The Girl Who Asked For Proof
How do you run a test that nobody can fool?
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The story
For a fourth-grade science fair in 1996, nine-year-old Emily Rosa tested whether practitioners could feel a human energy field. She had them put their hands through a screen, then flipped a coin to pick which hand she hovered over. They guessed right about half the time, like guessing. Her study was published in a major medical journal.
What you'll learn
- A fair test hides the answer from everyone until it is over.
- Randomly choosing what to test stops accidental hints.
- Results near pure chance mean the effect was not detected.
- Kid takeaway: a good question plus a careful test beats a strong opinion.
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