Studies and Progress Notes (May 2010)

* * * STUDIES and PROGRESS NOTES * * *

* *  SPIRITUAL AWARENESS AND WHOLISTIC HEALING * *

Quantum Honeybees

How could bees of little brain come up with anything as complex as a dance language? The answer could lie not in biology but in six-dimensional math and the bizarre world of quantum mechanics.
Honeybees don’t have much in the way of brains. Their inch-long bodies hold at most a few million neurons. Yet with such meager mental machinery honeybees sustain one of the most intricate and explicit languages in the animal kingdom. In the darkness of the hive, bees manage to communicate the precise direction and distance of a newfound food source, and they do it all in the choreography of a dance. Scientists have known of the bee’s dance language for more than 70 years, and they have assembled a remarkably complete dictionary of its terms, but one fundamental question has stubbornly remained unanswered: How do they do it? How do these simple animals encode so much detailed information in such a varied language? Honeybees may not have much brain, but they do have a secret…

One day Shipman was busy projecting the six-dimensional residents of the flag manifold onto two dimensions. The particular technique she was using involved first making a two-dimensional outline of the six dimensions of the flag manifold. This is not as strange as it may sound. When you draw a circle, you are in effect making a two-dimensional outline of a three- dimensional sphere. As it turns out, if you make a two-dimensional outline of the six-dimensional flag manifold, you wind up with a hexagon. The bee’s honeycomb, of course, is also made up of hexagons, but that is purely coincidental. However, Shipman soon discovered a more explicit connection. She found a group of objects in the flag manifold that, when projected onto a two-dimensional hexagon, formed curves that reminded her of the bee’s recruitment dance. The more she explored the flag manifold, the more curves she found that precisely matched the ones in the recruitment dance. I wasn’t looking for a connection between bees and the flag manifold, she says. I was just doing my research. The curves were nothing special in themselves, except that the dance patterns kept emerging…

Source: http://discovermagazine.com/1997/nov/quantumhoneybees1263  

IJHC – WHR Observations

It is fascinating to observe the gradually growing convergence between research observations and theories in advanced mathematics and quantum physics with research observations and theories in parapsychology, transpersonal psychology, spiritual awareness and spiritual healing.

Conventional science, even in advanced mathematical and physical theorizing, relies on reductionistic reasoning. If there is no accepted, researchable theory to explain a phenomenon, we hesitate to accept the evidence from observations of the world through our human senses and experiences as real.

The research evidence confirming the existence of telepathy, clairsentience, precognition, psychokinesis (collectively termed 'psi' abilities) and spiritual healing is very convincing for anyone who takes the trouble to examine the meta-analyses. The chances that these findings are random observations are of the order of one time in many millions to one time in many billions. Interestingly, the research also shows convincingly that skeptics have psi abilities as believers – but the skeptics use these abilities actively in support of their disbeliefs about psi. Click here for references

As a humorous relevant aside, it has been proven mathematically that bees can't fly. The surface area of their wings and their available muscle power simply cannot generate sufficient lift to carry their weight. Click here for a discussion on this.

* *  FUTURE RESEARCH IN WHOLISTIC HEALING * * 

The IJHC/WHR E-Zine features monthly suggestions for future research in healing.
READERS ARE INVITED TO SUBMIT SUGGESTIONS FOR TOPICS TO STUDY
If your topic is chosen, you ill receive free access to the IJHC for a month, including the current issue and all back issues.
 

Research on collective consciousness

Pushing the envelope of psi communications a bit further, there is every reason to accept that a collective consciousness exists – because if each of us has psi abilities, we can connect with anyone and everyone, anywhere and everywhere, anywhen and everywhen.

From the perspective of living within a collective consciousness, many phenomena of human social nature and of global consciousness take on very different perspectives. These are well worth studying – in the light of humanity's current suicidal path to destruction and genocidal destruction of most other living organisms on our planet.

Spiritual healing has a lot to offer by ways of suggestions for exploring healing effects upon the collective consciousness.

