The Weirdest, Wildest News of 2004 (Part 3)

If you haven't read every single issue of Mind Power News you've probably missed at least one of these amazing stories from 2004. From telepathic parrots to a dream-control machine to proof that the force is with us. And who knew we had a second brain in our stomachs or that plants can think or that our species is evolving towards telepathy. This year also brought remarkable new proof of the mind-body connection in medicine, proof that hypnosis definitely works, and much more research into near-death experiences. Thanks for reading and here's to another mind-bending year ahead!

Cheers!
Andreas

---

NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS
The following are rich and famous people who risked it all to tell the world about their near-death experience. Read more here...

---

VIRTUAL REALITY GAME RELIEVES PAIN
The pain of severe burns may be the most excruciating pain a person can experience. But the August issue of Scientific American describes how the ultimate in pain may be eased by the ultimate in high-tech distractions. Read more here...

---

HYPNOSIS'S MAGIC IS THAT IT WORKS
Science can't figure out why, but hypnosis works. Read more here...

---

ORGASMS ARE ALL IN THE MIND
For those who laughed at the idea of the Barbarella-type "orgasmatron," Dr Lomas says the film is closer to science fact than fiction. Read more here...

---

MIND-BODY MEDICINE IS NOW SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN
Individuals with higher levels of well-being have lower cardiovascular risk, lower levels of stress hormones and lower levels of inflammation, which serves as a marker of the immune system. Read more here...

---

MEMORY UPGRADE CHIPS COMING TO A BRAIN NEAR YOU
If successful, the artificial brain prosthesis could replace its biological counterpart, enabling people who suffer from memory disorders to regain the ability to store new memories. Read more here...

---

COSMETIC NEUROLOGY - EXTREME MAKEOVER FOR YOUR BRAIN
Cosmetic neurology could one day mean not just sharpening intelligence, but also elevating other dictates of the brain - reflexes, attention, mood and memory. Read more here...

---

"WE WILL BE ABLE TO LIVE TO 1,000"
Life expectancy is increasing in the developed world. But Cambridge University geneticist Aubrey de Grey believes it will soon extend dramatically to 1,000. Here, he explains why. Read more here...

---

START 2005 WITH YOUR KEYS TO PROSPERITY.
For a limited time, readers of Mind Power News can purchase 3 excellent Mind Power e-books for the price of one. Read more here: New Year's Deal

---

READ ALL OF 2004'S WEIRDEST AND WILDEST NEWS AT
MIND POWER NEWS

The Weirdest, Wildest News of 2004 (Part 2)

FLUKEY OR SPOOKY
"Beyond Coincidence," a new book by Martin Plimmer and Brian King, includes some very bizarre and unusual tales. Read more here...

---

SCIENTISTS VALIDATE NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES
An estimated 7 million people have reported hauntingly similar "near-death" experiences. And a new study in the British medical journal Lancet gives credence to such accounts, concluding they are valid. Read more here...

---

DNA CALLED 'ANTENNAE TO GOD'
A lengthy review of scientific achievements in the field of genetics compiled by a team of experts indicates that life evolved from spiritual, more than physical, forces. Read more here...

---

QUANTUM IMMORTALITY
One of the most controversial interpretations of the many-worlds theory of quantum mechanics implies that a conscious being, once alive, can never cease to exist. Read more here...

---

PSYCHIC MEDIUMS BEAT MILLION TO ONE ODDS
A five-year test at the Scottish Society for Psychical Research claims that mediums really can receive psychic information. Read more here...

---

YOUR MIND CREATES PAIN
When the focus is your own pain, substances with no pharmaceutical value sometimes provide relief. The “active ingredient” in placebo treatments is your brain. Read more here...

---

LUCKY CHARMS' EFFECTIVENESS ALL IN THE MIND
Researchers have found that lucky charms work but only in the minds of those who carry them. Read more here...

---

THE SYNCRHONIZED UNIVERSE
There are many things modern science cannot explain, and yet they occur anyway. This includes phenomena in the "hard sciences" as well as in the paranormal. Read more here...

---

START 2005 WITH YOUR KEYS TO PROSPERITY.
For a limited time, readers of Mind Power News can purchase 3 excellent Mind Power e-books for the price of one. Read more here: New Year's Deal

---

READ ALL OF 2004'S WEIRDEST AND WILDEST NEWS AT
MIND POWER NEWS

The Weirdest, Wildest News of 2004 (Part 1)

SCIENTISTS DISCOVER 'SECOND BRAIN' IN THE GUT
Embedded within the wall of the gut is a self-contained, self-regulating nervous system that can function on its own, without the help of the brain or the spinal cord. Read more here...

---

EVOLVING TOWARDS TELEPATHY
It seems a veritable certainty that we are destined to become a species capable of mind-to-mind communication. Read more here...

