Harvard Says Miss Cleo Is a Fibber

You'd think with all of Harvard's brainpower they'd be finding the cure for cancer. But instead they looked into a crystal ball and found … nothing.

The Crimson reports that psychology graduate student Samuel T. Moulton ’01 and Psychology Professor Stephen M. Kosslyn believe that they have debunked ESP (Extrasensory Perception) by testing subjects and looking at MRI scans of their brains. Yet they found no existence of ESP:

According to Moulton, if ESP existed, the brain would respond differently to pictures designated as ESP stimuli and non-ESP stimuli. Theoretically, pictures perceived through ESP should produce a pattern in the brain similar to ones produced when an individual sees a previously encountered stimulus.

Instead, Moulton found that participants responded identically to both stimuli types, resulting in the lack of a statistically significant difference that is referred to as a “null result.”

The Crimson has more details about how the test worked. Of course, this study will do nothing to stop the flood of schlocky movies and tv shows about ESP (or "ESPN" if you're a fan of Mean Girls), and it certainly won't stop the spawn of Miss Cleo from trying to take your money by telling you who you'll date next. But, if you want to mess with their heads, you can tell them about this Harvard discovery.

Old ad of Miss Cleo doing her thing.