Can a lucky charm actually influence future events? Science wants to know.

"To initially test this possibility experimenters brought participants into the lab and told them that they would be doing a little golfing. They were to see how many of 10 putts they could make from the same location. The manipulation was simply this: when experimenters handed the golf ball to the participant they either mentioned that the ball “has turned out to be a lucky ball” in previous trials, or that the ball was simply the one “everyone had used so far”. Remarkably, the mere suggestion that the ball was lucky significantly influenced performance, causing participants to make almost two more putts on average."

From: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/superstitions-can-make-you/

This doesn't work because the ball is actually magic. It works because human brains are freaky. I think we can reliably use ordinary objects to help ourselves focus, relax or even remember certain things. Stay tuned for my new project: Science-Based Superstition.