Beyond the Fingertip: Humans’ Newly Confirmed ‘Seventh Sense’ of Remote Touch

Introduction: The Hidden Layer of Human Perception

For centuries we have understood the five traditional senses — sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch — and more recently the “sixth sense” category of proprioception (body position) or intuition. But a new study suggests humans may possess an additional sensory capability: remote touch, the ability to detect objects without direct contact, by sensing subtle pressure or mechanical cues in granular or loose media.

In groundbreaking experiments published in 2025, volunteers successfully identified hidden cubes buried in sand with about 70 % accuracy, even though their fingers did not make contact with the objects. The finding challenges longstanding assumptions about human tactile limits and opens up new vistas in neuroscience, robotics, archaeology and planetary exploration.

What Is Remote Touch and How Does It Work?

Remote touch, in the context of this research, refers to the ability to detect concealed items beneath granular media (such as sand, salt, loose soil) by responding to tiny pressure ripples generated when grains shift. The key components:

• A granular medium: loose particles that can transmit mechanical signals when disturbed.

• A buried object that disrupts the flow of grains and causes detectable variations in pressure or vibration.

• A sensing finger (or tactile sensor) that can interpret those faint signals and trigger a detection decision.

The research team modeled how an object beneath sand can reflect mechanical signals as grains bounce or shift around it. When a fingertip rubs the surface at very slight force, it generates waves of grain movement. If a hidden object is nearby, it disturbs that wave pattern and some signal returns to the surface, where our brain (or a sensor) can detect it.

The crucial insight: the barycenter of masses is not just a concept for celestial bodies — in granular media, mechanical “centres of mass” and shifting force distributions create detectable patterns that organisms (or machines) can pick up. In this case, humans could sense the presence of an object without literally touching it.

The Experiments: Humans Outperform Robots

The study, conducted by Dr. Elisabetta Versace and colleagues at Queen Mary University of London, compared human participants with a robotic tactile-system trained via machine-learning. Key results:

• Human participants ran a finger over a sand-filled box, without touching the hidden cube. They achieved 70.7 % precision in detecting the cube at depths of about ~6.9 cm (2.7 inches).

• A robotic arm (UR5) equipped with a tactile sensor and trained with Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks did sense objects slightly deeper, but ultimately had only ~40 % precision because it generated many false positives.

• The human participants were better at judging when a cue was “real” vs. noise — their brain processed the tactile feedback in a way that the machine struggled with.

These results reveal that remote touch is not just a curiosity — it is reliably measurable in humans and might reflect a latent perceptual ability previously unrecognized.

Why This Discovery Matters

1. Revision of Human Sensory Maps

While Copernicus once moved Earth from the centre of the universe, scientists are now moving the Sun off its place at the “centre” of human touch. Our understanding of sensory boundaries expands when we recognize that touch isn’t just skin-deep but extends into interaction with the medium around us.

2. Applications in Real-World Contexts

• Archaeology & subterranean detection: In excavation or survey work, where vision is limited, remote-touch inspired tools may detect buried structures or artifacts by sensing mechanical cues in soil.

• Search & rescue operations: In rubble or collapsed buildings, devices (or trained humans) using remote-touch principles may find survivors concealed under debris.

• Robotics and prosthetics: Insight into human remote touch can inform sensor design, improving robotic dexterity, implant-sensory devices or prosthetic feedback systems for amputees.

• Planetary science: On other worlds like Mars or the Moon, where visual cues may be poor, remote‐touch sensors may aid in subsurface exploration.

3. Hidden Capabilities and Evolutionary Roots

The research draws parallels with shorebirds like red knots that detect prey beneath wet sand by sensing pressure gradients. Humans may retain an evolutionary remnant of such sensory ability. It suggests that our nervous system is capable of processing weak mechanical signals far beyond direct contact.

The concept also links to other animal systems:

• Fish use lateral lines to sense water pressure changes;

• Whiskered mammals use facial whiskers to navigate in darkness.

Humans may lack visible specialised organs for remote touch, but the existence of the ability implies the brain can repurpose other tactile pathways for analogous tasks.

How the Research Adds New Insights

Granular media mechanics and tactile signalling

The study dives deep into physics: in granular media, when a force is applied the particles rearrange, transmit waves and reflect subtle signals. The researchers modeled the system and found that there is a detection limit, determined by material properties, particle size, friction and depth. Humans reached near that limit.

Human vs machine gap and perceptual nuance

In performing better than the robot, humans demonstrated the power of judgment and context — not just raw sensing. While machines can gather more data, interpreting it meaningfully is still a challenge.

Material dependency and environment

Experiments showed that moisture and medium structure affect performance. For instance, shorebirds fare better in wet sand than dry, and humans may similarly perform differently depending on the medium (soil, sand, gravel). Future research must explore a wider range of materials.

Distance and training

Participants detected cubes at ~6.9 cm depth, but results varied with object shape, finger speed, and pass count — all variables that hint at evolving perceptual skill. Training may enhance the ability, meaning remote‐touch could be learned or refined, not purely innate.

What We Still Don’t Know — The Next Research Frontiers

• How far beyond the fingertip can remote touch extend? Deeper objects, larger distances?

• Can humans sense through non-granular media — e.g., liquids, vegetation, complex root systems?

• Can training increase skill? Could people who work in certain fields (e.g., geology, tactile crafts) be naturally better at remote‐touch?

• How can robotic systems be improved to approach human judgment levels? And what sensors would best replicate the human neural weighting of tactile input?

• Could this ability be harnessed for clinical or sensory therapeutic use, for example aiding the visually impaired?

Conclusion: A New Frontier in Human Perception

The research into human remote touch heralds a paradigm shift: that touch doesn’t end where the fingertip meets the surface. Instead, it is a continuum — a sensory extension into space, material, and subtle mechanics.

From volunteers detecting hidden cubes in sand to potential applications in archaeology, robotics and planetary exploration, the discovery stretches our understanding of what it means to feel, to sense and to know.

As instrumentation and machine learning improve, and as more materials and conditions are tested, we may find that humans already possess a latent seventh sense—one that science is only now beginning to chart.

This newly revealed sense reminds us that as much as we know about perception, there remain layers beneath the surface waiting to be uncovered. In the case of remote touch, it’s literally beneath the surface.