Are you interested enough in psi research to take the next step? The respected Koestler Parapsychology Unit is offering "An Introduction to Parapsychology", a short course taught entirely online which is open to anyone regardless of geographical location. Led by parapsychology researcher Dr Caroline Watt, the course starts with a 'familiarisation' week, followed by ten weekly modules covering key topics in parapsychology, and which feature some of the top researchers in the field:

Week 0: Ice-breaking and familiarisation
(containing some warm-up exercises)

Week 1: Introduction and History
Expert: Professor Donald West (Emeritus Professor, University of Cambridge, UK)

Week 2: Spontaneous Paranormal Experiences
Expert: Professor Etzel Cardeña (University of Lund, Sweden)

Week 3: Extrasensory Perception in the Lab
Experts: Professor Richard Wiseman (University of Hertfordshire, UK); Dr John Palmer (Rhine Research Centre, Durham, North Carolina, USA)

Week 4: Psychokinesis in the Lab
Expert: Dr Holger Bösch (formerly of University Hospital Freiburg, Germany)

Week 5: Latest Lab Developments
Expert: Dr Dean Radin (Institute of Noetic Sciences, California, USA)

Week 6: Theories of Psi
Expert: Professor Harald Walach (University of Northampton, UK)

Week 7: Testing Psychic Claimants
Expert: Professor Stephen Braude (University of Maryland, USA)

Week 8: Belief in the Paranormal
Expert: Professor Christopher French (Goldsmiths College, University of London)

Week 9: Thinking Critically About Parapsychology
Expert: Professor James Alcock (York University, Toronto, Canada)

Week 10: Summing Up and Implications
Experts: Professor Jessica Utts (University of California at Irvine, USA); Professor Deborah Delanoy (University of Northampton, UK)

The course begins on 12th April 2010. Note that this is a non-accredited course, meaning that there is no formal assessment or qualification gained. It would certainly place you well though in being able to better understand and debate some of the key evidence (and criticisms) for psi phenomenon. If you don't have the time, you still might want to pick up the recommended text for the course, An Introduction to Parapsychology (Amazon US and UK).

Alex Tsakiris' Skeptiko podcast has long been one of my favourite audio sources, featuring regular interviews with leading researchers and pundits discussing my favourite topics. And some of the recent shows have been especially fascinating, and worth pointing out. Click through to any of these if they take your fancy...

• “God Helmet” Inventor, Dr. Michael Persinger Discovers Telepathy Link in Lab Experiments: In the 1980’s Persinger made headlines with his “God Helmet”, a device that stimulates temporal lobes with a weak magnetic field in order to produce religious states. Now, Persinger has discovered the same type of brain stimulation can create metal states conducive to human telepathy. “What we have found is that if you place two different people at a distance and put a circular magnetic field around both, and you make sure they are connected to the same computer so they get the same stimulation, then if you flash a light in one person’s eye the person in the other room receiving just the magnetic field will show changes in their brain as if they saw the flash of light. We think that’s tremendous because it may be the first macro demonstration of a quantum connection, or so-called quantum entanglement.
• EEG Expert Can’t Explain Near Death Experience Data… and, Dr. Penny Sartori Finds More Than Hallucinations in NDE Accounts: Does a flat EEG really mean no brain activity? NDE doubters have claimed activity deep inside the brain, beyond the reach of EEG instruments, must account for the complex “realer than real” experiences reported by those who briefly pass into the afterlife. Now, University of Toledo Neuroscience researcher, and EEG expert, Dr. John Greenfield explains why this claim doesn’t hold up. The timing of NDE memories is the research question Dr. Penny Sartori sought to answer, “I worked in the intensive care unit and because of the nature of my job, of course, I’d come across a lot of death... For the people who had a near-death experience and out of body experience [their recollection of resuscitation] was really quite accurate...there was a stark contrast really in the very accurate out of body experiences reported and then the guesses that the control group had made."
• Global Consciousness Project Welcomes Collaboration With Skeptics: While the research results of the 12 year old Global Consciousness Project have withstood serious skeptical examination from researchers who’ve dug into the millions of test results collected on the publicly available website, skepticism persists. But according to Alex Tsakiris, host of the Sketiko science podcast, dialog between controversial science researchers and their doubters is a good for science... We’ve helped initiate a collaboration on the Global Consciousness Research Project work of Dr. Roger Nelson, and a skeptical researcher from the University of London named Dr. Chris French. That’s a step in the right direction.

If you use iTunes to subscribe to podcasts, Skeptiko is a good one to add to your list.

Just browsing through Rupert Sheldrake's website and noticed this handy resource breaking down links, articles, research and news stories concerning the 'maverick biologist' into handy categories such as telepathy, skeptics, morphic resonance and science education. You may even find links pointing back to The Daily Grail in there, showing what good taste you obviously have in reading matter...

Rick linked to this one in his news briefs last week, but I thought it worth pulling out as a standalone. It's Isabelle Raynauld's 2006 documentary Mystical Brain, which...

...reveals the exploratory work of a team from the University of Montreal who seek to understand the states of grace experienced by mystics and those who meditate. Filmmaker Isabelle Raynauld offers up scientific research, which proposes that mystical ecstasy is a transformative experience and could to contribute to people's psychic and physical health, treat depression and speed up the healing process when combined with conventional medicine.

The film is largely in French with English subtitles, and runs 52 minutes. Interviewees include individuals with various viewpoints, from Daniel Dennett, Mario Beauregard and Michael Persinger (doing a wonderful Agent Smith):

Well worth viewing if you can spare the time and bandwidth.

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 1 of Dark Intrusions: An Investigation into the Paranormal Nature of Sleep Paralysis Experiences, by Louis Proud (available from Amazon US and Amazon UK). Reprinted with permission of Louis Proud and Anomalist Books.

