Science Special News

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Science finally tackles hypnosis

It seems hypnosis has been nearly everywhere over the past few centuries: onstage with entertainers swinging fat, gold watches; on couches with reclining psychoanalysis patients; in movies, books, and even children's cartoons. But the one gig hypnosis couldn't get was the scientific laboratory.Until now. The long-controversial practice of inducing a trancelike state through suggestion is getting a modern makeover by scientists armed with the latest neuroimaging tools and techniques. These researchers are beginning to offer evidence that, neurologically at least, hypnosis is entirely real. "It makes sense that we are using modern tools of neuroscience research to understand what is a fascinating phenomenon," said David Spiegel, a psychiatrist at Stanford University. "It's good for hypnosis, and it's good for neuroscience."

The first report of hypnosis in practice dates back to the 18th century and an Austrian physician named Franz Mesmer, whose alleged otherworldly techniques for putting patients in trancelike states spawned the word "mesmerism." Almost from the beginning, the technique was controversial.

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Unexplained tales from two haunted hangouts

Like ghosts themselves, the best ghost stories never seem to go away. But there's no better time than Halloween to share tales of fright and things that go bump in the night. Mischievous spirits haunt at least two north-metro establishments, according to employees: Billy's Bar and Grill in Anoka and the Pizza Hut in Columbia Heights. As Maria King, who works for the Anoka County Historical Society and directs walking ghost tours in Anoka, says to her customers: "I know not what the truth may be. I tell the tale as told to me." A haunting question Billy's Bar and Grill in Anoka is haunted. But by whom? Employees call the spirit Mrs. Jackson, named for Lottie Jackson. Her husband, Charles, built the Jackson Hotel in the late 1800s. She died of pneumonia in 1918. The restaurant occupies part of the old hotel. King, of the Historical Society, said the spirit is a red-headed prostitute from the 1920s who entered the hotel and disappeared.

She has heard about sightings of a pretty red-headed woman dressed in white. Whoever it is, the spirit apparently enjoys having fun at the expense of employees. "One of Mrs. Jackson's relatives was in here once and asked, 'Is Grandma behaving?' " said Janet Bloch, an employee for eight years.

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Hitch hike to Mars inside an asteroid

Burrowing inside an asteroid whose orbit carries it past both the Earth and Mars could protect astronauts from radiation on their way to the Red Planet. The idea is being investigated with funding from NASA.Outside the protective bubble of the Earth's magnetic field, charged particles from the Sun and from beyond our solar system in the form of cosmic rays pose a hazard to astronauts.Long-term exposure to this space radiation could increase the risk of astronauts developing cancer and could interfere with their memory and attention skills. Building shielding on Earth to launch with the spacecraft would add a lot of extra weight to the vehicle and would increase the cost of the mission as a result. Other ideas, like a lightweight plasma bubble that could be generated in space are being explored, but have disadvantages of their own.Now, the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) in Atlanta, Georgia, US, is funding a study to see whether asteroids could be used for radiation shielding.

The study is being carried out by Daniella Della-Giustina, a student at the University of Arizona in Tucson, US.A small population of asteroids pass by both the Earth and Mars in their orbits. So the idea is that a spacecraft containing Mars-bound astronauts could rendezvous with one of these objects as it goes by the Earth and travel with it until it nears the Red Planet.

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Study reveals human/neanderthal split

A new genetic study bolsters theories of an early human-Neandertal split and is helping scientists pinpoint what makes humans unique. Controversy has long swirled in the scientific community over how closely the hairy Eurasian hunters resembled modern humans, with some researchers even claiming Neandertals (often spelled Neanderthals) were actually members of our own species, Homo sapiens. A new study by geneticist James Noonan at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, however, reveals that modern humans and Neandertals' most recent common ancestor probably perished about 400,000 years ago. The research was presented earlier this month at the American Society of Human Genetics conference in New Orleans, Louisiana .Richard Potts, director of the human origins program at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., called Noonan's work "highly significant."

