An illusion involving a hidden thumb confounds capuchin and squirrel monkeys for the same reason it does humans -- it misdirects expected outcomes of actions they can carry out. However, marmosets ...

When 10-year-old Cosmo Solano made a scarf disappear from his bare hands, his grandmother was beside herself. The devout Catholic thought her grandson was possessed by “Diablo,” and booted him out of ...

A Humboldt's squirrel monkey is fooled by the "French Drop" magic trick. Credit: E. Garcia-Pelegrin et al., 2023 The key to a successful sleight-of-hand magic trick is how well a magician manipulates ...

A new Diwali trend called the Fire Handshake has set social media ablaze quite literally. The viral phenomenon involves people performing a fiery illusion where flames seem to burst from their hands ...

A small experiment using sleights of hand and illusions offers insights into how birds and people perceive the world. By Veronique Greenwood The coin is in the illusionist’s left hand, now it’s in the ...

Psychologists used a sleight-of-hand trick called the French drop, in which an object appears to vanish when a spectator assumes it is taken from one hand by the hidden thumb of the other hand. The ...