* * WHOLISTIC APPROACHES * *

Breathing technique offers help for people with asthma
By JANE E. BRODY

"I don’t often write about alternative remedies for serious medical conditions…

Now, however, in describing an alternative treatment for asthma that does not yet have top clinical ratings in this country (although it is taught in Russian medical schools and covered by insurance in Australia), I am going beyond my usually stringent research criteria for three reasons:

The treatment, a breathing technique discovered half a century ago, is harmless if practiced as directed with a well-trained therapist.

It has the potential to improve the health and quality of life of many people with asthma, while saving health care dollars.

I’ve seen it work miraculously well for a friend who had little choice but to stop using the steroid medications that were keeping him alive…

Nothing else he tried seemed to work. “After having a really poor couple of years with significantly reduced quality of life and performance at work,” he told me, “I was ready to give up my eyesight and go back on steroids just so I could breathe better.”

… last spring, someone told him about the Buteyko method, a shallow-breathing technique developed in 1952 by a Russian doctor, Konstantin Buteyko. Mr. Wiebe watched a video demonstration on YouTube and mimicked the instructions shown.

“I could actually feel my airways relax and open,” he recalled. “This was impressive. Two of the participants on the video were basically incapacitated by their asthma and on disability leave from their jobs. They each admitted that keeping up with the exercises was difficult but said they had been able to cut back on their medications by about 75 percent and their quality of life was gradually returning.”

…three months later, after a series of lessons and refresher sessions in shallow breathing, he said, “I am using less than one puff of the inhaler each day — no drugs, just breathing exercises.”

… Ordinarily, during an asthma attack, people panic and breathe quickly and as deeply as they can, blowing off more and more carbon dioxide. Breathing rate is controlled not by the amount of oxygen in the blood but by the amount of carbon dioxide, the gas that regulates the acid-base level of the blood.

Dr. Buteyko concluded that hyperventilation — breathing too fast and too deeply — could be the underlying cause of asthma, making it worse by lowering the level of carbon dioxide in the blood so much that the airways constrict to conserve it.

This technique may seem counterintuitive: when short of breath or overly stressed, instead of taking a deep breath, the Buteyko method instructs people to breathe shallowly and slowly through the nose, breaking the vicious cycle of rapid, gasping breaths, airway constriction and increased wheezing…
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/health/03brod.html?_r=1&em

IJHC – WHR Observations

This promises to be a wonderful aid to people with asthma, in many ways. Not only is controlling the hyperventilation important, but it also empowers people to know that they can do something significant for themselves to improve their condition. The reduction in need for medications, particularly steroids, is a great help as well because these carry risks of serious side effects.

Study links drinking of soda with obesity

This study reports geographic variations in consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages among children, adolescents, and adults and examines the correlation between soda consumption and obesity. Researchers found that adults who drink a soda or more per day are 27 percent more likely to be overweight than those who do not drink sodas, regardless of income or ethnicity. Among children, the study found that 40 percent of young children (2-11 years of age) are drinking at least one soda or sugar-sweetened beverage every day. Adolescents (12-17) represent the biggest consumers, with 62 percent (over 2 million youths) drinking one or more sodas every day – the equivalent of consuming 39 pounds of sugar each year in soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages.

Data was drawn from the 2005 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), which interviewed more than 43,000 adults and 4,000 adolescents from every county in the state.

The study was commissioned by The California Center for Public Health Advocacy.
Babey, Susan H. et al. Bubbling over: soda consumption and its link to obesity in California, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, September 17, 2009
http://new.healthpolicy.ucla.edu/pubs/Publication.aspx?pubID=375#download

IJHC – WHR Observations

This may well be much more than just the increased sugar intake. It is strongly suspected that aspartame in many soft drinks promotes obesity and can contribute to other diseases.

* *  COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES * * 

A bodymind approach to hypertension

Here is an excellent, well referenced discussion of the problems of hypertension, difficulties with conventional antihypertensive medications, and well referenced suggestions for self-healing with qigong and brief descriptions of a variation of cognitive therapy that works well with qigong.