"Each part of the Neandertal genome is an archive of the similarity and distinction [between Neandertals and] all people living today," he said. "Comparison to a lineage in our own family tree helps us understand which elements of the genetic code make us human."

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UK gets face transplant go-ahead

A UK team has been given permission to carry out what would be the world's first full face transplant. Peter Butler at London's Royal Free Hospital said he was "delighted" to get the go-ahead from an NHS ethics board for an operation "within months". No patient has been selected for the procedure, although the team has been approached by about 30 patients. Last November Isabelle Dinoire from France became the first person to receive a partial face transplant. She had her nose, lips and chin torn off after being mauled by the family dog. Mr Butler said the go-ahead for the first full face transplant "had been a long journey, but this is just the beginning, really". "The most important part of the process starts now, which is selection of the patients," he added. Mr Butler is now looking to draw up a shortlist of candidates who meet the selection criteria for the operation, which includes an assessment of how they will deal with its psychological impact.

His team will select four patients from the UK or Ireland for the procedure, and the operations will be carried out at six month intervals. He said he would not be able to carry out the operation on children, because of issues of consent.

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UFO seminar lands at air museum

Ever think some folks in the Inland Empire are out of this world? The UFO seminar on Saturday could provide some answers. The murky world of UFOs, government coverups and America's secret planes will be the topic of March Field Air Museum's UFO seminar and family days on Saturday."UFOs and Things That Go Bump in the Night" will try to explain flying saucers and alien sightings such as Roswell and Area 51. Resident UFO-ologist and museum volunteer Bob Mauger, 65, of Norco, will discuss how several suspected alien aircrafts are usually top-secret government airplanes."There's a lot you don't realize is out there," Mauger said. "Some things in the sky are totally unexplained."The U.S. government used secret surveillance planes in World War II and to keep tabs on Cold War rivals, and still uses some today, Mauger said.Reported UFO sightings were later discovered to be U.S. Air Force planes such as the XP59, the first U.S. jet; the U-2 spy plane; the SR71; and the F1-17 Nighthawk, Mauger said. The incident that spawned the term "flying saucer" likely involved the Horton 229, a German airplane used by both the U.S. and the Soviet Union, he said. Many of the planes were kept secret to stop release of state-of-the-art technology, Mauger said. In Roswell, N.M., a supposed alien crash was actually a government coverup for a downed spy balloon used to detect nuclear blasts in the Soviet Union, Mauger said.

The idea of alien UFOs has been driven by movies and science-fiction tales, Mauger said. While not completely ruling out alien life, Mauger said there is no evidence supporting alien sightings. He said any planets possible of maintaining life are in galaxies at least 4,000 light-years away.Mauger said his interest in airplanes started early and as a child he would go to bed with an airplane under his arm rather than a teddy bear. Shortly after he moved to the Inland Empire, he realized North Corona was the setting of the first alien landing during the 1938 radio broadcast of Orson Wells' "War of the Worlds."Mauger served as an Air Force engineer and mechanic at an airbase in Germany during the Vietnam War era. He later worked for Burrough's Electric and ITT Cannon.

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Science finally tackles hypnosis

It seems hypnosis has been nearly everywhere over the past few centuries: onstage with entertainers swinging fat, gold watches; on couches with reclining psychoanalysis patients; in movies, books, and even children's cartoons. But the one gig hypnosis couldn't get was the scientific laboratory.Until now. The long-controversial practice of inducing a trancelike state through suggestion is getting a modern makeover by scientists armed with the latest neuroimaging tools and techniques. These researchers are beginning to offer evidence that, neurologically at least, hypnosis is entirely real. "It makes sense that we are using modern tools of neuroscience research to understand what is a fascinating phenomenon," said David Spiegel, a psychiatrist at Stanford University. "It's good for hypnosis, and it's good for neuroscience."

The first report of hypnosis in practice dates back to the 18th century and an Austrian physician named Franz Mesmer, whose alleged otherworldly techniques for putting patients in trancelike states spawned the word "mesmerism." Almost from the beginning, the technique was controversial.

