Apes can plan for their future needs just as we humans can – by using self-control and imagining future events. Mathias and Helena Osvath's research, from Lunds University Cognitive Science in Sweden, is the first to provide conclusive evidence of advanced planning capacities in non-human species. 7|5|08
was established in 01996 to develop the Clock and Library projects, as well as to become the seed of a very long term cultural institution. The Long Now Foundation hopes to provide counterpoint to today's "faster|cheaper" mind set and promote "slower|better" thinking, and to creatively foster responsibility in the framework of the next 10 000 years. 7|1|02008
Mycologist Paul Stamets believes that the mycelium fungus can save our lives, restore our ecosystems and transform other worlds.
Daniel Pinchbeck is a best-selling author, iconoclast, and explorer of the Other, and he will be a key speaker at the "Orbs: Interacting With Other Realms" Conference taking place in the perfect setting of mystical Glastonbury, England, from 11 to 13 July. The following is an abstract of Daniel Pinchbeck’s presentation. 6|24|08
Extensive studies and PET scans on humans reveal that tryptamines such as psilocybin stimulate an array of brain structures: the prefrontal cortex, which is the center of executive functioning; limbic regions such as the amygdala that govern our emotional life and the formation of memories; the striatum, which plays a role in cognitive functions; and the thalamus. 6|13|08
is a global company, based in Taos, NM, USA, offering proven, totally sustainable designs, construction drawings & details, products, educational materials, lectures / presentations, consultation & guidance toward getting people in sustainable housing. From single family to colony / community / city complexes. 6|11|08
Collage filmmaker Craig Baldwin’s new movie, Mock Up on Mu, is a madcap hyper-meditation on magick and mind control that takes place in a hallucinogenic California spliced together, literally, from B-movies, self-help infomercials, UFO cable access shows, and aerospace promo films. Actually Mock Up on Mu is about a lot of things, too many probably, but the core story it tells—or rather, the story it allegorizes into a SciFi agitprop ADD fantasy—is one of the core narratives of the California spiritual underground: the almost operatic tale of JPL rocket scientist Jack Parsons. A review by Erik Davis. 6|9|08
Religious leaders have contended for millennia that burning incense is good for the soul. Now, biologists have learned that it is good for our brains too. An international team of scientists, including researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, describe how burning frankincense activates poorly understood ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety or depression. 6|5|08
The mission and purpose of the Kundalini Research Foundation is to promote the scientific investigation of enlightenment, inspiration, genius, and the evolution of consciousness. 2|6|08
"This year's World Psychedelic Forum was a massive, beautifully organized affair attended by more than 1,900 people from 37 countries. Topics ranged from cognitive enhancement to aesthetics and art, with speakers including Rick Doblin, Kathleen Harrison, Dennis McKenna, a.m.o." Diana Reed Slattery gives an extensive account for Reality Sandwich. 2|6|08
When older people can no longer remember names at a cocktail party, they tend to think that their brainpower is declining. But a growing number of studies suggest that this assumption is often wrong. Instead, the research finds, the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to sift through a clutter of information, often to its long-term benefit. 5|28|08
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In his new book, Ervin Laszlo presents a new “reality map“ to guide us through the world shifts we are experiencing--the problems, opportunities, and challenges we face individually as well as collectively--in order to help us understand what we must do during this time of great transition. 7|5|08
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Plastic bags take 1.000 years to decompose. A 16 year old student has developed a method that speeds the process to about three months. Daniel Burd's project won the top prize at a science fair in Ottawa, Canada. He came back with a long list of awards, including a scholarship, and recognition that he has found a practical way to help the environment. 7|5|08
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Bucky had it right. "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." That’s why we’re awarding a USD 100,000 prize each year for comprehensive solutions that radically advance human well-being and ecosystem health. The 2008 prize has been conferred June 23rd in NYC. The 2009 Challenge begins this fall. Stay tuned. 7|1|08
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Heffter Research Institute’s board member Charles S. Grob was surprised when the producers of the Fox Television Network’s "The Morning Show With Mike and Juliet" asked him to talk live about his psilocybin research with cancer patients. Grob sent them to Norbert Litzinger, HRI’s volunteer Director of Development and husband of Pam Sakuda, a patient in the study who passed away a year and a half ago. The live interviews with Grob, Litzinger and another of Grob’s subjects -- is heartening to watch, and the moderator comments the approach. 7|1|08
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Mahatma Gandhi has become one of those saints from the distant past whose name is frequently invoked without thought to the nature of his achievements. When we consider the violence saturating the world today, it is remarkable to recall that satyagraha triumphed over the British Empire, winning independence for India. This victory required great sacrifice and acceptance of privations, violent attacks and
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imprisonment on the part of many thousands, Hindus and Muslims alike, who joined his movement. 6|27|08
