The Amazing Abner swirls his cape, waves his wand, and pulls a rabbit out of a hat. Polly Presto makes her assistant disappear while inside a locked cabinet. The old guy in the park pulls a coin from behind your ear. You know there’s some kind of a trick, but it looks so real. How do they do it?
There’s Science Behind the Art
Magic is an art form, and magicians don’t easily reveal their methods. But over the years they’ve shared the secrets behind a few of the traditional tricks. For example, in a 2010 YouTube video, the magic act Penn and Teller demonstrate what may be the most classic of stage magic illusions: cutting an assistant in half. Of course they do it with that special Penn and Teller touch, which makes the whole thing even more “Wow! How did they do that?” (and much funnier) than when they started.
