WIRED Staff
Science

Slideshow: Skeptic Revamps $1M Psychic Prize

For 10 years stage magician James Randi has offered a million bucks to anyone who can demonstrate paranormal phenomena under controlled circumstances. Now he's revamping his challenge to target the high-profile television psychics who somehow haven't gotten around to taking the test. By Kevin Poulsen.
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For a decade, James Randi, 79, has offered a million dollars to anyone who can demonstrate a paranormal occurrence under controlled circumstances. Not surprisingly, high-profile TV psychics won't touch the offer with a ten-foot dowsing rod.Photo: James Randi Educational Foundation

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Nguyen's final tally: 20 of 20 words were wrong. "He came all the way out here to find out it wasn't working as well as he thought it would," says James Underdown, of the Independent Investigations Group, which conducted the preliminary test.

Photo: Center for Inquiry; Independent Investigations Group
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Achau Nguyen (lower right) flew from Hawaii to Los Angeles to vie for the Million Dollar Challenge. His test protocol dictated he could do pushups and drink a soda to maximize his power to mentally transmit a series of words to a friend in another room.

Photo: Center for Inquiry; Independent Investigations Group