---

N'KISIS THE TELEPATHIC PARROT
BBC's Wildlife magazine reports on a remarkable parrot which makes up words, has a great sense of humour, and seems to be able to read his owner's mind. Read more here...

---

PLANTS CAN THINK!
Cleve Backster was an American expert on lie detectors. In 1966, using a lie detector, he accidentally discovered that plants have high-level emotional activities that were similar to those of human beings. He then conducted a series of studies that amazed the world. Read more here...

---

PROOF THAT THE 'FORCE' IS REALLY WITH US
The ideas behind Star Wars, The X-Files and an assortment of other psychic films and shows may not be so far-fetched after all. According to a new study on visual perception, the "force" is possibly inherent in all of us, although we can't see it. Read more here...

---

CONTROL YOUR DREAMS WITH NEW TOY
A Japanese toy manufacturer claims to have created the first device which will help you create and control your dreams. Read more here...

---

START 2005 WITH YOUR KEYS TO PROSPERITY.
For a limited time, readers of Mind Power News can purchase 3 excellent Mind Power e-books for the price of one. Read more here: New Year's Deal

---

READ ALL OF 2004'S WEIRDEST AND WILDEST NEWS AT
MIND POWER NEWS

Hypnosis 'reduces cancer pain'

By Paul Rincon
BBC News Online

Childhood cancer patients suffer less pain when placed under hypnosis, scientists have claimed.

Children who had been hypnotised in trials reported they had less pain from medical procedures as well as cancer-related pain.

Dr Christina Liossi, from University of Wales, Swansea, suggested there was even tentative evidence that hypnosis prolonged the lives of cancer patients.

In one study, 80 children were placed in four groups: two experimental groups who were treated with an anaesthetic and hypnosis.

Two control groups were just given the anaesthetic.

"All [40] children who used hypnosis with a local anaesthetic felt much less pain than children who were just given the local anaesthetic," said Dr Liossi.

The children, aged six to 16, were placed under hypnosis by experts and then taught to hypnotise themselves before they underwent procedures.

Children not treated with hypnosis were talked to and counselled instead.

Other evidence presented at the festival also supports the idea that hypnosis is a genuine physical state and that people are not simply deceiving themselves into thinking they are hypnotised.

Read the full article here BBC

Get your free subscription to Mind Power News at www.mindpowernews.com

The Scientific Proof of the Power of Belief

By Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler
www.quantum-self.com

You've heard the expression, "We are what we think."

But is this old saying really true in a scientific sense? Do our thoughts "really" control what we accomplish in life?

I recall a classic study from many years ago. Picture this: A teacher comes into a primary-level classroom, and tells her students that a new scientific study proved blue-eyed children are a lot smarter than brown- or green-eyed children.

The results are both immediate and dramatic.

The blue-eyed children immediately began to outperform their brown and green-eyed classmates in all aspects of their studies.

Then two months later the teacher calls a special class-room meeting. She tells the students she'd made a serious mistake. She apologized, and said the study had actually proven that brown- and green-eyed children are the most intelligent.

Again the results are dramatic and immediate.

The blue-eyed children lost their edge and began to under perform. The brown- and green-eyed children's grades, on the other hand, immediately soared to the "superior" range!

What does this prove? Simply this:

If you "believe" you're smart, you act smart.

If you "believe" you're creative, you act creative.

If you "believe" you're a success, you act successful.

If you "believe" you're excellent at something, you act (and therefore become) excellent.

We each live up (or down) to the image we hold of our self.

Read the full article here www.quantum-self.com

How to Get a Money-Friendly Mind

By Jessica Kiddle
The Scotsman

Five years ago, Nicola Cairncross was broke. She was unemployed, unable to pay her rent, and struggling with huge debts. Today, the 42-year-old mother-of-two has investments totalling almost £1 million and counts a boutique hotel among her property portfolio. To do this she did more than change her spending habits - first she had to change her money mind-set.

"Instead of being scared of money we have to make it our friend - by overcoming our fear of it, believing we can achieve the financial situation we want and creating the confidence to go for it," says Cairncross, who realigned her life by getting a job, consulting a range of money management guides and becoming a "wealth coach".

Freedom from financial anxieties is something most of us dream of, but rarely achieve. A recent Norwich Union survey found that 57 per cent of people regularly worry about their monetary situation, with over a third wishing they could reduce their debts. With the festive season looming, money worries are about to soar.

However, before you make an appointment with your bank manager, why not invest some time in developing an attitude to money which can help set you on the track to your own idea of financial freedom - whether that involves becoming rich or not.

