Awesome Illusions

For kids and kids at heart, Klutz’ Book of Impossible Objects offers 25 fun and mind-bending illusions and tricks. Our favorite – the stare-o-saurus, a dinosaur whose eyes remain fixed on yours.

A neat mirror that reflects whatever is in front of it as it really is, as opposed to showing a mirror image. It’s actually made of two normal mirrors placed at right angles. Cheaper version here.

It’s difficult enough to do one-handed push-ups, but in Russia they do everything just a little tougher than we do, as is proven by the man with the world’s strongest toes. (Yes, we know it’s a trick.)

Vsauce kicks off 2013 with an optical illusion. Believe it or not, this picture is monochrome red. It’s a demonstration of the Land Effect. But you know how Vsauce is, always digressing. A lot.

Richard Wiseman of Quirkology is back with another fun trick. This one’s a lot simpler than his previous efforts, but it’s still a good reminder of how easily our brain can be fooled.

An incredible, mind-bending Rube Goldberg contraption that seemingly defies gravity, performing its trickery with what we’re guessing was a bunch of magnets and a moving camera rig.

YouTube illusion-maker Brusspup messes with our heads more than he’s ever messed with them before, with the help of some cut-out distorted perspective trickery. Images here, here and here.

A research group at Keio University is using optical camouflage technology to make a car’s backseat appear transparent from the driver’s perspective, so they can see everything behind the car.

Taiwan’s Yif Magic messes with our heads once again, with a variety of close-up illusions (and an unforgettable breakfast) that we can’t for the life of us figure out. Turn captions on for English subtitles.

A simple experiment by Richard Wiseman. Play through his maze and he’ll predict which tile you’ll end up on. Wiseman is a psychologist, but the secret also lies with good ol’ math.

Halloween may already be over, but a creepy illusion is never out of season. Magician Rich Ferguson shows off his impressive skills by taking his head off. Those kids are now afraid of sneezing.

Asked on Reddit if he was ever stumped by a magic trick, David Blaine replied, “Look up Dani DaOrtiz he is out of control.” Here’s DaOrtiz with a simple but jaw dropping trick. More on his channel.

Magician Mahdi Gilbert has deformed arms and hands. But as Magic-Con said, Gilbert “palms without palms, shuffles without fingers and is living proof that nothing is impossible.”

A magician transforms a coin into bills from different countries and then some. It’s not sleight of hand, but a mix of video editing and vfx, but it’s still fun to watch. Skip to 5:20 for the trick.

Illusionist brusspup is back with more static images that come to life with the help of a simple trick. Want to try it out? Check the video’s description on YouTube for links to the images.

By using something called a “thermally modulated transparent carbon nanotube sheet,” scientists are able to vanish physical objects using Star Trek like cloaking tech. Science geeks read the paper here.

Prof. Gershon Elber and his team at Technion university managed to make real life models of M.C. Escher’s impossible objects using their own CAD program and a 3D printer. More here.

More mind-bending artwork from István Orosz. His Ship of Fools series features intricate illustrations where the parts also form skulls. Orosz was inspired by Sebastian Brant’s satirical book.

YouTube’s resident illusionist Brusspup is making waves again with another clever trick. A couple of seemingly random blobs of paint turns out to be part of a perspective illusion.

By dripping water in front of a speaker, brusspup creates the illusion that the water has frozen in mid-air. And by changing the frequency, he can make it look like the water is flowing backwards.

Inspired by the famous Penrose Triangle, Martzi Hegedűs created Frustro, a typeface that also serves as an optical illusion. All Frustro characters face two different directions at once.

Guido Daniele specializes in hand and body painting. Here are some of his trompe-l’Å“il animal hand art. They’re so good even when you’ve broken the illusion you’ll still appreciate the painting.

You might recall this eyeball-popping illusion from last year. Turns out its creator, Professor Kokichi Sugihara, has a whole roomful of these visual tricks to screw with our heads and eyes.