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Science in brief:

Psychologist bids to create scientific haunted house

A ghost-busting psychologist hopes to create his own ‘haunted house’ where spooky phenomena can be summoned at the flick of a switch. Dr Richard Wiseman believes ghostly experiences can be explained by a combination of fear, and effects such as electromagnetic fields, temperature changes and low rumblings. He plans to put his theory to the test by having control over a spooky environment. Dr Wiseman, from the University of Hertfordshire, told New Scientist magazine: “We want to build our own haunted house, so we are totally in control. “It would give really important scientific results, produce a huge amount of publicity, and go down in history.” Dr Wiseman believes unusual environmental effects play an important role in many ghostly sensations, and may even account for some sightings. Laboratory experiments have suggested that subtle electromagnetic fields and “infrasound” - low frequency vibrations just below the limit of human hearing - can induce hallucinations and feelings of unease. There is also evidence that even a small drop in temperature can set the hairs standing on end, as can certain types of lighting and the shapes and sizes of rooms. —Ananova

British Airways looking at anti-missile systems

LONDON: British Airways Plc, Europe’s biggest airline, said on Friday it was talking to aircraft manufacturers about high-tech measures to guard against surface-to-air missile attacks on its planes. “Our security team has been talking to the manufacturers — Boeing and Airbus — about anti-missile technology,” said a British Airways spokeswoman, adding that the talks were exploratory and no decisions had yet been made. She said the talks began several months ago. Israeli airliners are believed to carry anti-missile systems, but most of the more than 12,000 commercial planes flying worldwide have nothing to protect them from being downed by a shoulder-mounted missile. Analysts say the main obstacle to putting anti-missile systems on commercial aircraft is the cost and that there are limits to how well airliners that fly slow and unarmed can be protected. An Israeli airliner was targeted last November by two heat-seeking surface-to-air missiles as it left Kenya but managed to narrowly evade them, leading to speculation the Arkia Israel Airlines jet had used decoy flares similar to those used by combat aircraft. —Reuters

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