Humans May Possess a “Seventh Sense,” New Research Suggests
LONDON, UK – โNovember 8, 2025 – In a discovery challenging conventional understanding of human perception, scientists from Queen Maryโฃ University of London and โคUniversity College London have found evidence suggestingโข humans can detect โขobjects โฃ before physicalโฃ contact – aโข capability โขpreviously thought exclusive toโฃ certain bird species.โ The findings,presented Novemberโ 7th at the Internationalโ Conference on Development and โคLearning (ICDL),point to what researchers areโ calling a “remote touch” โขability.
The study โคreveals that participants were able to detect โa hidden cube beneath sand โฃwith an โคaverage accuracy of 70.7%โค before โข making physical contact. โคThis contrastsโฃ with customary views ofโข touch as a โstrictly proximity-basedโค sense. Researchers observed thatโค humans, like some coastalโฃ birds thatโฃ locateโค prey by sensing vibrations, canโ recognize buried objects through minute displacements โคinโ sand particles.
“This is the first evidence of remote touch in humans,” explains Elisabetta โขVersace,leader of Queen MaryS Preparedโ Minds Laboratory and creator of the project,in a report โขby Galileu Magazine. “This discovery changes our understanding about โฃthe limits โคof perception.”
Toโค furtherโ illustrate the human โcapability, researchers compared performanceโ to a โฃrobotic sensor utilizing a long-term memory (LSTM)โ algorithm. While the robotโ could detect objects at โคgreater distances, its accuracy was substantially lower,โ at just 40%.
Lorenzo Jamone, a co-author from University collegeโข London, emphasized โฃthe interdisciplinary nature of the research,โข stating that โit โข”exemplifies theโค convergenceโฃ between psychology, robotics and artificial intelligence.” Heโค suggests the results โindicate that human biologyโค may harbor unexplored perceptual โcapabilities, potentially representing a “seventh sense” still in development.
Beyond essential scientificโข understanding, the research โฃhas potential technological implications.โข scientists envision the development of tools that enhance tactile sensitivity, with applications rangingโข from robots capable โofโข safely locating archaeological โartifactsโ to improvedโ exploration of challenging environmentsโ like those found underwater or underground.