Yan Xin × Tsinghua University ‘external qi’ experiments
🎓 Academic research
Tsinghua chemistry, Lu Zuyin & Li Shengping · ‘Ziran Zazhi’ 1988 vol.11, 8 papers · China, Beijing (incl. emitting from 2000 km away) · 1986-12–1988
Using laser Raman spectroscopy they claimed Yan Xin’s ‘qi emission’ altered the molecular structure of water, saline and DNA/RNA conformation, even from 2,000 km away in Guangzhou, and also changed americium-241’s decay rate.
VerdictNo independent replication; seen as an emblematic controversy of the qigong craze; Yan Xin emigrated to the US in the 1990s.
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Prahlad Jani × India Defence Ministry DIPAS observation study
🏛️ Official record
India’s DRDO DIPAS · Sterling Hospital (Sudhir Shah) · India, Ahmedabad · 2003 (10 days) · 2010 (15 days)
A yogi claiming 70 years without food or water reportedly went 15 days under 24-hour camera watch by a 35-person team with basically normal vitals; DRDO called the results ‘confidential’ and never published in a journal.
VerdictThe observation conditions (allowing gargling, bathing, contact with devotees) were questioned.
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Reich’s ‘orgone energy’ & the FDA ban
🏛️ Official record
US FDA federal-court injunction (1954) · USA · 1954–1957
Psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich claimed to have found cosmic life energy ‘orgone’ and sold ‘orgone accumulators’; the FDA prosecuted him, his books were court-ordered burned, and he died in prison in 1957.
VerdictNo scientific evidence; a rare case of US government book-burning.
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Kirlian photography
📜 On record
Soviet electrician Semyon Kirlian · USSR, Krasnodar · 1939
Under high voltage, objects’ edges show a ‘halo’, interpreted as a ‘bio-energy field / aura’; really corona discharge affected by humidity, pressure and contact area.
VerdictA physical phenomenon mystified.
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Popp biophoton research
🎓 Academic research
Univ of Marburg → International Institute of Biophysics, Fritz-Albert Popp · Germany · 1970s–2018
Measured living bodies continuously emitting very faint coherent photons, proposing they aid cell communication.
VerdictPhoton emission is real (see Photokinesis); the ‘communication’ hypothesis is unproven.
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Tiller’s ‘intention-imprinted’ electronic device
🎓 Academic research
Stanford emeritus professor of materials science William Tiller · USA · 2001–
Claimed meditators could ‘imprint’ intention on an electronic device that then remotely changed water’s pH.
VerdictNot independently replicated.
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Bruno Gröning & the German government ban
📜 On record
Herford city government · Bavarian state court · Germany · 1949–1959
A postwar ‘healer’ drew tens of thousands to hear his ‘healing energy’; the city banned his activity and he was later prosecuted for illegal practice.
VerdictOn administrative and judicial record.
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The ‘qigong master’ Wang Lin
✕ Debunked
Exposed by media in 2013 · arrested 2015 · China, Pingxiang Jiangxi · 2013–2017
Famous for ‘snake from an empty basin’, ‘reviving a cut snake’ and ‘retrieving objects from the air’, photographed with the powerful; in 2013 exposed as magic props and sleight of hand.
VerdictDebunked.
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