Halloween 06: Cool story on Yahoo News.

[Zarkan]

Science Bites myth of vampires and ghosts.

It's basicly about a proffessor who explains how the myths so popular at halloween can not be possible in science. I couldn't believe the part about the number of people beleving those stories, and the part about the vampires was really funny. If any of you can't access the link, here's the full story ;-) :

WASHINGTON - It may be the season for vampires, ghosts and zombies. Just remember, they're not real, warns physicist Costas Efthimiou. Obviously, you might say. But Efthimiou, a professor at the University of Central Florida, points to surveys that show American gullibility for the supernatural.

Using science and math, Efthimiou explains why it is ghosts can't walk among us while also gliding through walls, like Patrick Swayze in the movie "Ghost." That violates Newton's law of action and reaction. If ghosts walk, their feet apply force to the floor, but if they go through walls they are without substance, the professor says.

"So which is it? Are ghosts material or material-less?" he asks.

Zombies and vampires fare even worse under Efthimiou's skeptical microscope.

Efthimiou looked at the most prominent child-turned-zombie case that zombie aficionados cite: the 1989 case of a Haitian 17-year-old who was declared dead and then rose from the grave a day after the funeral and was considered a zombie. The boy, who never died but was paralyzed and could not communicate, had been poisoned with toxins from a relative of the deadly Japanese pufferfish, later research showed.

Efthimiou takes out the calculator to prove that if a vampire sucked one person's blood each month

[Lost Viking]

Yea I read that earlier, it was very neat.

[WesternOutlaw]

I believe that people (not just Americans) are very gullible. It's part of human nature. But I must point out that using the example of vampires mentioned in the article, everyone knows that vampires have to keep humans alive to do their "daylight bidding"; and vampires don't bite a new person each time they feast. This makes the calculation unlrealistic.

But yes, I believe that people will believe in almost anything. Stories of creatures like vampires, ghosts, werewolfs, and other mythical creatures have been around for centuries. And they will continue spooking and haunting the gullible for years to come.

[JINZONINGEN73]

Well, I think my stance on "ghosts" is already clear. lol

You're talking about an as-yet unrecordable form of energy (then again, photos show things at times).

The laws of physics we go by can't be trusted.

Matter is not even solid. Under electron microscopes and whatnot, every particle of matter blinks in and out of existence... often existing in 2 separate places at once.

And that's far freakier to me than the understanding of ghosts.

[Scouty]

The vampires can feed on our cows and perish from mad cow :-D . Interesting article that I read earlier today :-) .

[JINZONINGEN73]

The physicist there is a bit arrogant in the way he depicts people who believe in such things.

I can understand the silliness in vampires and wolfmen (though in this age of gene-splicing, you never know what some fruit will do lol), but when it comes to ESP and ghosts, people largely believe in it because it happens to them.

So my cousin and I had, on more than one occasion, run around inside the SAME exact dream, same people in them, same buildings, same abstract events and whatnot.

So I've seen things that were occuring simultaneously elsewhere, with undeniable proof later.

So I've been with others when "ghost" type things took place, seeing the same junk.

But because a physicist, going by currently understood science says it's not possible, he aquires the right to talk down on such people?

Pffft.

If one goes through their life and NEVER consciously encounters the supernatural, more power to them. If they want to say "I don't see how that could be possible"... also fine.

Smart even. A welcome perspective, as it means they're not gullible morons.

But when someone isolated from strange events gets disrespectful towards others about it, they become just another jerk. Openly disbelieve all you want. Ask questions, ask for proof... but do it without being on a high horse. ...which is where this guy in the article is speaking down from.

[WesternOutlaw]

I have yet to see a supernatural occurence. I'm not a "believer".

[Starwars4J]

I don't think he's saying you need to be a believer, I think he just means he hopes you could respect that others do ;-) Another reason I liken spiritual beliefs to religion :-P

[JINZONINGEN73]

Exactly. If you never crossed paths with anything, you'd be a fool to believe such outlandish tales.

But I'm telling you from the heart, I and others are different, at times knee-deep in it.

Don't be disrespectful and noone gets angry. : )

It's really simple.