Monday, June 18, 2007

Firewalking Debunked

Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine and monthly columnist for Scientific American, tries his hand at firewalking barefoot across 1000-degree red hot coals and doesn't get burned. Dr. Shermer provides a scientific explanation for the mysterious phenomenon.





1 comment:

zilch said...

Hi fellow atheists! Some interesting stuff here.

About the firewalking- of course Shermer is correct: the chanting and mental preparation doesn't do anything to prevent burning- it's just physics.

On the other hand, so what? If walking on fire helps boost someone's self-confidence, more power to them. There are a lot of irrational beliefs out there that are much more dangerous than this one.