HOW TO REDUCE POSSIBILITY OF DETECTING HEAT IN THERAPEUTIC TOUCH STUDIES:

Contents:  This page is advice for people running tests of "human energy field" detection
who are concerned about prosaic sensing sources like simple heat detection.

fax (215) 654-0651  eric@phact.org  Box 3155 Maple Glen PA 19002
http://www.phact.org/e/skeptic

Any comments on this should be sent to
John S. who is doing research:
seske001@mc.duke.edu
or author Eric Krieg (who is trying to help design adequate
controls for tt tests.
eric@voicenet.com
This subject is discussed on the tt mail list from
the list server at:
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/tt

 I seriously doubt that people can sense tiny magnetic or electric fields
- but I do think people (particularly blind people) can sense heat changes.
I think that if you had a TT subject able to test well above chance,
skeptics would quickly regroup and declare that heat was being sensed. (we are always accused of "raising the goal posts"
A separate test could be run to determine the limits of human ability
to discern temperature differences.

  First of all there are 3 ways heat moves:

Conduction:  this is simple flow through a substance.  Even air conducts
but not very well.  I think a few inches of air as proscribed in
simple tests would do fine.

Convection:  This refers to air flow (often induced by heat).  A
fixed sheet of plastic will stop this mode just fine.

Radiation:  This is where heat energy radiates outward from warm
objects much like light, only it is in the infrared band. The way
to stop this is with materials that reflect (like a mirror) heat.
Silvered materials will serve this purpose fairly well.


I think plastic (preferably
  the energy reflective metalized emergency heat blanket kind) would be
  great because it would stop air flow and radiated heat.  The question
  is "do TT practitioners believe what ever they sense makes it past?"

  One approach would be to give up trying to stop heat sensing and
  just make the control source at the same temperature and radiation
  characteristics of a human being.  For example, have people to tell
  the difference between one body and another (should be near the same energy
  output) - or between a hand and a jar of 98 degree water. By
  chance, at least one of 16 practitioners should be able to get 14 of
  20.

     If you borrow a probe from a a thermodynamics professor, you should be
  able to measure to a 10th of a degree.

   If you go to a outdoor or sporting shop, you should be able to get an
   emergency space blanket - which is treated plastic to
   reflect heat - that would be my first bet.
   Fiberglass bat insulation - or even part of a down coat
  could make a good natural heat shield.  If you notice a hit rate
  drop significantly when using an insulator, then you have proved
  a heat detection.  Also having the practitioners detect from the
  underside of a body would be interesting (it should work if the
  "energy" radiates in all directions.

   this page is found at
http://www.phact.org/e/tt/heat/htm