Read the full story here The Scotsman

Get your free subscription to Mind Power News at
www.MindPowerNews.com

Blind Man Uses 'Sixth Sense' to Detect Emotion

Yahoo News UK

A completely blind British man has been shown to possess an apparent "sixth sense" which lets him recognise emotions on people's faces, British scientists said in research.

The 52-year-old was able to react to pictures of human faces showing emotions such as anger, happiness or fear, the researchers said.

The man, identified only as "patient X", has suffered two strokes which damaged the brain areas that process visual signals, leaving him completely blind.

However his eyes and optic nerves are intact, and brain scans showed that he appeared to somehow use a part of the brain not usually used for sight to process visual signals linked to some emotions.

When researchers from the University of Wales showed the man images of shapes such as circles and squares, he could only guess what they were, and had a similar lack of success determining the gender of emotionless male and female faces.

But when presented with angry or happy human faces, his accuracy improved to 59 percent, significantly better than what would be expected by random chance, with similar results for distinguishing between sad and happy or fearful and happy faces.

Read the full story here: Yahoo News UK

Get your free subscription to Mind Power News at
www.MindPowerNews.com

India Has Success Using Psychic Spies

By Sudhir Chadda,
India Daily

RAW, India's equivalent of the CIA, has advanced quite a lot in recent days. Sources close to New Delhi reports that RAW is using advanced satellite technologies and remote viewing techniques to look into foreign intelligence activities within India. Remote viewing is the paranormal activities with psychics that can sense into the future and unknown. CIA in America has used remote viewing for many years. Many times remote viewing has worked very well for CIA and Russian intelligence.

In recent days India has seen a massive amount of Pakistan's ISI agents arrested all over the country. The situation has gone so bad for Pakistan and Al-Queda that they are looking for reasons what is really happening. Taking clue for CIA, RAW Indian counterpart started remote viewing techniques many years back. They also tried to correlate the readings with high tech feedbacks like satellite sensing. This is being further validated with in the field agents' report. The net results for RAW and CBI (Central Bureau of Intelligence - equivalent of FBI) are astounding.

Sources say India has locked in close surveillance over most of foreign agencies within the country. RAW has recently expanded the efforts for strategic intelligence. This include spying over Pakistan, China and the Western nations.

The reason for the success is attributable to traditional Indian cultural richness over spirituality and paranormal activities.

The remote viewing activities are notthing new for India. Indians traditionally have been doing it for thousands of years. But now India is doing it for a reason.

Read the full story here: India Daily

Get your free subscription to Mind Power News at
www.MindPowerNews.com

Unleash the Mind-Altering Power of Fantasy

By Ruth Ostrow
The Australian

For years I have been practising a technique for getting my hormones and chemicals moving that I thought was unique, only to discover that my private motivational tool has been the subject of much scientific exploration over the decades.

Whenever I have felt down or depressed I've gone into a sort of daydream and created a situation which immediately seemed to change my physiology, either inventing a challenging scenario which has amped up adrenalin, or a pleasurable one.

The other day I had a chance to see the direct impact of my thinking. While standing on a treadmill, my gym instructor got me to hold some fancy device in my hand that he claimed would register heart-rate. He said I had to maintain a certain level in order to get fit.

Not happy with the rate I was achieving, he told me to walk faster and try to get the rate up to a number he recommended. I was too tired to go faster and decided to test the power of my mind instead. Shutting my eyes, I thought of a wickedly enjoyable situation. I felt myself flush and my heart-rate rise a little. But I was absolutely amazed to hear the instructor's voice: "Yes. That's it, wow! Keep going, your heart-rate has leapt right up. Great."

When I was a sex and relationships writer and radio broadcaster, I spoke to several experts on the subject of the power of the mind.

The academics and psychologists I interviewed for a 1999 feature were unanimous in their belief that when we fantasise, we go into a hypnotic state that triggers memory and leads to arousal. If it is a sexual fantasy then the arousal is sexual; if it is of being eaten by a lion, then the physiological reaction is fight-or-flight. So powerful is the mind, that it can even override physical deficiency.

Apparently, there has been interesting research done in recent years which has shown that women with spinal cord injuries can still create feelings of sexual desire by using their minds and imaginations.

One biochemist explained that the mind often cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality, therefore certain thoughts trigger the same chemical reactions we have to real events. Sexual or romantic fantasy helps flood the bloodstream with opiates which produce a euphoric effect and amphetamines which act like the drug Speed. Our fantasies can give us very real feelings and can be quite addictive.

They are also arguably part of nature's plan to dose us up with extra feel-good hormones – those wonderful rose-coloured glasses we humans seem to need to get us down the aisle and procreating.

So too with other forms of fantasy. Thinking of someone who makes us angry will certain make the blood boil. But by using this technique, I was able to turn my body into a ball of adrenalin which provided me with superhuman power and strength during a recent kick-box class.

