Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Simple Weight Loss Trick: Drink Water

Has the long-sought magic potion in society's "battle with the bulge" finally arrived?

An appetite-control agent that requires no prescription, has no common side effects, and costs almost nothing? Scientists today reported results of a new clinical trial confirming that just two 8-ounce glasses of the stuff, taken before meals, enables people to shed pounds. The weight-loss elixir, they told the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), is ordinary water.


"We are presenting results of the first randomized controlled intervention trial demonstrating that increased water consumption is an effective weight loss strategy," said Brenda Davy, Ph.D., senior author on the study. "We found in earlier studies that middle aged and older people who drank two cups of water right before eating a meal ate between 75 and 90 fewer calories during that meal.


READ THE FULL STORY HERE...

Dreams Make You Smarter & More Creative

By Rachel Kaufman / Source: National Geographic

Here's more evidence that sleep, including napping, can make you smarter.


Dreaming may improve memory, boost creativity, and help you better plan for the future, new research suggests.


In a recent study, people who took naps featuring REM sleep—in which dreams are most vivid—performed better on creativity-oriented word problems. That is, the REM, or rapid eye movement, sleep helped people combine ideas in new ways, according to psychiatrist Sara Mednick, who led the study.


Part of the experiment's morning round involved a word-analogy test, similar to some SAT problems. For example, given "chips: salty::candy:_____" the answer would have been "sweet."

At midday, after the first round, the subjects were given a 90-minute rest period, during which they were monitored.

Some participants took naps with REM sleep, which typically begins more than an hour after a person falls asleep. Others took an REM-less nap. A third group rested quietly but didn't sleep.


READ THE FULL STORY HERE...

Saturday, August 28, 2010

A Simple NLP Trick to Get "Into the Zone"

By Steve G. Jones, Clinical Hypnotherapist
Creator of the NLP Master Practitioner Training Program

Isn't it amazing how you can stop a 200 ton boat dead in its tracks by simply dropping an anchor into the sea? Anchors are extremely powerful and useful when it comes to keeping things in place and preventing them from drifting away.

Well what if I told you there was a way to do this with your positive emotions?


We've all had time in our lives when we felt more confident, more powerful and more skilled in a certain area.
And we've all certainly had those times were we felt like no matter what we tried, nothing seemed to work. Did you ever notice that in both positive and negative mind states, we seem to build momentum in both cases?

In other words, when we're in a state of positivity, we just seem to build on that and enter what is known as the “zone”. And when we’re in a state of negativity, we feel like “when it rains, it pours”.


READ THE FULL STORY HERE...

Thursday, August 26, 2010

2001-2010: Best. Decade. Ever?

By Charles Kenny / Source: Foreign Policy

The past 10 years have gotten a bad rap as the "Naughty Aughties" -- and deservedly so, it seems, for a decade that began with 9/11 and the Enron scandal and closed with the global financial crisis and the Haiti earthquake. In between, we witnessed the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, SARS and swine flu, not to mention vicious fighting in Sudan and Congo, Afghanistan and, oh yes, Iraq.

Given that our brains seem hard-wired to remember singular tragedy over incremental success, it's a hard sell to convince anyone that the past 10 years are worthy of praise.


But these horrific events, though mortal and economic catastrophes for many millions, don't sum up the decade as experienced by most of the planet's 6-billion-plus people.

For all its problems, the first 10 years of the 21st century were in fact humanity's finest, a time when more people lived better, longer, more peaceful, and more prosperous lives than ever before.


READ THE FULL STORY HERE...

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Does an Inner Zombie Control Your Brain?

By Carl Zimmer / Discovery Magazine

If you had to sum up the past 40 years of research on the mind, you could do worse than to call it the Rise of the Zombies.


We like to see ourselves as being completely conscious of our thought processes, of how we feel, of the decisions we make and our reasons for making them. When we act, it is our conscious selves doing the acting. But starting in the late 1960s, psychologists and neurologists began to find evidence that our self-aware part is not always in charge.

Researchers discovered that we are deeply influenced by perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and desires about which we have no awareness. Their research raised the disturbing possibility that much of what we think and do is thought and done by an unconscious part of the brain—an inner zombie.


READ THE FULL STORY HERE...

