The Philip Experiment comes out of the archives, research into technologically aided telepathy continues apace, and the publication of books on NDE’s hits a new stride in this edition of psi in the news.
- The Rhine Education Center has made the syllabus available for Dr. Nancy Zingrone’s upcoming Parapsychology 101 course. (Rhine Education Center)
- Chase O’Gwin, University of West Georgia, has sent out a request for participants in a survey for his thesis. The survey explores different facets of negative emotion. (University of West Georgia)
- ?Wednesday, April 24th is the next talk in the Anthropology, Consciousness and Culture lecture series hosted by Jack Hunter of Paranthropology. The talk will feature Dr. Nicholas Campion on the topic of ‘Magic, Myth and the Space Race.’ (Anthropology, Consciousness and Culture)
- April 26th – 27th the Society for Anomalistics ( Gesellschaft für Anomalistik e.V) will a conference on clinical parapsychology in Frieburg, Germany. (World of Parapsychology)
- Beginning Wednesday, May 8th Dr. Eben Alexander and Pim Van Lommel will lead an online course exploring the implications of the Near Death Experience. (The Optimist)
- On June 21 – 23 the Sheraton Westport Plaza Hotel in St. Louis, MO, will host the third annual Afterlife Awareness Conference. (Afterlife Awareness Conference)
- June 30 – July 5th at the Omega Institute in New York, Stephen Schwartz will be presenting an “Opening to the Infinite Workshop,” which looks at the convergence of ancient and contemporary concepts of non-locality. (Omega Institute)
- Dr. Charles Tart offers a few thoughts on the interstice of Atheism, spirituality and parapsychology. (Charles Tart)
- Researchers from the National University of Singapore have released a study which indicates that meditation can be used to raise core body temperature up to 38.3 degrees Celsius. (Asian Scientist)
- The Journal of the Otherworld North East Research Society is available on Scribd. (Otherworld North East Research Society)
- Dr. Barry Taff discusses his experience with psi training at the UCLA parapsychology lab in the 1970’s and 80’s. (The Teeming Brain)
- Gene Semel, who wrote an earlier piece on Disinfo discussing his investigation of Sony’s ESP research, has another piece discussing his exploration of alternative healing methods, including cultivating an Out of Body Experience. (Disinfo.com)
- Nobel Prize winning neurophysiologist Sir John Eccles considered materialist reductionism “demeaning” to human inquiry, as noted in a new article on Life in B Flat which adds him to a list of respected researchers who expressed a more nuanced view of reality. (Life in B Flat)
- While scientific research into the objective reality of Near Death and Out of Body Experiences is valuable, there is also a subjective value as evinced by their role as life changing catalysts for many who experience them. (International Academy of Consciousness)
- Walter Meyer zu Erpen of the Survival Research Institute of Canada has begun uploading some information from the archives on George and Iris Owen’s famous “Philip Experiment.” (Survival Research Institute of Canada)
- Michael Prescott investigates the neuropathology of strong belief in a piece titled “Meat Puppet Madness.” (Michael Prescott)
- An Oklahoma woman is reporting 9 minutes in heaven after a Near Death Experience. (New York Daily News)
- From Joplin, Missouri we have another report of a trip to “heaven” during an NDE, this one from a retired teacher who describes his experience in a new book called, Bridging the Gap. (Joplin Globe)
- A new book, The Christian Case for Near Death Experiences, by Episcopal priest, and Near Death Experience researcher, Reverend John W. Price seeks to put NDE’s in a Christian perspective. (The Clay Times Journal)
- Cal Cooper is interviewed in this recent piece which looks at the question of meaning in anomalous experiences. (From Angels to Zen)
- The latest Gateways Live video presents a conversation with Luigi Sciambarella of the Monroe Institute on his out of body experiences and their relation to a holistic worldview. (Gateways Live)
- Research into psi isn’t always about directly testing psychical experiences, it often takes the form of finding “normal” explanations for anomalous phenomena. The University of Birmingham is currently conducted experiments which look at how our brain maps out our experience of the physical body. Greater understanding in this area can help in understanding phenomena like Out of Body Experiences and Near Death Experiences, which challenge our concepts of physical agency. (BBC)
- Stephen Braude’s collection of case histories from his explorations of psychical research, The Gold Leaf Lady and Other Parapsychological Investigations, is available as a free digital edition from University of Chicago Press. (University of Chicago Press)
