Can Magic Be Used As A Tool In Science?

What is magic? Rabbits out of hats? Card tricks? Someone in a sparkly outfit getting sawn in half? Well, yes, but it’s also about defying expectations. To psychologist and magician Dr Gustav Kuhn, founder of the UK’s only MAGIC Lab, it’s about causing you to question what you think to be real. Having practiced magic from a young age, he embarked on a psychology degree to try and get a better understanding of what made a good trick, or a good performance. Thing is, he realized along the way that a lot of the big questions in psychology are addressed by key concepts in magic. Sleight of hand, card forces, and misdirection – it all challenges our attention and exploits our weak spots, making us believe what we see, and see what they want us to. In this holiday bonus episode, join us as we explore the many ways in which magic is being used as a tool for science, encompassing some of the biggest challenges of our time, from cybercrime to misinformation.

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Can Magic Be Used As A Tool In Science? is an episode from IFLScience - The Big Questions by IFLScience.

This episode is 21:19 long.

This episode was published on Dec 23, 2025.

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