Feedback serves as New Scientist’s engaging column dedicated to a unique perspective on recent science and technology developments. Readers are encouraged to submit items they believe might amuse the audience to [email protected].
Online Pseudoscience and ESP Testing
Engaging in pseudoscience presents a significant misstep when submitting press releases to Feedback. Such submissions appear to invite mockery rather than serious consideration. This advice is offered with the optimistic presumption that individuals practicing pseudoscience are inherently incapable of acknowledging their own pursuits, thereby ensuring a continuous stream of unintentionally revealing correspondence.
The Global Telepathy Study emerges as a recent introduction, assuming its existence hasn’t already been mentally registered. This initiative is framed as an effort in “crowd-scale ESP testing,” aiming to validate the existence of extrasensory perception on a worldwide scale. TrueESP.com, the study’s online platform, details how the free True ESP app synchronizes participants’ brainwaves globally. This synchronization occurs alongside multi-sensory stimulation during real-time telepathy experiments.
Upon downloading the application, individuals can participate in four-minute telepathy tests. Participants alternate roles, either attempting to mentally transmit an image selected from a predefined set of nine cards or to receive one. The website highlights that new tests commence every ten minutes, operating around the clock, allowing users to engage as frequently as they desire.
Feedback, with its extensive history, recalls Joseph Rhine, a parapsychologist from the 20th century. Rhine was instrumental in popularizing the use of Zener cards, which featured five distinct images intended for telepathic transmission. Rhine’s work suggested that participants achieved success rates exceeding random chance. However, this success often diminished to chance levels under sustained or more rigorous testing conditions, hinting at the possibility of initial positive results being mere coincidence.
The Global Telepathy Study essentially replicates Rhine’s pioneering experiments, albeit with the integration of a mobile application. This study has been organized by Mark Freeman, an individual with a background in advertising. He is described as bringing “an extraordinary level of innovation and integrity” to the project. He is supported by a team of four scientists, notably Dean Radin, who previously worked as a scientist with the CIA’s classified Stargate program. This program was responsible for training a dedicated group of psychic operatives for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) during the 1980s and 1990s. Feedback acknowledges with some regret the confirmed existence of the Stargate program.
Long-time readers of Feedback might be querying the absence of the term “quantum” within this discussion. The website, upon closer inspection, does indeed feature a section on “Quantum ESP Research.” This section elaborates on the assertion that “New experiments show that brain neurons create consciousness through quantum entanglement.”
Feedback intends to continue reporting on the progress of this experiment until there is an observable improvement in morale or until Mr. Freeman ceases his outreach, whichever occurs first.
Political and Media Observations
Tricky Dictionary Usage
Reader Peter Slessenger encountered an article discussing the health of U.S. President Donald Trump, a topic that has become rather common. The piece, originally from HuffPost and republished by Yahoo News, reported on CNN health analyst Jonathan Reiner’s call for an additional medical assessment of Trump. Reiner’s concern stemmed from observations of the President frequently falling asleep during meetings and public events.
To establish Reiner’s credentials, the article mentioned his prior service as cardiologist to “the late Vice President **** Cheney.” It appears that someone, somewhere, deemed the name “Dick” unacceptable for print, leading to its redaction. Notably, HuffPost’s original article referred to him plainly as “Dick Cheney,” suggesting Yahoo News may be the entity that redacted the name, perhaps due to a perceived phobia of the name itself.
Academic and Fictional Recognition
Honorary Canine Doctorate
Universities have a notable tendency to bestow honorary degrees upon individuals possessing little more than a pulse and a significant social media presence. Nevertheless, Feedback was taken aback by an announcement from Griffith University in Australia. The university declared, “Griffith University is delighted to announce that renowned archaeologist and 2019 Father of the Year Dr. Bandit Heeler has been offered a professorial chair.”
The surprise stemmed from Bandit’s identity as a fictional animated dog featured in the popular children’s television show Bluey. The university’s announcement further characterized him as “a Brisbane-based blue heeler of international repute.” It cited his supposed “fieldwork in remote jungles of Indonesia, his landmark publications on the ritual significance of dance-mode freezing in pre-literate societies, and his seminal studies on the development of a language capacity in the Cockapoo.” Additionally, his “work on the evolution of the first dogs to walk upright” was mentioned. The timeline for Bandit’s accomplishments remains unclear, especially given his typical activities involving make-believe play with Bluey and Bingo. The descriptor “multitasker” certainly applies.
Further investigation revealed that the honorary doctorate was actually awarded to Joe Brumm, the creator of Bluey. His brother, Adam Brumm, holds a position as a palaeoanthropologist at the university. This realization prompted Feedback to reflect on the perceived lack of comparable achievements within their own family.
Business and Branding Observations
Cultivated Meat Company Closures
Several companies operating in the cultivated meat sector have ceased operations in recent months, including Meatable and Believer Meats. Reader Hue White has put forward a potential explanation for Believer Meats’ failure, attributing it to “the wrong CEO.”
While leadership issues have indeed plagued some companies, Hue suggests that Believer Meats missed critical warning signs. “They should have guessed it from his name: Gustavo Burger,” Hue remarked. This observation humorously links the CEO’s surname to the product the company aimed to produce.
Feedback Submission Instructions
Do you have a story for Feedback? Submissions can be sent via email to [email protected]. Please include your home address. This week’s collection of Feedback items, along with previous editions, can be accessed on our website.