Mayer, Michael. Hypertension: an integral bodymind healing approach
http://www.bodymindhealing.com/images//hypertension_anintegrativeapproach_naturalstandard_final2.pdf

IJHC – WHR Observations

Mayer has a refreshingly clear, succinct style of writing. This article is packed with useful information for anyone interested in

Extracts of bitter melon can reduce and stop growth of breast cancer

Chemicals from the tropical bitter melon fruit have been able to block growth of breast cancers.

Source: Pang, Xiufeng et al. Celastrol Suppresses Angiogenesis-Mediated Tumor Growth through Inhibition of AKT/Mammalian Target of Rapamycin Pathway, Cancer Research 2010, 70, 1951  doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-09-3201 http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/70/5/1951

IJHC – WHR Observations

It is good to see a herbal remedy demonstrating efficacy in slowing or stopping growth of breast cancers. Hopefully this will have fewer side effects than conventional chemotherapy.

More CAM reviews at
http://www.naturalhealthvillage.com/
www.mdlinx.com/FamilyMDLinx 
www.ucalgary.ca/~camig/litsearch.html
AMSA website
www.amsa.org/humed/camresources/camnews.cfm

* * TECHNOLOGY * *

A portion of the brain appears to be involved in moral decisions
Is the basis of criminality an act that causes harm, or an act undertaken with the belief that one will cause harm? The present study takes a cognitive neuroscience approach to investigating how information about an agent's beliefs and an action's consequences contribute to moral judgment. We build on prior developmental evidence showing that these factors contribute differentially to the young child's moral judgments coupled with neurobiological evidence suggesting a role for the right temporoparietal junction (RTPJ) in belief attribution. Participants read vignettes in a 2 × 2 design: protagonists produced either a negative or neutral outcome based on the belief that they were causing the negative outcome (“negative” belief) or the neutral outcome (“neutral” belief). The RTPJ showed significant activation above baseline for all four conditions but was modulated by an interaction between belief and outcome. Specifically, the RTPJ response was highest for cases of attempted harm, where protagonists were condemned for actions that they believed would cause harm to others, even though the harm did not occur. The results not only suggest a general role for belief attribution during moral judgment, but also add detail to our understanding of the interaction between these processes at both the neural and behavioral levels.

Source: Young, Liane et al. The neural basis of the interaction between theory of mind and moral judgment PNAS 2007, 104 (20), 8235-8240   doi:10.1073/pnas.0701408104
http://www.pnas.org/content/104/20/8235.abstract?sid=1bb84301-501f-4a26-ab4c-8733f5eb2e6d

IJHC – WHR Observations

It is fascinating to witness the development of mapping of brain centers that are involved in various aspects of cognition and behaviors. One has to wonder how the refinements of such neuroanatomic and therapeutic knowledge will unfold. Will such understandings someday be able to help people whose moral judgment and related behavioral dyscontrols get them into conflict with the rules and expectations of society? Could such knowledge be used to bend people to the will of others who know how to manipulate these brain areas?
And then, of course, the bigger question whether we will all survive long enough to learn the answers to such questions – before humanity suicides through possible malfunctions of these areas of the brain…

* * ENVIRONMENT (HEALING OUR PLANET) * *

Global warming reopens the Northeast Passage: A triumph for man, a disaster for mankind
Two German merchant ships are the first to successfully traverse the fabled, elusive Northeast Passage – the waters north of Canada that previously blocked any such passage with ice. They carried a cargo of building supplies from Korea to the Netherlands. The quicker trip and reduced fuel costs has saved the shipping firm some $300,000 per ship. The company plans to sail even bigger ships through the passage next summer and expects to save about $600,000 on those voyages – despite the extra costs for icebreakers to help with portions of the journey near Russia.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1924410,00.html#ixzz0l7XWeKYE
 

IJHC – WHR Observations

The Northeast Passage is likely to become increasingly easier to traverse, and to be open for longer than the two months per year that are currently feasible to use it.

Compare costs of alternative energy: Is it better to go with your utility's renewable power option or install your own solar or wind power?

Q:    I’d like to know the relative electricity cost of utility-scale solar and wind plants versus rooftop residential solar. In other words, how can I know whether to subsidize my utility’s alternative energy plant or renovate my own home?
– Randy Wilson, Flagstaff, Ariz.

