Alok Jha
The Guardian
Ever had a call from someone who you were thinking about just moments before? While many people would put it down to mere coincidence, a researcher claims to have found scientific evidence for the phenomenon of telephone telepathy.
Rupert Sheldrake, of Trinity College, Cambridge, presented his results yesterday at the British Association festival. But Peter Atkins, a chemist at the University of Oxford, said that work in telepathy was a waste of time.
"In this case there is absolutely no reason to suppose that telepathy is anything more than a fantasy," he said. "Whenever positive results have been reported in the past - and such reports are also feeble, down in the noise of chance - close scrutiny has revealed conventional explanations."
Dr Sheldrake asked volunteers, who claimed they had had experience of telephone telepathy, to give researchers the names and phone numbers of four friends or relatives. These people then phoned the volunteer at random. The volunteer was asked to guess the identity of the caller before picking up the phone.
"The hit rate was 45%, well above the 25% you would have expected," said Dr Sheldrake. "The odds against this being a chance effect are 1,000 billion to one."
Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire who specialises in debunking the paranormal, said that "it would be interesting to see what happens if Sheldrake tries to re-run the experiment in collaboration with a more sceptical researcher".
Professor Atkins criticised organisers of the festival for allowing Dr Sheldrake's work to be presented.
The Guardian
Ever had a call from someone who you were thinking about just moments before? While many people would put it down to mere coincidence, a researcher claims to have found scientific evidence for the phenomenon of telephone telepathy.
Rupert Sheldrake, of Trinity College, Cambridge, presented his results yesterday at the British Association festival. But Peter Atkins, a chemist at the University of Oxford, said that work in telepathy was a waste of time.
"In this case there is absolutely no reason to suppose that telepathy is anything more than a fantasy," he said. "Whenever positive results have been reported in the past - and such reports are also feeble, down in the noise of chance - close scrutiny has revealed conventional explanations."
Dr Sheldrake asked volunteers, who claimed they had had experience of telephone telepathy, to give researchers the names and phone numbers of four friends or relatives. These people then phoned the volunteer at random. The volunteer was asked to guess the identity of the caller before picking up the phone.
"The hit rate was 45%, well above the 25% you would have expected," said Dr Sheldrake. "The odds against this being a chance effect are 1,000 billion to one."
Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire who specialises in debunking the paranormal, said that "it would be interesting to see what happens if Sheldrake tries to re-run the experiment in collaboration with a more sceptical researcher".
Professor Atkins criticised organisers of the festival for allowing Dr Sheldrake's work to be presented.
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