God Awful Things

There is an article over on Wired about academics who study paranormal activity.. here are my personal favorites..

Daryl Bem

Professor Emeritus of Psychology
Cornell University

Object of Study
Precognition

It’s dèjé vu in advance: In conventional psychological tests, subjects recall words they’ve had a chance to study better than words they’ve seen only briefly. Bem reversed the usual order of events and found that his subjects were significantly more likely to recall words they would study later than words they wouldn’t study at all. Extroverts show the most precognition.

Garret Moddel

Professor of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering,
University of Colorado at Boulder

Object of Study
Telekinesis

Aiming a beam of light at a glass slide in 2006 and 2007, Moddel asked test subjects to use their brainpower to increase the amount of reflected light. Expected reflection: 8 percent. Measured reflection: 8.005 percent. This represents a tiny but significant demonstration of mind over matter, Moddel says. Asked to decrease the amount of reflected light, subjects had similar success.