Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Here’s a video that shows, at leaat in some cases, that animals have the same expectations as we do about movement, and thus are susceptible to being fooled by magic tricks (not all of these are magic tricks, but all involve fooling creatures). Here are my favorites (note that I am a cat rather than a d&g person):
Pug: 0:27
Cat: 0:53
Parrot: 2:37
Raccoon: 2:57
D*g: 4:26
Cat: 5:57
Kitten: 7:53
The magicians Penn and Teller have a television show called “Fool Us”, in which aspiring magicians do their best tricks in front of the duo. If they can’t figure out how the trick is done, the entrant “wins,” and at least some of them get invited to perform in Penn and Teller’s show in Las Vegas.
Here’s a new video showing a winner: Léa Kyle does the well known “quick change act” in which a full change of clothes appears instantaneously on the magician. You can see how it’s done with just one or two changes by looking for “quick change act” on YouTube, but in this act Kyle instantaneously changes clothes eight times in four minutes, plus does a bunch of other magic stuff.
It’s amazing, and Penn appears especially astonished. I have no idea how she does it.
I still do the “thumb removal” trick, but very badly. This guy does it fantastically, and uses all the other fingers as well. Maybe I should practice this. . .
How on Earth does he do the last finger movement trick, though?
The YouTube video has a funny comment under it:
And “Slow Mo Guys” created a video in which one of them dives onto a trampoline with a thousand loaded mousetraps. The diver wasn’t injured, but it goes to show that no matter how weird and pointless an act might be, you can always find it on the Internet.
by Matthew Cobb
This fantastic video shows a young orangutan being shown a ‘magic’ trick through the enclosure glass. Just watch:
The orangutan shows the same kind of response as you’d expect from a one year-old human infant. It knows that things don’t just disappear, so when something apparently does, the response is one of amazement and what looks like laughter.
D*gs can similarly be confused by a trick, although lacking the wit of an orangutan, they simply get cross:
You can guess what cats think of something as trivial as prestidigitation:
Learning the physical rules of the universe, in particular what the Swiss psychologist Piaget called the conservation of matter, is a tricky business. This neat video of a 4.5 year old child showing his understanding of the world is fascinating:
Finally, you may have noticed that the YouTube user who posted the orangutan video, Dan Zaleski, entitled it ‘Monkey sees a magic trick’. I sent the link to my daughter, who is studying Zoology, and she immediately replied ‘Monkey!’ Many of the commenters under the video have also complained that the orangutan is an ape, not a monkey, some of them not so nuanced (YouTube comments are not noted for their subtlety).
In fact, there’s a pedantic argument to be made on the basis of nested taxonomy that apes are indeed monkeys (see here and here). Whatever the pedantry (and I would not call an ape a monkey), the correct term would surely have been ape, or even better, orangutan. That’s what was written on the poor animal’s cage.
h/t: @alisonatkin
There are few ways to enter the consciousness of another species, much less another human, but at least we can see if some animals process visual information the way we do. I am speaking in particular of visual illusions, like the “rotating snake” illusion that obviously has deceived this felid:
Of course there’s no control (does this cat scratch at any image?), but I suspect it sees the snakes rotating, just as we do when we look at this:
If you let your gaze wander over it, it moves, but if you fix your gaze on one section, it stops. It’s quite an illusion.
You can print it out from above or here (the site also has information about the illusion). I would of course be immensely pleased if some readers would test their cat and report back about whether it seems to perceive movement.
h/t: SGM. Alejandro
Here: you can haz kitten to close out a long week. But first read about Stresemann’s Bristlefront two posts below, and if you feel so inclined, donate to save it (I’ve added a link).
Eat your heart our, Dr. Krauss! This video apparently shows Taiwanese magician 大支 曾 producing a lovely kitten out of thin air. And it’s done for a good cause—to promote animal adoption. If anyone knows how this is done, weigh in below.
God can make the cosmos pretty
But only evolution can make a kitty.
h/t: Anders W.
Some lovely magic to end the day, from the International Magic Convention in Beijing. The YouTube caption says this:
FISM award winner and French magic champion Yann Frisch is one of magic’s freshest talents. Yann has been creating a sensation wherever he goes with his unique take on classic magic, an absurdist take on the cups and balls. Cool, clever, stylish and oh so artful. We are proud to have one of France’s top performers at EMC.
Be sure to watch to the end; it’s only 4.5 minutes.