Monday, August 23, 2010

How to Create Complete & Perfect Freedom

By Dr. Robert Anthony
Creator of The Secret of Deliberate Creation


Imagine doing what you want, when you want, with whom you
want, where you want, for as long as you want, without ever having to answer to anyone…

Let me ask you a question.

How would you know if you were “rich’?


That may seem like a stupid question. You would probably reply, “I
would know if I was rich if I had no bills, or I had a lot of money inthe bank, or had income producing investments or business, or I could buy whatever I want without having to go into debt.

What Are True Riches?


If you gave any of the above answers you would be partially
correct. Most people perceive wealth or riches as the ability to be financially secure. However, true riches offer an even greater
benefit than financial security.

A person who is truly rich knows they are truly rich when they have
achieved the most valuable asset of all: PERSONAL FREEDOM!

This is true wealth – to have complete FREEDOM to live life on
YOUR terms.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY

Sunday, August 22, 2010

The Money Winning Brain

When there’s money on the table, some people always find a way to win. New research suggests that a specific brain area helps “money players” use the prospect of success to better prepare their thoughts and actions—and increase the odds of winning reward.

The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, identified a brain region about two inches above the left eyebrow that sprang into action whenever study participants were shown a dollar sign—a predetermined cue that a correct answer on the task at hand would result in a financial reward.


Using what researchers believe are short bursts of dopamine—the brain’s chemical reward system—the brain region then began coordinating interactions between the brain’s cognitive control and motivation networks, apparently priming the brain for a looming “show me the money” situation.


“The surprising thing we see is that motivation acts in a preparatory manner,” says Adam Savine, lead author of the study and a doctoral candidate in psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. “This region gears up when the money cue is on.”


READ THE FULL STORY HERE...

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Someday Hackers Might Control Your Brain

By Hadley Leggett / Source: Wired Science

In the past year, researchers have developed technology that makes it possible to use thoughts to operate a computer, maneuver a wheelchair or even use Twitter -- all without lifting a finger. But as neural devices become more complicated, and go wireless, some scientists say the risks of "brain hacking" should be taken seriously.


"Neural devices are innovating at an extremely rapid rate and hold tremendous promise for the future," said computer security expert Tadayoshi Kohno of the University of Washington.


"But if we don't start paying attention to security, we're worried that we might find ourselves in five or 10 years saying we've made a big mistake."


Hackers tap into personal computers all the time. But what would happen if they focused their nefarious energy on neural devices, such as the deep-brain stimulators used to treat Parkinson's and depression, or electrode systems for controlling prosthetic limbs?


CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY...

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

NASA Worried About Solar Storms Predicted by Remote Viewers

Exclusive Interview with Major Ed Dames 

By Laurie Nadel, Ph.D., host of The Dr. Laurie Show


"I never worry about the future. It comes soon enough," Albert Einstein allegedly wrote.


But NASA scientists are not on the same page as Einstein. "As we approach the net peak of solar activity expected in 2013, our nation faces multiplying uncertainties from increasing reliance on space weather-affected technologies," stated a press release issued a meeting of the Space Weather Enterprise Forum met in Washington, D.C. on June 8th.


NASA and The National Academy of Sciences are urging the nation's public utilities and Federal government to create back-up systems for power grids and satellite communications before strikes. NASA predicts that a super storm would strike "like a bolt of lightning" that would change the earth's magnetic field so that everything from car navigation systems, cell phones, computers, banking systems, and air travel would be shot.


In fact, anything that relies on electricity as a power source could be incapacitated within minutes. Not only would the bill to fix the damage cost billions, the loss of electricity around the planet would plunge some societies back to the pre-industrial era.


In league with NASA scientists, New York Times' best-selling author Gregg Braden expects that when the earth completes its transit of the Equator of the Milky Way, sometime between 2013 and 2015, electromagnetic storms and solar flares will destroy power grids and damage communications systems.


READ THE FULL STORY HERE...

Monday, August 16, 2010

The 7 Ancient Secrets for Perfect Health

By Kacper Postawski, Creator of The 7 Ancient Health Secrets

As I write this, there are hundreds of thousands of people very ill around the
world. Thousands are dying from diseases which experts tell them are “irreversible.” Statistically, one out of three Americans now get Cancer. That’s staggering. Every year there are more and more drugs available to “treat” these problems yet people keep on dying and no-one is getting healed.