[Rasputin]

Unexplained tales from two haunted hangouts

Like ghosts themselves, the best ghost stories never seem to go away. But there's no better time than Halloween to share tales of fright and things that go bump in the night. Mischievous spirits haunt at least two north-metro establishments, according to employees: Billy's Bar and Grill in Anoka and the Pizza Hut in Columbia Heights. As Maria King, who works for the Anoka County Historical Society and directs walking ghost tours in Anoka, says to her customers: "I know not what the truth may be. I tell the tale as told to me." A haunting question Billy's Bar and Grill in Anoka is haunted. But by whom? Employees call the spirit Mrs. Jackson, named for Lottie Jackson. Her husband, Charles, built the Jackson Hotel in the late 1800s. She died of pneumonia in 1918. The restaurant occupies part of the old hotel. King, of the Historical Society, said the spirit is a red-headed prostitute from the 1920s who entered the hotel and disappeared.

She has heard about sightings of a pretty red-headed woman dressed in white. Whoever it is, the spirit apparently enjoys having fun at the expense of employees. "One of Mrs. Jackson's relatives was in here once and asked, 'Is Grandma behaving?' " said Janet Bloch, an employee for eight years.

[Rasputin]

Scienctists turns to Greek mythology

Apollo drew his bow and fired arrow after arrow into the deadly pythondragon guarding the sacred ground of Ge, the goddess of the earth. With his victory, Apollo gained the right to call the slopes of Delphi his earthly sanctuary. It is a beautiful myth. Out of it grew the story of the Oracle of Delphi, a soothsayer who inhaled the breath of Apollo. The Pythia, the priestess who sat on a tripod inhaling fumes from the bowels of the earth, went into trances and muttered incomprehensible phrases, helpfully interpreted by her priestly assistants. The Oracle at Delphi is one of several myths now being investigated by geologists to see whether such stories have any basis in fact. The relatively new science of ge-omythology could provide rational explanations for mythical events. But studying elements of a myth may also lead to new insights or discoveries in geology - a science that took its name from that same goddess, Ge. In the case of the Oracle at Delphi, the focus has been on the nature of the fumes that may have influenced the prophecies. For 10 centuries, successive Pythias issued their oracles to the thousands of pilgrims who made their way to Apollo's shrine at Delphi. The Pythias were real enough, although their prophecies were often ambiguous. But could their trance-like states have had a basis in geological reality? Could there really have been a gas released from under Apollo's shrine that induced transcendental states in someone sitting on a tripod above a fissure in the ground?

An archaeological excavation early in the 20th century found no signs of a real chasm or fissure under the temple at Delphi, but studies over the past decade have revealed the presence of two geological faults that cross each other directly under the shrine. Luigi Piccardi, a geologist at the Institute for Geosciences in Florence, says recent investigations have revealed that there could indeed have been a gas-exhaling chasm at the oracle site. If this chasm existed, it has long since sealed itself, Piccardi says. "The oracle site is positioned directly across the surface trace of a seismic fault that could rupture during earthquakes, thus creating a fissure in the ground from which gases such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphate or methane could originate," he says.

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UFO movie 'Unidentified' opens

"Unidentified," scheduled to open this weekend at AmStar Stadium 16 and the Galleria 10 Cinemas in Centerville, was not available for preview. The movie tells the story of two magazine reporters who investigate a UFO sighting in a small Texas town and begin to write about it."We tried to present the various angles that people normally use to explain UFOs and then added some things that you aren't likely to see on the History or Discovery channels," writer-director Rich Christiano said.Among the questions the movie addresses are: Are UFOs a hoax? Are they real? Are aliens a threat?"To me, the subject of UFOs is interesting," Christiano said. "Most people don't take UFOs that seriously, but it's also a subject that never seems to go away. This film was made to make people reflect about important spiritual issues. I think audiences will definitely leave the theater talking about UFOs and their spiritual connection."

Two newcomers, Jonathan Aube and Josh Adamson, star as the two lead reporters. The film also features popular Grammy-award Christian singer Rebecca St. James in a supporting role, her first film role."Unidentified is rated PG for thematic elements.

