In a library basement in Edinburgh, there is a plain-looking black box the size of two cigarette packs. Inside it there is a microchip, no more complex than a pocket calculators. However, what distinguishes the Edinburgh box is that it can tell the future.It apparently sensed the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre four hours before they happened - but the claims were knocked back by sceptics. Last December, it also appeared to forewarn of the Asian tsunami just before the deep sea earthquake that precipitated the epic tragedy. "It’s Earth-shattering stuff," says Dr Roger Nelson, emeritus researcher at Princeton University, NJ, who is heading the research project behind the "black box" phenomenon. The Global Consciousness project has attracted a roster of 75 respected scientists from 41 different nations, making for the most rigorous and longest-running investigation ever into the potential powers of the paranormal.

The project has its roots in the work of Professor Robert Jahn of Princeton University in the late 1970s, who was one of the first modern scientists to take paranormal phenomena seriously. Jahn used current technology to study paranormal phenomena such as telepathy, telekinesis and ESP. One of these technologies was a Random Event Generator (REG), which generated ones and zeros in a random sequence, like an electronic coin-flipper. Then he checked if human thought alone could interfere in some way with the machine’s usual readings. He hauled strangers off the street and asked them to concentrate their minds on his number generator, trying to make it flip more heads than tails. Repeatedly, they were successful at the task. Dr Nelson, also at Princeton University, extended this approach to group meditations, which showed an increased influence over the REG. He then decided to connect 40 REGs from around the world to his computer lab in Princeton via internet. These ran day in day out, but most of the time the graph looked more or less like a flat line. Then September 6, 1997, the machines started reporting huge deviations. That was the day approximately one billion people around the world watched the funeral of Princess Diana.

Since then a total of 65 Eggs (as the generators have been named) in 41 countries have now been recruited to act as the ‘eyes’ of the project. Thus far, the Eggs have "sensed" a whole series of major world events as they were happening, from the Nato bombing of Yugoslavia to the Kursk submarine tragedy to America’s hung election of 2000. The Eggs also regularly detect huge global celebrations, such as New Year’s Eve.

Can this box see into the future? RedNova.com.
Global Consciousness Project