And yet... as I write this... There is another group of people, one which you
won’t read about in the papers, won’t see trumpeted on the media or backed by pharmaceutical corporations. This group of people is thriving with health and energy. Their bodies are vibrating with life, and they never get sick or worry about illness ever again. In fact, most of these people age at a drastically slower rate.

This group of people is also growing by the thousands every day; it is a wave of
awareness that is spreading across the globe. The good news is you can join this group of people very easily, by following the powerful principles and clarity you’ll get from this information, like I once did.

What’s the main difference between those two groups?


The first group follows the SAD system. Appropriately named, the acronym
stands for the Standard American Diet.

The second group knows about, either conscious or unconsciously, and follows
the Living Vibration system.

What is the Living Vibration system? It’s not some new fad diet, or the latest
scientific discovery, it is an understanding, a secret philosophy of health that is hundreds of years old, that has been lost and forgotten by the bulk of today’s society.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE...

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Why Money Can't Buy Happiness

By Jonah Lehrer / Source: Wired

Money is surprisingly bad at making us happy. Once we escape the trap of poverty, levels of wealth have an extremely modest impact on levels of happiness, especially in developed countries. Even worse, it appears that the richest nation in history – 21st century America – is slowly getting less pleased with life. (Or as the economists behind this recent analysis concluded: “In the United States, the [psychological] well-being of successive birth-cohorts has gradually fallen through time.”)


Needless to say, this data contradicts one of the central assumptions of modern society, which is that more money equals more pleasure. That’s why we work hard, fret about the stock market and save up for that expensive dinner/watch/phone/car/condo. We’ve been led to believe that dollars are delight in a fungible form.


But the statistical disconnect between money and happiness raises a fascinating question: Why doesn’t money make us happy? One intriguing answer comes from a new study by psychologists at the University of Liege, published in Psychological Science. The scientists explore the “experience-stretching hypothesis,” an idea first proposed by Daniel Gilbert. He explains “experience-stretching” with the following anecdote:


I’ve played the guitar for years, and I get very little pleasure from executing an endless repetition of three-chord blues. But when I first learned to play as a teenager, I would sit upstairs in my bedroom happily strumming those three chords until my parents banged on the ceiling…Doesn’t it seem reasonable to invoke the experience-stretching hypothesis and say that an experience that once brought me pleasure no longer does?


READ THE FULL STORY HERE...

Friday, August 13, 2010

Sex Boosts Brain Power

By Matthew Edlund, M.D. / Source: Psychology Today

Can Sex Grow My Brain?



The short answer is yes - if you're a rat. Rats and humans differ in some ways. Yet our mammalian physiology is sufficiently similar that what happens in rats often happens in people.

The sex-brain study, done at Princeton's Psychology Department by Leuner, Glasper, and Gould, was performed with active, night-time rats. Males spent time with females that were either sexually receptive or non-receptive (unlike us but like most animals, rats get sex-obsessed only at hormonally defined intervals.)


Whether sexual contact was a one night stand or ongoing for two weeks, cell growth popped out in the hippocampus, a major brain memory area for rats and humans. As Woody Allen would say, it worked every time.


READ THE FULL STORY HERE...

Thursday, August 12, 2010

A New Way to Achieve All Your Dreams

By Stuart Lichtman
Author, How to Get Lots of Money For Anything...Fast!

Name something you want. It can be a weight-loss goal, a money goal, a sales quota, a new house, a relationship, etc. It’s entirely up to you.

Since this book is about money, think about your money goals. How much more money are your seeking, anyway? A hundred dollars? Thousands? A million?

Now let me ask you a blunt question: Why don’t you have it yet?

Why don’t you have the thinner body, or more money, or whatever it is you said you wanted? Well?

Now let me tell you something shocking: The fault isn’t with the economy, your parents, your spouse, your neighbors, your mayor, the president or anyone or anything outside of you. There is only one answer to my question of, “Why don’t you have it yet?” And I’ll tell you what it is in a minute.

Have you ever wondered why so many people have so much trouble getting what they truly want? Have you considered that there could be an easier way though life? Have you ever felt that life was just too much of a struggle? Most of us have, at one time or another, just felt that life was a royal pain. But the liberating truth is this - life doesn’t have to be that way.

