World-famous magician David Copperfield explains the surprising connection between magic and technology. Plus: learn about how ducklings get a speed boost when they swim in a line behind their mother. More from David Copperfield: Pick up "David Copperfield's History of Magic": https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/David-Copperfields-History-of-Magic/David-Copperfield/9781982112912 Website: https://www.davidcopperfield.com/ Follow @D_Copperfield on Twitter: https://twitter.com/D_Copperfield Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidcopperfield Ducklings get a speed boost when they swim in a line behind their mother by Cameron Duke Conover, Emily. (2021, October 20). “Here’s the Physics of Why Ducklings Swim in a Row behind Their Mother.” Science News. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/physics-why-ducklings-swim-row-behind-mother-duck-waves-energy University of Strathclyde. (2021, October 7). Riding the waves keeps ducks in a row. Phys.org. https://phys.org/news/2021-10-ducks-row.html Yuan, Z.-M., Chen, M., Jia, L., Ji, C., & Incecik, A. (2021). Wave-riding and wave-passing by ducklings in formation swimming. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 928. https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2021.820 Join Cody and Ashley during their CES Virtual Stage Talks at #CES2022, the Consumer Electronics Show, via livestream: Thursday, January 6, 10:30am PT / 1:30pm ET: Digital Optics and the Metaverse https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:6874433397352128512/ Thursday, January 6, 12:00pm PT / 3:00pm ET: Data as a Game Changer for Manufacturing Excellence https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:6874112904824717312/ Thursday, January 6, 2:30pm PT / 5:30pm ET: Bioelectronics and individualized medicine https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:6876284351219339264/ Friday, January 7, 10:30am PT / 1:30pm ET: The Race to the Future Computing Paradigm https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:6873796556617781248/ Friday, January 7, 12:00pm PT / 3:00pm ET: Smart Antenna Satellite Broadband Connectivity https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:6874504071500349440/ Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new Wednesday-Friday withCody Gough andAshley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
World-famous magician David Copperfield explains the surprising connection between magic and technology. Plus: learn about how ducklings get a speed boost when they swim in a line behind their mother.
More from David Copperfield:
Ducklings get a speed boost when they swim in a line behind their mother by Cameron Duke
Join Cody and Ashley during their CES Virtual Stage Talks at #CES2022, the Consumer Electronics Show, via livestream:
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new Wednesday-Friday with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/david-copperfield-talks-technology-and-magic-history
CODY: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Discovery. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about the surprising connection between magic and technology, with one of the most famous and successful magicians in history, David Copperfield. You’ll also learn about how ducklings get a speed boost when they swim in a line behind their mother.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
David Copperfield is probably the best-known stage magician today. He's won more than 21 Emmy Awards, holds 11 Guinness World Records, his face is on postage stamps in six different countries, and he was literally named a “Living Legend” by the U.S. Library of Congress. But before his name made it into the history books, he began collecting his own pieces of magic history in a secret museum accessible only to VIPs. That is, until he made it accessible to everyone in a new book. David Copperfield's History of Magic offers a tour of illusion history through profiles of 28 groundbreaking magicians and photos of their one-of-a-kind devices and set pieces. David told us how these pieces aren't just parts of magic history — they play a role in the history of technology, too. And to better understand this untold history, we figured we’d start at the beginning, so we asked him: what's the earliest evidence of a magic trick?
[CLIP 5:49]
Really makes you wonder how many of the devices you use every day started out as magic tricks. Again, that was the legendary David Copperfield. You can find a link to his new book, David Copperfield's History of Magic, in today's show notes. David will be back tomorrow to tell us what his secrets are doing on the moon.
What do a team of cyclists and a family of ducks have in common? Both travel in a single-file line for efficiency, but new research suggests that the ducklings get an added bonus: single-file swimming gives baby ducks a speed boost.
Just like members of a cycling team draft off of one another to move more efficiently, ducklings will paddle in a single file line behind their mom to swim more efficiently. The reason they both do it comes down to physics. As a cyclist pushes forward, air pushes back, which creates drag. When riding alone, a cyclist not only has to spend energy pushing their own weight, but also has to combat that drag force. Another cyclist following close behind gets a cool benefit — they don’t have to push as much air because the front cyclist is doing it for them.
Traditionally, scientists thought ducklings were doing the same thing. Mom swims in front of the line, and as she does, she pushes water out of the way. The ducklings follow, and have an easier time swimming because they don’t have so much water to push through.
But new research shows that there’s a bit more to it than that. Researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow built a mathematical simulation of ducklings swimming through water to better understand the forces at play. They found that as the mother duck pushes water out of the way, she creates a wake. Basically, as water floods the space behind her, it creates a wave that follows right on her tail. This wave creates a “sweet spot” for her ducklings. The ducklings in her wake basically surf this wave, and when they do, they experience a 158 percent reduction in drag. No, I didn’t misspeak: the reduction is more than 100 percent. That means that not only do ducklings surfing their mom’s wake get a reduction in drag; they also get a boost that actually pushes them forward.
This isn’t just true for the first follower, either. Ducklings farther back in the line benefit, too. Each swimmer passes this energetic boost down to the end of the line by creating little wakes that add to the boosting power of the big one.
It all adds up to a free ride. Too bad that cyclists aren’t so lucky.
CODY: Let’s recap what we learned today.
[ad lib optional]
CODY: The writer for today’s duckling story was Cameron Duke.
ASHLEY: Curiosity Daily is distributed by Discovery. [USED V1]
CODY: Life’s all a mystery, so join us again next time to rewrite history! …and learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!