Gary Cutlack - 

A scientific test into the claims of psychics has ended in failure, with some supposed mediums failing to demonstrate any evidence of mind-reading abilities whatsoever.

The study, carried out by researchers at Goldsmiths University, asked two professional mediums to scan five unknown individuals who were standing behind a screen, then write down a fact about the strangers. They failed, getting one out of the five subjects to identify themselves from the resulting data, the same as you’d expect from random chance alone.

But, according to medium Patricia Putt, the reason the test didn’t show any form of successful psychic connection was because she needed to see the people and form a face-to-face bond for the mind-meld to take place. The scientists were also “very closed-minded” according to Putt, with the test setting not overly conducive to successful channelling of psychic energy. That and the fact that it’s all made up.

Michael Marshall, from the Merseyside Skeptics Society which help organise the test, said: “While the result of our experiment doesn’t disprove psychic ability, the fact that our mediums couldn’t pass what they felt was a very fair and simple test does seem to suggest claims that these abilities exist aren’t based in reality.” [Goldsmiths via BBC]