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Mystery hum driving Aucklanders 'bonkers

A mysterious humming driving people to despair across Auckland has pricked the ears, and curiosity, of scientists trying to find the source. Massey University computer engineering scientists Tom Moir and Fakhrul Alam have been contacted by more than 30 people, most in Auckland and the North Shore, who claim to have heard a humming noise. The symptoms are similar to those suffered by people with tinnitus, commonly associated with a prolonged high-frequency ringing in the ear.The scientists are visiting people who can hear the humming, and trying to measure the noise in the hope they will be able to identify its source. People from central Auckland to Kaiwaka in Northland have reported the sound, as have residents from the North Shore suburbs of Torbay, Browns Bay, Murrays Bay, Birkenhead and Beach Haven, and Stanmore Bay on Whangaparaoa. The scientists are measuring the frequency by playing a second low frequency to someone who can hear the humming. When the person can no longer hear the hum, the frequency they are playing is the same as the humming noise. Dr Moir said people could definitely hear a sound. "It's quite serious to them, it's driving them bonkers. I was there at the same time and I couldn't hear anything." He said the sound was well within the average hearing range for people. Most people can hear between 20 hertz and 20 kilohertz and the humming is around 56 hertz, according to Dr Moir's research.

Not everyone could hear the sound, because of its low volume, he said. "We're all born differently - some people are better runners, some people are better hearers." An Auckland woman who heard the sound described it as a "low drone or rumble". The woman, who asked not to be named or have her suburb identified, said the noise had become so bad she was thinking about selling her home. "I absolutely love my home but last night I couldn't get to sleep before 5am. In desperation I even tried to put Blu-Tack in my ears," she said.

[Rasputin]

UK gets face transplant go-ahead

A UK team has been given permission to carry out what would be the world's first full face transplant. Peter Butler at London's Royal Free Hospital said he was "delighted" to get the go-ahead from an NHS ethics board for an operation "within months". No patient has been selected for the procedure, although the team has been approached by about 30 patients. Last November Isabelle Dinoire from France became the first person to receive a partial face transplant. She had her nose, lips and chin torn off after being mauled by the family dog. Mr Butler said the go-ahead for the first full face transplant "had been a long journey, but this is just the beginning, really". "The most important part of the process starts now, which is selection of the patients," he added. Mr Butler is now looking to draw up a shortlist of candidates who meet the selection criteria for the operation, which includes an assessment of how they will deal with its psychological impact.

His team will select four patients from the UK or Ireland for the procedure, and the operations will be carried out at six month intervals. He said he would not be able to carry out the operation on children, because of issues of consent.

[Rasputin]

The shady science of ghost hunting

Ghosts are big business. For entities that may or may not exist, they seem to be everywhere, especially during Halloween. They are in books and on television shows, such as CBS's "The Ghost Whisperer" and NBC's "Medium." Dozens of "ghost hunter" organizations exist across North America, small groups of self-styled ghost buffs who lurk around reputedly haunted places, hoping to glimpse or photograph a spirit. The most famous ghost hunters are two plumbers who moonlight as paranormal investigators, seen in the popular Sci-Fi Channel reality show/soap opera series "Ghost Hunters." They go to haunted places and find "evidence" of ghosts such as cold spots, photographic anomalies called orbs, and other such spookiness. The two featured investigators, Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, are proudly blue-collar workers, not egghead Ph.D. scientists, which adds to their strong "regular guy" appeal. While one doesn't need to be a scientist to search for ghosts, the pair (like most ghost hunters) could benefit greatly from a little critical thinking.

Though most ghost investigators' worst crime is wasting time, sometimes they make nuisances of themselves and even break the law. In October 2005, three ghost hunters in Salem, Massachusetts, were arrested for trespassing on private property in search of ghosts. They had entered an abandoned hospital reputed to be haunted. The group was so busy looking for spirits they failed to notice the police station across the street; all three were arrested, fined, and sent home. Trespassing or vandalizing ghost hunters have also been arrested in cemeteries in Illinois, Connecticut, and other states.