What’s the secret to making life a joy? What’s the secret to creating more money now? And what’s the answer to why you haven’t achieved your goals yet?

It’s in your own mind.

No, not in your thoughts. Not in your conscious mind. The roadblock is deeper. It’s where you rarely look. It’s in your unconscious. In short, if there is something you are trying to achieve - you name it - and you aren’t achieving it, chances are your unconscious holds some contradictory intentions for you. Said another way, you want something and it doesn’t.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Latest Study Claims Prayer Can Heal the Sick

Source: Daily Mail

The power of prayer really can help to heal the sick, an international study has found - especially if the well-wisher is standing near the person they are praying for.

Researchers say the vision and hearing of patients in their tests improved after healing practitioners prayed for them.


One elderly woman who could not see a person's hand when they held two fingers up in front of her face from a foot away is said to have been cured after a healer placed their hands over her eyes and prayed for less than one minute.


The tests were carried out by a team from Indiana university, led by religious studies Professor Candy Gunther Brown, who were looking into 'proximal prayer' - or prayers near the patient.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE...

Could Brainwaves Predict Terrorism?

Imagine technology that allows you to get inside the mind of a terrorist to know how, when, and where the next attack will occur. That’s not nearly as far-fetched as it seems, according to a new study.

In a mock terrorism scenario, when researchers knew in advance specifics of the planned attacks by the make-believe “terrorists,” they were able to correlate P300 brain waves to guilty knowledge with 100 percent accuracy in the lab, says J. Peter Rosenfeld, professor of psychology at Northwestern University.

For the first time, researchers used the P300 testing in a mock terrorism scenario in which the subjects are planning, rather than perpetrating, a crime. The P300 brain waves were measured by electrodes attached to the scalp of the make-believe “persons of interest” in the lab.

The most intriguing part of the study in terms of real-word implications, Rosenfeld says, is that even when the researchers had no advance details about mock terrorism plans, the technology was still accurate in identifying critical concealed information.


READ THE FULL STORY HERE...

Saturday, August 07, 2010

Predictably, Psychic Octopus Begins Advertising Career

By Eric Kelsey / Der Spiegel

Paul the psychic octopus may have retired from predicting football matches, but his advertising career has just begun.

The eight-legged oracle recently appeared in an advertisement for a German supermarket chain and has received more than 160 endorsement offers, including a book deal, according to the mollusk's agent.


From the depths of the ocean to the height of stardom, Paul the octopus' star hasn't gone dim yet. After shooting to fame this summer by correctly predicting the results of each of Germany's World Cup matches -- including tipping Spain to beat Netherlands in the final -- the cephalopod oracle from the Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen was featured in recent print ads for the German supermarket chain Rewe.


READ THE FULL STORY HERE...

Friday, August 06, 2010

Sleeping In Boosts Brain Power

By Heidi Blake
 / Source: The Telegraph

Scientists have discovered that an extra dose of sleep is more than just a luxury - it provides an essential boost to brain power ahead of the working week.

Those who return to work on Monday morning refreshed from a long lie-in the day before perform better than those who spent less time in bed at the weekend, research has found.


A single lie-in is all that is required to replenish the brain and boost energy, alertness and attention span after a week of restricted sleep, the study showed.

But even 10 hours in bed may not be enough to restore those who regularly burn the candle at both ends – so they should lie in even longer.


READ THE FULL STORY HERE...

Sunday, August 01, 2010

Inception and the Top 10 Dream Movies of All Time

By Zachary Goldbaum / Source: Filmjabber.com

As Inception plows through its second weekend of box office glory, Christopher Nolan’s lucid thriller is simultaneously solidifying its legacy as a classic of contemporary cinema.

From the early days of film making (dare I say, since its inception?), theorists have speculated about the dreamlike nature of the cinematic experience and movies have perpetually tried to bring dreams alive on screen. Inception couples innovative art-house sensibilities with blockbuster thrill tactics to take on the dream genre with ingenuity and intelligence.

Like Inception, these next ten films deftly negotiate the world of dreams with real life to earn the distinction of being one of the top ten dream movies of all time.


READ THE TOP 10 LIST HERE...