I have seen a few professional opal prospectors use dowsing rods.
Most of these men swear by dowsing and only make money if they get results.
However, when I was at Lightning Ridge years back and planning on doing some gold fossicking out West, one of these very same miners, - (a very successful one mind you), - told me that if he was searching for gold, there was no way he would use anything as primitive as divining rods if he was looking for gold, but advised me to buy the best metal detector I could afford.
Within limits I can understand why prospectors might use divining rods to look for very rare jem stones like opal as I know of few, if any, hi-tech devices for finding opal.
(When certainly none that work any better than divining rods but are a helluva lot more expensive)!
BUT.
DIVINING FOR EXPLOSIVE DEVICES!
I don't know wether to laugh or cry.
If the developers of this device are so sure that it works, then they should be out in a minefield demonstrating that it works as they claim.
If they find the mines without blowing themselves sky high, then maybe military forces would be impressed enough to develop this idea further and find out why it works.
Evidently P.T. Barnum's estimate on the birthrate of suckers was overly conservative.
I