To help pay for his undergraduate education, Elias Garcia-Pelegrin had an unusual summer job: cruise ship magician. “I was that guy who comes out at dinnertime and does random magic for you,” he says.

Magic tricks make the impossible seem possible. Magicians have long captivated audiences with visual tricks, such as pulling a bunny from a hat or sawing someone in half, but tricks that rely on sound ...

Pulling a rabbit from a top hat. Teleporting from one cage to another. Finding a coin behind a five-year-old’s ear. Magic has long inspired a sense of awe and wonder, but one portion of the population ...

Finally, science has confirmed what Penn & Teller have been telling us since Bullshit! began in 2003: magic isn’t real. Indeed, a team of researchers is using the lessons from persuasive “stage magic” ...

University of Cambridge provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK. Magic tricks can teach us about how the brain works. Magic capitalises on very specific blind spots in people’s attention ...