Saturday, April 14, 2012

Dawkins debunks dowsing

I found this cool video not too long ago, courtesy of my fascination with and admiration for Richard Dawkins. It's a video where he debunks dowsing: the pseudo-scientific practice of finding running water underneath the ground by holding a stick.

 The theory goes that, once the stick is placed over underground water, the person holding the stick will feel a downward force as the stick is mysteriously attracted to the water.

It's a good idea, except for the fact that it doesn't work. Several scientific studies have been done on dowsing (including the one shown in the video), and none of them of which I am aware have given evidence that dowsing is valid.

So, while the ultimate status of dowsing will always be open for believers, for scientists dowsing must be consigned to the dustbin of bad ideas, joined by the likes of alchemy and astrology.





 Feel free to leave your thoughts on dowsing below.
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