A leading cognitive scientist reveals how language shapes your perception of gender, color, and justice

For cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky, the fact the human brain can perceive other people's odd collection of noises as things called "words," which somehow possess meaning, is baffling in its own right.

But according to Boroditsky's research, things can get far weirder than that.

A professor at the University of California, San Diego, Boroditsky recently spoke at the TEDWomen conference in New Orleans. Her talk addressed the many ways humans can perceive the world based on how their given language interprets it.

The differences shown in her research are startling, ranging from varied perception of color, time, and size, to larger concepts like gender, intentions, and blame.

Here are some of the most fascinating findings from her work.