Something had happened. Some part of his brain had awakened.

What caused the brain to rewire itself? We may never know. A true testament to the intricacies of the human brain.