Later I noticed the sweat I produced actually smelled quite different, more acrid, which my gym instructor explained was the scent of fear and anger.

It isn't just imagined "emotions", rather all sorts of thoughts and visualisations, that can aid performance. Sports coaches have been using mind control for years. I recently heard a story about a trainer who was working with swimmers who couldn't get up to speed. He asked them to shut their eyes and visualise their feet and hands as big flippers. The results were apparently quite stunning with the swimmers surpassing their best records.

Meanwhile, there is a clear correlation between muscle and mind. A friend who teaches yoga says she always gets her students to sit with their legs out and try to touch their toes. Then she gets them to lie back and imagine themselves going further than they ever believed possible. When they return to do the exercise a second time, with the visualisation in their heads, they all extend beyond their original limits. This is how she teaches them that the greatest muscle to exercise is the human brain.

Using this premise, it is obvious to see how important mind is to total health. As the cliche goes: "We are what we think".

But perhaps more important is to be aware of how much damage we can do to our bodies each day when we unknowingly think negative, fearful, or angry thoughts which deplete our adrenal glands and organs, and demeaning thoughts which trigger stress reactions and lower immunity.

Latest research on meditating monks shows that when we think compassionate, loving and calming thoughts we can settle the heart-rate, create feel-good hormones, and oxygenate the bloodstream. All of which leads to increased wellbeing. With this being my last column for 2004, I can't conceive of a more perfect way to say: "Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" than to remind all my valued readers to think in a way that makes their lives more blissful. Joy is the best health tonic.

Get your free subscription to Mind Power News at
www.MindPowerNews.com

Is Life All Just A Dream?

Jonathan Leake, Science Editor
London Times

DEEP THOUGHT, the supercomputer created by novelist Douglas
Adams, got there first, but now the astronomer royal has
caught up. Professor Sir Martin Rees is to suggest that
“life, the universe and everything” may be no more than a
giant computer simulation with humans reduced to bits of
software.

The possibility that what we see around us may not actually
exist has been raised by philosophers many times dating
back to the ancient Greeks and appears repeatedly in
science fiction.

However, many scientists have always been dismissive,
saying the universe was far too complex and consistent to
be a simulation.

Despite this, the idea has persisted, popularised in films
such as Tom Cruise’s Vanilla Sky and The Matrix, starring
Keanu Reeves.

It was also the basis for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy, written by Adams, who died in 2001. In the book,
Deep Thought creates the Earth and its human inhabitants as
a giant calculating device to answer the “ultimate
question”.

The BBC’s rerun of the radio version of Hitchhiker finished
recently, just as Rees was putting together his
contribution to the debate in which he will concede that
the depictions by Adams, Cruise and Reeves might have been
right after all.

In a television documentary, What We Still Don’t Know, to
be screened on Channel 4 next month, he will say: “Over a
few decades, computers have evolved from being able to
simulate only very simple patterns to being able to create
virtual worlds with a lot of detail.

“If that trend were to continue, then we can imagine
computers which will be able to simulate worlds perhaps
even as complicated as the one we think we’re living in.

“This raises the philosophical question: could we ourselves
be in such a simulation and could what we think is the
universe be some sort of vault of heaven rather than the
real thing. In a sense we could be ourselves the creations
within this simulation.”

Rees will emphasise that this is just a theory. But it is
being increasingly discussed by other eminent physicists
and cosmologists.

Among them is John Barrow, professor of mathematical
sciences at Cambridge University. He points out that the
universe has a degree of fine tuning that makes it safe for
living organisms.

Even a tiny alteration in a fundamental force or a constant
such as gravity would make stars burn out, atoms fly apart,
and the world as we know it become impossible. Such fine
tuning, he has said, could be taken as evidence for some
kind of intelligent designer being at work.

“Civilisations only a little more advanced than ourselves
will have the capability to simulate universes in which
self-conscious entities can emerge and communicate with one
another,” he said.

The idea that life, the universe and everything in it could
be an illusion dates back more than 2,000 years. Chuang
Tzu, the Chinese philosopher, who died in 295BC, wondered
whether his entire life might be no more than a dream.

René Descartes, the 17th century French philosopher, raised
similar questions. But he famously came down in favour of
existence, saying: “I think, therefore I am.”

The idea was resurrected last century, notably by Bertrand
Russell, who suggested that humans could simply be “brains
in a jar” being stimulated by chemicals or electrical
currents — an idea that was quickly taken up and developed
by science fiction writers such as Isaac Asimov.

However, some academics pour cold water on the notion of a
machine-created universe. Seth Lloyd, professor of quantum
mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, said such a computer would have to be
unimaginably large.

“The Hitchhiker’s Guide is a great book but it remains
fiction,” he said.

Get your free subscription to Mind Power News at www.mindpowernews.com