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Science 4: Optical illusions 8 Views
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Description:
Spoiler alert: Magicians aren't really magically materializing rabbits in hats. It's just an optical illusion. We know, we were pretty let down too.
Transcript
- 00:04
[Dino and Coop singing]
- 00:13
Y'know what helps us unwind after a stressful day?
- 00:16
Watching a guy in a suit pull hares out of a hat. [Guy in a suit reaches down and pulls hair out of a hat on a couch]
- 00:18
…Okay, that came out weirder than we thought it would.
- 00:20
We just meant magic shows.
Full Transcript
- 00:21
But for those days when we just can't get to a magic show, we have something that'll [Guy pulls a rabbit out of a hat]
- 00:25
take the edge off: optical illusions. [Static on a TV stops and an optical illusion appears]
- 00:28
To understand what an optical illusion is, it helps to break the term down into smaller [Coop pointing at a blackboard]
- 00:32
parts.
- 00:33
The first word, "optical," refers to our eyes.
- 00:35
The second word, "illusion," means a kind of trick.
- 00:38
So an optical illusion is a trick involving our eyes. [Dino pointing at a blackboard]
- 00:41
But who's being tricked, exactly?
- 00:43
If magic tricks are performed by magicians for audience members… [Magician dancing on stage]
- 00:46
…are optical illusions performed by eyes, for…other eyes? [Magician disappears in a puff of smoke and only his eyes are left behind]
- 00:50
We hope not, because we wouldn't want to clean up the seats in a big theatre after a bunch [Angry looking eyes leaving]
- 00:54
of eyeballs have been sitting in 'em. [Guy cleaning looks grossed out]
- 00:56
It turns out the sap being tricked in an optical illusion is actually the human brain. [Girls head opens]
- 01:01
When our eyes look at something…
- 01:02
…they gather and transmit a whole bunch of information to the brain, with the hope [Girl looking at a globe]
- 01:06
that the brain will understand what's there. [A globe sign appears in her head]
- 01:08
So if you look at an apple, your eyes transmit enough visual info to your brain so that it's [Guy looking at an apple on the TV]
- 01:13
able to think, "Hey look! [Apples going into the guys eyes]
- 01:14
An apple!" [An apple sign appears in the guys head]
- 01:15
But with an optical illusion, things aren't quite so simple.
- 01:18
Our eyes still gather up a bunch of information and transmit that information to the brain. [Optical illusions going into the guys eyes]
- 01:23
But due to weird uses of color, lights or patterns… [Guy looks shocked]
- 01:27
…our brain gets confused, and ends up thinking that it sees something different from what's [Two signs appear, faces and vase]
- 01:31
actually being seen.
- 01:33
And since brains tend to like getting things right, this can really hurt the brain's self-esteem. [Guy looks angry and storms out]
- 01:38
We can see how this works with a pretty simple optical illusion.
- 01:40
Take a look at these two shapes.
- 01:42
At first glance, it might look like the middle line in A is longer than the one in B. Okay…so
- 01:47
where's the illusion?
- 01:48
It turns out that these two middle lines have the exact same length. [Length of line A is copied onto line B to show they are the same length]
- 01:53
What's especially weird, though, is that even once we know the trick, the two lines still
- 01:57
look like they're different lengths. [The copied length is taken away]
- 01:59
The arrangement of the lines create a pattern that our brains just can't help but see incorrectly. [Help me sign on the guys brain]
- 02:03
It's the sort of trick that might not get you a two-year contract performing magic shows [An explosion goes off and the guy falls over]
- 02:07
on the Vegas Strip…
- 02:08
…but hey, at least your brain will always enjoy it. [Guy looks at an optical illusion on the stage and his mind blows up]
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