A Night Out with the Nerds 英文参考文献.docVIP

Open access, freely available online Book Review/Science in the Media A Night Out with the Nerds Sandra Knapp, James Mallet* A dd performance to science, and the equation results in Theatre of Science. Part scienti?c the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) (see http:??www. ). Wiseman is a magician (a failed magician, he says, as he deliberately drops a card he has palmed). Instead, he is now the world’s only Professor of Public Understanding of Psychology, at the University of Hertfordshire (see http:??www. ). Wiseman’s forte is optical illusion, the magician’s stock- in-trade, but most impressive is his exploration of quirks of our perception of ordinary things. “Psychologists today earnestly debate if anything we see is real at all”, he says. If you think you are a great observer—and as scientists we are generally proud of our powers of objective observation—just relax and participate in Theatre of Science. You’ll be amazed how easily you can be tricked by Wiseman’s ruses. away.) Then Du Sol’s performance— accompanied by theramin music and overlaid with recordings of her talking about how she felt while performing, in particular how she hoped that people didn’t perceive her as a freak—opened up a new dimension. The contrast between her matter-of-fact speech and the tension in the audience was unnerving. lecture, part magic show, and part music and dance, Theatre of Science is an innovative collaboration between Simon Singh and Richard Wiseman. The cosy atmosphere of the Soho Theatre, stuffed with a lively crowd, which appeared swelled by a smattering of family and friends, makes the show a personal interchange between performers and audience. Several in the audience must have been scientists, judging by appearances: one enthusiastic member of the audience was a dead ringer for the recently outgoing president of the Royal Society, only taller and more etiolated. Every show will be different, depending on the audience’s reaction. Wiseman, in a w