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A Minneapolis resident stands outside his garage, which is covered with solar panels. They supply 125 percent of the power he needs for his property.
NEWSCOM
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A:    Making such a determination is complex, but you could start with “In My Backyard,” a new online tool by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. You need to know your electricity usage and what size solar photovoltaic (PV) system or wind turbine you could install. Then, using Google Earth maps and data on the amounts of sunshine and wind at your location, the tool will estimate the electricity you could get from a certain size wind turbine or PV array installed on your property.

The costs to install renewable energy systems vary greatly by location, warn researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. And kilowatt-hour costs vary by utility, as do state and local financial incentives. One piece of good news: The federal investment tax credit allows for 30 percent of the cost of your system to be deducted from your federal tax bill and is good through 2016.

Comparing the cost of going it alone with that of buying green power through your utility isn’t a simple equation. You can support your utility’s renewable power infrastructure by paying a premium on your electric bill, or you can buy renewable energy certificates – also known as green tags – even if your utility doesn’t offer green power (green tags inject renewable energies into the grid even if they don’t come back to you via your own utility).

Compare the costs of those programs over the same time period with the cost of building and maintaining your own system (minus any installation credits and/or revenues from selling your excess electricity back to the utility). That gives you the relative costs and return on investment.

Another question is whether your home system can continue to produce energy more cost-effectively than your utility, as it brings more green energy sources into its mix. Lawrence Berkeley says no. A February 2009 report summarizing the costs of PV from 1998 to 2007 concluded that larger systems averaged a 25 percent lower cost than the smallest ones. The same is true for wind power, says the American Wind Energy Association. The group’s February 2005 report calculates that a large wind farm can deliver electricity at nearly 40 percent less than a small one.

The bottom line: Today, with renewable energy sources coming online or about to do so in quantum-leap measures – and at much greater efficiencies than can be achieved privately – the best way may well be to forgo the go-it-alone path and support your utility’s efforts to generate green power not just for your own household but for everyone.

Source: The Christian Science Monitor http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/09/08/earth-talk-compare-costs-of-alternative-energy/

IJHC – WHR Observations

These are important questions to be asking, as we more into transition from peak oil to local economies. The only certainty in the answers to these questions is actually that nobody knows the right answer. There are too many unknown factors. For instance, climate changes could affect weather in unknown ways. We cannot predict costs and reliability of maintenance of regional vs local power sources in an economy that could go belly-up and make installation and replacement parts scarce or impossible to obtain.

 * * HUMAN ECOLOGY * * 

Backyard Bounty

As spring makes gardening possible, here is wonderful initiative I discovered in my local farmer's market.

 “LET US TURN YOUR YARD INTO A GARDEN & ENJOY THE BOUNTY!”

BYB does the work, you receive a percent of the produce and the rest is sold locally.

You also receive a percent of profits, depending on how much you help.

Win-Win-Win!

http://backyardbounty.ca/

IJHC – WHR Observations

Transition towns are at the leading edge of developing methods for dealing with peak oil and the impending collapse of reliable sources of food. I'm very pleased to be living in Guelph, a Canadian city, that has a Transition group working on these issues.
Find the Transition network closest to you: http://www.transitionnetwork.org/initiatives?themes=All&community_type=All&status_value=All&country=All&field_title_search=
Note that you can search for initiatives in various areas of your interest in the box under "Related Themes."

Pharmaceutical company now liable for fraudulent drug marketing

The U.S. Dept. of Justice announced something astonishing: The drug giant Pfizer is pleading guilty to a felony crime for fraudulently marketing one of its top drugs for non-FDA-approved uses. As health care costs are rising, driving governments toward bankruptcy, state and federal governments are now lining up to cash in on Big Pharma's fraud by suing them to recover money.
 
Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/026963_Pfizer_Bextra_health.html

IJHC – WHR Observations

Hopefully this is the start of a series of lawsuits to force drug companies to be more careful about their lies. I doubt this will have any effect on their honesty. Most encouraging that whistleblowers will receive part of the settlement payout. This may be the start of a new breed of bounty hunters.