- The field of consciousness studies is one of the perfect places to study the use of science as social propaganda. Robert McLuhan explores some of the factors at play through an example of this with a Canadian fMRI study on telepathy. (Paranormalia)
- Dr. Julia Assante joins Alex Tsakiris on Skeptiko to discuss, among other things, her interesting views on technology’s role in “training us to talk with spirits.” (Skeptiko)
- In a recent Guardian feature, Dr. Sam Parnia discusses resucitation, and the changing face of technology which is extending our ability to bring people back from the brink of death. (Guardian UK)
- With TED bringing up the shadowy bogeyman of pseudoscience, Tamra Temple has uploaded some papers from the declassified Stargate Remote Viewing project which highlight “the nature of legitimate research.” (Stargate Interactive)
- If you missed the “Brother Can You Spare a Paradigm” event, which replaced TEDxWestHollywood when their license was revoked, Russell Targ has uploaded a YouTube video of his talk. (YouTube)
- Russell Targ also makes an appearance on a recent episode of Mysterious Universe to discuss his book The Reality of ESP. (Mysterious Universe)
- Physical mediumship is one of the more controversial areas of psychical research. Martin J. Clemens offers up a retrospective on this odd, and oft’ dismissed, phenomena. (Paranormal People Online)
- Live Science columnist, Stephanie Pappas, discusses the science of sleep paralysis on Yahoo News. (Yahoo News)
- Wednesday Mourning gives us a taste of Victorian Spiritualism with an excerpt from “The Truth of Spiritualism – Immortality Proved Beyond a Doubt” by Ebenezer V Wilson, published in 1876. (Wednesday Mourning)
- Deborah Rozman, of the HeartMath Inc., joins Barnet Bain on the Cutting Edge Consciousness podcast to discuss “The Science and Technology of Human Potential.” (Huffington Post)
- In an interview for Harper Collins, Mario Beauregard, PhD., author of The Spiritual Brain and The Brain Wars, discusses his views on mind and materialism. (Harper Collins)
- 15, yes, count’em, 15 Near Death Experiences are discussed in this talk on NDE’s and the brain. (The Spiritual Brain – Science and Religious Experience)
- Michael Tymn relates an anecdote from Spiritualist medium Paul Biscop which details messages Biscop reports receiving after the death of an unfamiliar nephew. For those truly interested in these areas I would recommend visiting with some Spiritualist mediums to get an idea of the grounds for these types of reports, which is often not as apparent when you read it with “is this real” or “not real” in mind. (White Crow Books)
- Religion columnist George McHendry discusses his fascination with NDE’s, and how his growing sense of mortality as he ages has played a role in this interest. (Broomfield Enterprise)
- Psychical research is often mired in semantic arguments over the ideas of science, mysticism, magic and religion. A recent piece on Policy Mic discusses this in terms of Near Death Experiences, one of the most heated areas for this debate as they often challenge existing worldviews from all sides. (Policy Mic)
- Christopher Coppe, author of “The Essence of Religions,” digs further into the interstices of religion and NDEs in a recent piece for Huffington Post. (Huffington Post)
- National Geographic recently posted an article which discusses some of the developments in technologically aided “telepathy.” (National Geographic)
- A specific example of this is highlighted in a New Scientist piece discussing research which has allowed humans to mentally control the movement of rat tails. (New Scientist)
- A new post from the Felix Circle, a physical mediumship development group in Germany, discusses purported levitations during a recent sitting. (Felix Circle)
- Near Death Experience researcher Dr. Nancy Evans Bush discusses recent studies showing that memories accompanying NDE’s are more vivid than memories gained from waking life. (Dancing Past the Dark)
- Digging into the archives Marc Demarest brings us some reflections from W.F. Barrett on psychical researcher Charles Carleton Massey, one of the core group of people who founded the original Society for Psychical Research. (Chasing Down Emma)
- Michael Prescott elucidates the practical value of Psi studies and questions of survival after death in a recent blog post. (Michael Prescott)
Note: Special thanks to Tom Ruffles, of the Society for Psychical Research, Jack Hunter, Editor at Paranthropology Journal, Kim Cascone, and Tamra Temple for a number of links included in this edition of Reality Sandwich’s Psi-in-the-News.
