Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have found that humans might possess a previously unknown ability called "remote touch", the capacity to sense objects without physically touching them. Now... before thinking this is crazy, let's dive into the science.
In the new study, volunteers identified cubes buried in sand with around 70% accuracy, detecting subtle pressure ripples caused by shifting grains. The team compared human results with a robotic arm trained for the same task, but humans proved far more accurate at distinguishing real signals from noise.
Lead researcher Elisabetta Versace says the finding challenges how we understand human perception. Similar abilities are known in animals like shorebirds and fish, which detect prey or vibrations through pressure changes in their environment.
The study appears in IEEE Xplore and marks the first evidence that humans can detect forces beyond direct touch, hinting that this "seventh sense" may be a dormant evolutionary ability, more subtle than in other animals, and therefore more difficult to detect with the naked eye.