Bending the truth

The notion that people only use 10 per cent of the brain was made especially popu-

lar in the 1990s by psychics who wanted to promote the idea that if you only use a

small portion of your brain then you can develop the rest of the brain for psychic

activities. You may have heard of a psychic named Uri Geller whose claim to fame

is his ability to bend spoons and make broken watches work again. How does he

do it? In his writings Uri attributed his fantastical ‘achievements’ like spoon bending

and telepathic ability to him harnessing the unused 90 per cent of his brain.

However, as is so often the case, the truth is much less fantastical. The spoon

bending trick is thought to be the result of misdirecting the audience’s attention

to focus on something else and then revealing an existing bend. In fact, when Uri

was asked to perform his signature trick on silverware that he didn’t have access

to, he failed. His famous clock-starting trick was thought to be the result of using

magnets, as slow-motion television footage revealed. So if you were hoping to har-

ness the so-called ‘idle 90 per cent’ of your brain for spoon-bending activities, you

may want to start with plastic spoons.