TREC is an initiative of The Club of Rome, the Hamburg Climate Protection Foundation and the National Energy Research Center of Jordan (NERC) in the field of renewable forms of energy. It has developed the DESERTEC Concept for energy, water and climate security in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, promoting cooperation between countries of the sun-belt and the technology belt. Now TREC is making this concept a reality. 6|27|08
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The secret lives of invisible magnetic fields are revealed as chaotic ever-changing geometries. All action takes place around NASA's Space Sciences Laboratories, UC Berkeley, to recordings of space scientists describing their discoveries. Actual VLF audio recordings control the evolution of the fields as they
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delve into our inaudible surroundings, revealing recurrent "whistlers" produced by fleeting electrons. Are we observing a series of scientific experiments, the universe in flux, or a documentary of a fictional world? 6|24|08
In his new book, Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind, Gary Marcus describes the brain as a clumsy collection of spare parts. Evolution tends not to optimise things; it simply tinkers with what's already there, he says. So it tends to make things better but there's no guarantee that it will make the best. "Survival of the fittest" really means fittest of the available options. Evolution can't take a step back and ask what the best option would be; it just works with what it has. And that's what leads to tinkering and ultimately the kluges. 6|24|08
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Lucy Pringle has been photographing crop formations from the air and on the ground since 1993. When she is impressed by crop patterns while photographing from an airplane, Lucy tries to get into the formations on the ground. That's what she did after photographing the 300-foot-diameter Barbury Castle. She said the interior showed no damage from mechanical devices or trampling, but she was puzzled by broken stalks at the edge of the outer perimeter. 6|21|08
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Can macrohistories accurately predict future directions? Yes, if the model in question deals with a deep-enough structural level of history. If it doesn't, you are safer going to your local fortune-teller than to a macrohistorian. 6|21|08
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How can we harmonize our approach to media with the principles of ecology? It's time for a more holistic understanding of media. A slightly abridged version of the introduction to Antonio Lopez’ new book Mediacology: A Multicultural Approach to Media Literacy in the 21st Century. 6|17|08
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A new study by Princeton University researchers shows for the first time that bacteria don't just react to changes in their surroundings -- they anticipate and prepare for them. The findings challenge the prevailing notion that only organisms with complex nervous systems have this ability. 6|17|08
playwright Antonin Artaud, the filmmaker also borrows from Rimbaud's poetics of delirium for the "deliberate disorientation of the senses" to achieve a series of altered states. In Alli's own words, "Cinema is a drug. If some movies put us to sleep like tranquilizers and others jack us up like triple espressos, The Invisible Forest is a 100% organic, user-friendly hallucinogen." 6|13|08
Over two years, more than 50 economists have worked to find the best solutions to ten of the world’s biggest challenges. During the last week, an expert panel of 8 top-economists, including 5 Nobel Laureates, sat down to assess the research. The result: A prioritized list highlighting the potential of 30 specific solutions to combat some of the biggest challenges facing the world. 6|13|08
medication. Scientists have found that new neurons are born in the adult brain and that increases or decreases of neurons may be involved in many brain diseases, including depression, schizophrenia and stroke. 6|11|08
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, today announced a new study to quantify the amounts and kinds of information being produced worldwide by businesses and consumers alike. The "How Much Information?" study will be completed by a multi-disciplinary, multi-university faculty team supported by corporate and foundation sponsorship. The program will be undertaken at the Global Information Industry Center (GIIC) at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS), with support from the Jacobs School of Engineering and the San Diego Supercomputer Center. 6|11|08
Can we train ourselves to be compassionate? A new study suggests the answer is yes. Cultivating compassion and kindness through meditation affects brain regions that can make a person more empathetic to other peoples' mental states, say researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The research suggests that individuals — from children who may engage in bullying to people prone to recurring depression — and society in general could benefit from such meditative practices. 6|9|08
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is a not-for-profit foundation and project collaborative and their mission is to mobilize human genius toward the design of a future that is physically, culturally, and perpetually conducive to life. Such a far-ranging mission casts the spirit of innovation squarely in an ethical context, calls for new skills of
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collaboration across disciplines, and encourages design and thinking that render current systemic problems such as global warming, species extinction, and social inequity, obsolete. 6|5|08 |
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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
Mahatma Gandhi
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