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The Girl With X-Ray Vision, Part 2

CognitiveScience Wednesday, January 28, 2004 . This is a SciScoop post by Ricky James

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A couple of weeks ago SciScoop ran a story about Natasha Demkina, the Russian girl who supposedly has X-ray vision. Well, she’s gone to England as guest of the news tabloid The Sun. They introduced her to British reporter Briony Warden, who is recovering from being severly banged up in an auto crash.

Natasha did her thing. Stunned Briony’s conclusion? “Natasha is amazing. I was very sceptical at first but after just a few minutes she focused on my major fractures. I was very impressed. It was as though she was looking at X-rays of me. Only my orthopaedic consultant could have known more.”

After the examination The Sun told Natasha about Briony’s accident. Natasha said: “I can see she is healing very well.”

Um…what’s going on here?

11 Responses to The Girl With X-Ray Vision, Part 2

lajaunie

January 28th, 2004 at 8:06 pm

I’ll tell you what’s going on… simple fraud that’s what!
Somebody call the Amazing Randi!

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absurdhero

January 28th, 2004 at 9:15 pm

I concur. Being able to see internal organs makes about as much sense as claiming you proved the moon is made of cheese. It makes no sense and can only be based in literature, not reality. Not to mention, her "ability" has not been and probably cannot be supported by evidence. Hence, fraud is the only possibility.

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Anonymous

January 28th, 2004 at 9:53 pm

I saw the movie as a child.  Same plot, but the gentleman was a doctor who invented eyedrops that gave him The Power.  

I was horrified at the ending.  

"What do you do with the eyes that see the Evil One?" asked the priest.

His congregation began to cry out:

"Pluck them out!  Pluck them out!  Pluck them out!"

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kryptothesuperdog

January 30th, 2004 at 10:01 am

It’s not exactly a scientific experiment, and the fact that she earns money through her ‘amazing ability’ makes me even more dubious. Also a quick google search reveals information about the reporter having been in an accident, though I can’t find any details of the injuries.

However, just for fun, why not be open minded for a minute…Is this actually possible without resorting to unscientific explanations?

Could this girl’s retina actually be sensitive to x-rays? Presumably she’d then be sensitive to ultraviolet light, too? Even if so, are there enough x-rays “around” for her to be able to see inside people?

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teece

February 1st, 2004 at 8:32 pm

Perhaps her retina could have some fluke of a mutation that allows here to see X-rays.  The visible spectrum is about 3000 (4000 – 7000) Angstroms wide in wavelength.  X-rays are around around 50 Angstroms, and the band is narrow to (around 100).  So we are talking about a major shift/expansion in the ability of the human retina.

As for the Sun emitting, X-rays, it sure does.  But the number of them is much lower than in the visible spectrum (a lot lower).  So it is not clear to me that she would actually be able to see by the light of the X-ray sun.

If she is legitimate, she will allow scientists to figure out how she sees X-rays.

But the most probable explanation is that she is a huckster.

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teece

February 1st, 2004 at 8:37 pm

I meant to hit preview, but hit post.  So you were all subjected to my many typos/errors.  Sorry.

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kryptothesuperdog

February 2nd, 2004 at 9:40 am

No probs, we’ve all done that once or twice.

Given that she “can’t see inside herself”, and that the whole process sounds worryingly mystical, I’m inclined to agree that it’s just a hoax. We’ll see whether she submits to proper scientific testing, which I like to think someone somewhere will have suggested. What are the odds that her parents “won’t want to put her through all that”?

This paragraph particularly amuses me:

“Natasha’s family believe her powers were triggered when she suffered complications from a childhood operation. Doctors left a swab inside her which had to be removed later.”

Uh huh.

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Anonymous

February 2nd, 2004 at 10:19 pm

Actually, here in Fremont, California, I know a Master Zhao who came from China 10 years ago, has the similar capability, and even more, he helps hundreds of people every year, he can “see” all kinds of problem inside people’s body, he even can tell the history of the problem, and he can heal them by Chi Kung.

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Anonymous

February 3rd, 2004 at 12:46 pm

She’s not making money from her ability you capitalist fool!

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kryptothesuperdog

February 4th, 2004 at 8:11 am

I’m obviously misunderstanding this paragraph:

“We have people waiting for months to see Natasha. At first she did it for free but now we charge 400 roubles (less than £10) for a diagnosis.”

Do clear it up for me.

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Anonymous

November 3rd, 2004 at 9:58 am

For a report on how Natasha Demkina failed a preliminary test of her supernatural abilities:

http://www.csmmh.org/demkina

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