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A magician does a card trick and two women embrace.

Ryan Modjeski, the Executive Director of Empatico, has found an interesting way of sharing the benefits of empathy — by using magic. Empatico is a video-meeting platform for educators that helps foster empathy among students through meaningful connections around the globe.

Although teaching people interpersonal skills through magic may seem strange, studies show that visual demonstrations help people remember and recall information.

In the video, he uses a card trick to explain how empathy makes us more resilientby fostering connections with others.

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The Seattle Seahawks football team got a fun lesson in mental training from Oz Pearlman.

We know people can't really read minds, but there are people who sure seem like they can. If you've ever witnessed an experienced mentalist do their thing, you understand. Sleight-of-hand tricks are one thing; even if they're impressive, you kind of know the "magic" is simply well-practiced trickery. But with mentalism, you simply can't figure out how they do it. It genuinely seems like they're reading people's minds.

I have an amateur magician friend who does mentalism tricks and it's super trippy. One time, I watched him pull a piece of paper out of his wallet with a word my other friend was thinking of. He refuses to tell me how he does it, but he insists it's something pretty much anyone can learn to do.

Famous mentalist Oz Pearlman recently joined the Seattle Seahawks at a team meeting about mental training. Pearlman made a name for himself as a contestant on "America's Got Talent" and has since been in high demand. He wowed the whole team with his skills, and the reactions of the players and coaches were hilarious.

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This foot and finger trick is mind-blowing.

Our bodies are so amazing and weird. The fact that human beings have gone from banging rocks together to creating the most intricately detailed works of art is a testament to what our bodies can do. Just think about the kinds of physical feats we (well, some of us, anyway) have mastered, from brain surgery to playing musical instruments to Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatics.

Humans are marvels. Through coordination and balance and muscle training and practice, there are so many incredible things our bodies can do.

But honest to goodness, I cannot make my foot not change direction while doing this stupid physical trick.

It goes like this:

Sitting in a chair, lift your right foot off the ground a few inches and rotate your foot to the right (clockwise), making a circle in the air. While making that circle, use your right finger and draw the number "6" in the air.

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When we go to magic shows, we know what we're actually seeing are cool illusions and sleight of hand tricks, not someone's supernatural ability to actually defy reality. Sometimes we can even figure out how a magician does it—especially in the age of the internet, where you can look. up the secrets of magic tricks—while still being impressed with how well they pull it off. Magic is a skill that takes relentless practice to perfect, and it's fun to see someone at the top of their game.

There's "top of their game," and then there's David Blaine.

David Blaine is an illusionist and endurance artist who first made a name for himself with his TV show Street Magic. He has set world records for feats of endurance and wows audiences with his magic tricks that are truly hard to believe.

In his show Real or Magic, Blaine performed his tricks on celebrities, and one incredible card trick he pulled on Harrison Ford is going viral because Ford's reaction is hilarious. It's an old video, but someone shared part of iit on TikTok, which has given it new life. The full video is included below.

First, Blaine tells Ford to think of a card, then hands him the deck. "Are you thinking of a card?" he asks. Ford nods. "Do I know what card you're thinking of?" Blaine asks, and Ford shakes his head no.

"Your card just left the deck," Blaine says. He tells Ford to look through the deck, but that he won't find his card there. "You won't see it there," he says as Ford flips through the cards. "It's nowhere."

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