[(pseudo)SCI] $1,100,000 prize for demonstration of biofield

[Dam Son <son@fermi.phys.washington.edu>]

1.1 trie^.u USD cho ai chu+'ng minh ddu+o+.c tru+o+`ng sinh ho.c to^`n 
ta.i\. Xem o+? du+o+'i\. 
So+n


THE HUMAN BIOFIELD: $1,100,000 PRIZE IF YOU HAVE THE TOUCH.  Major
hospitals throughout the US offer a procedure variously known as "biofield
therapeutics" or "touch therapy."  The James Randi Educational Foundation
announced this week that its $1.1M prize would be awarded to the first
"touch therapist" who can demonstrate under simple test conditions the
ability to detect a human energy field.  According to touch therapists,
the energy field or "qi" sticks out some 20 cm and can be tactilely sensed
-- at least by trained professionals, of which there are some 30,000 in
the US alone.  It might more properly be termed "no-touch therapy," since
practitioners do not actually touch the patient; they use their hands to
"balance" the patient's qi. Although it may not be dangerous to have your
qi manipulated, it is of scientific interest to ask if a palpable biofield
actually exists.  In the six years since its creation, the NIH Office of
Alternative Medicine has never thought to ask that question.