Taylor slumped in her seat, waiting for the stage show to begin. "You're going to love this ventriloquist!" her uncle Rick insisted.
Doesn't he know I'm too old to believe a puppet show? Seriously! Taylor sighed as she wondered how long the performance would take.
Soon the house lights dimmed and the show began. Before she knew it, Taylor was listening intently to the quick banter and funny jokes between the ventriloquist and the dummy-or more correctly, the vent figure. By the end of the show, she had to admit her uncle was right.
How did the ventriloquist make the figure seem so alive? So believable? How can I learn to throw my voice like that? Taylor wondered.
The Magic of Ventriloquism
Like skilled magicians, ventriloquists trick us audience members. Despite our common sense, we soon relax and enjoy the show, lulled into accepting a dummy as a real character with a voice and a mind of its own.
Both ventriloquists and magicians rely heavily on the art of misdirection. They steer the attention of the audience away from how the trick is done, and toward the final desired effect. For example, in a vanishing coin trick the magician looks at their hand as it opens, showing that the coin is gone. Their gaze and gestures lead us to look there too, while the other hand holds the coin that "disappeared." In the same way, the ventriloquist looks at the figure as she talks to her, so the audience looks there, too. They are distracted from their intention of watching to see if the ventriloquist's lips move.
Another Trick up the Ventriloquist's Sleeve
Esta historia es de la edición May/June 2023 de Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
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Esta historia es de la edición May/June 2023 de Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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Who's Your Cousin?
The great apes are among the most popular animals in most zoos. Their actions, facial expressions, and family life remind us so much of ourselves. Have you ever wondered, though, how we might look to them?
Is it possible to die of boredom?
To figure out if we can die of boredom, we first have to understand what boredom is. For help, we called James Danckert, a psychologist who studies boredom at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
THE PROBLEM WITH PALM OIL
Palm oil is all around you. It’s in sugary snacks like cookies and candy bars. It’s in lipstick and shampoo and pet food.
SERGE WICH
Serge Wich’s favorite days at work are spent out in the forest, studying orangutans in Sumatra and Borneo or chimpanzees in Tanzania.
ELODIE FREYMANN
When you’re feeling sick, it probably doesn’t occur to you to try eating tree bark.
Guardians of the Forest
EARLY, MAKESHIFT WILDLIFE DRONES HELPED TO DETECT AND PROTECT ORANGUTANS.
APE ANTICS
The Whirling World of primate play
Dr. Ape Will See You Now
HUMANS AREN’T THE ONLY PRIMATES THAT USE MEDICATION.
THE LEFT OVERS
A lot has happened for modern humans to get to this point. We lost most of our hair, learned how to make tools, established civilizations, sent a person to the Moon, and invented artificial intelligence. Whew! With all of these changes, our bodies have changed, too. It’s only taken us about six million years.
SO, WHAT IS A PRIMATE?
What do you have in common with the aye-aye, sifaka, siamang, and potto? If you said your collarbone, you re probably a primatologist—a person who studies primates. If you’re not, read on.