THE SPIRITS WHO FEAST ON YOUR SOUL

The year was 2001 and I was seventeen when my Sleep Paralysis (SP) experiences began. I had previously been living with my father and brother in Tenterfield, New South Wales, in Australia, and had just moved down to Healesville, Victoria, to live with my mother. My new home was a Buddhist retreat center, where my mother worked as a caretaker. My room, no. 25, was located near the office and the main meditation hall. It was a reasonably small and humble room and, like most of those at the Buddhist center, would have suited a monk better than a teenager. Still, it was agreeable enough.

The year 2003, the year after I graduated from high school, was an idle period in my life. Events had taken a rather unfortunate turn, and my future did not look bright. I began to spend most of my days alone, reading in my bedroom with the curtains drawn, and occasionally writing in my journal. The activities I did to keep myself occupied were rarely ever constructive. I would start building something, a model plane, for example, suddenly become discouraged, and put the project aside, never to complete it. Whenever I felt nervous, stressed, or depressed, my SP experiences would become more frequent and more intense. Often, when life becomes unpleasant, one attempts to escape by finding comfort in sleep. But for me, that was becoming less possible.

It wasn’t until mid-2007 that I fully recognized the fact that I suffered from SP. Ever since I first started having episodes back in 2001, I had no idea what was happening to me. I had heard of the phenomenon before, but not enough to know anything substantial about it. At first, I worried obsessively about the state of my mental health. I even began to suspect that I might be developing schizophrenia, or some other serious and debilitating neurosis. When I did finally investigate the subject, I was both astonished and relieved to discover that other people had undergone, and were undergoing, the same bizarre experiences as me.

My SP experiences have changed over the years, gradually becoming more and more intense. They have now reached a kind of plateau, in that most of them are pretty much the same these days, and I know what to expect. Every now and then, however, I will have a particularly frightening or compelling episode, and I will not be able to forget it for a very long time – or at all. Instead of describing any single episode – of which there are only a handful that I remember with total clarity – I will attempt to shed light on what a typical episode involves. To do so, and in the most veracious way possible, it’s necessary that I refer to a short story I wrote in 2005, during the first year of my diploma at RMIT University. ... Read More »

Remote viewing research pioneer Russell Targ isn't getting left behind by the march of technology - he's just released a new, free iPhone (and iPod touch) app named the ESP Trainer. Originally developed at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) as part of a NASA program, the trainer is meant to help improve 'psychic talent' (if such a thing exists - though you can always substitute 'intuitive awareness' if it sounds too woo...) by giving feedback to the 'player' after each hit or miss in order that they may recognize that 'psychic' feeling for future reference. Don't stress though, there's no Peter Venkman-style negative feedback:

We have found that people are able to improve their ESP scores by using a machine just like this and get in touch with the part of themselves that is psychic. This is often called a clairvoyant ability, and can enhance your life in many surprising ways.

The player is presented with four colored squares. For each trial, one has been selected at random by the ESP Trainer. Your task is to choose the correct square.

If you succeed, you will hear a chime, feel a vibration, and see a large color picture. Otherwise, the system lights up the correct square, and you proceed with the next trial. The score indicator at the top counts the number of correct choices. Words of encouragement appear as you achieve the scoring levels of 6, 8. 10, 12 or 14 hits. After 24 trials you may begin a new game.

...When you don't have that special feeling, we encourage you to press the Pass button. (So this is not a "forced choice" test.)

With four targets, and 24 'tests', obviously six correct guesses is the chance result. If you're like me, you can be anti-psi and get 4 or 5 each time, or perhaps if you're more intuitive like my wife, you can get 7 or higher each time. Or maybe it's all simple variation around the chance result and there is no such thing as psi. In any case, Targ does ask any players "frequently scoring 12 or more" to contact him.

I like this a lot. It's a simple, no-nonsense test with the ability to indicate if any individuals out there truly do have a 'psychic talent'. By spreading such simple, fun tools freely through Apple's App Store, more people out there will test themselves and may help to identify future areas/subjects for research into psi. Alternatively, it may also show people that though they might feel like they are able to guess things well, over 24 trials their 'skill' tends to work out at chance only.

There is a link on Targ's page directly to the ESP Trainer in the App Store - you'll need an iPhone or iPod Touch and version 3.0 or higher of the OS.

So, any Grailers out there able to clock the game?

With the movie version of Jon Ronson's The Men Who Stare at Goats hitting cinemas, there are plenty of news stories floating about focusing on the U.S. Army's 'Stargate' psychic-spying program and other similar 'woo-woo' ventures. 'Skeptics' have often referenced the book in the past, with its satirical look at psi-related research - Richard Dawkins has mentioned it in his lectures, and in his best-selling The God Delusion - but how much skeptical thinking did they apply to Ronson's tales? With the new public attention on the story, a number of the individuals involved have thrown some doubts on the veracity of Ronson's account.

John Alexander has long disputed a number of the claims in The Men Who Stare at Goats, and in a recent article ("They Stared at Goats Because...") states that even the title is incorrect, as the goat in question actually died after being struck using a martial arts move. Meanwhile, Stargate remote viewer Paul Smith, in an Amazon review of the book, says that while Goats is an entertaining read, it is not an accurate summation of the actual history - and at times, uses plenty of 'artistic license' in presenting material. And Jim Channon, whose 'First Earth Battalion' idea is central to much of Goats (and who has been very sporting and good-humoured about his treatment in the book), has a press release on his website which says that "Ronson’s tongue-in-cheek account is classified as a work of ‘non-fiction,’ but it is so loaded with speculation and inaccuracy, it sets the stage for much of the confusion."

If all that didn't put the Goats story under enough of a spotlight, the Monroe Institute has now come to the party with a little poke in the ribs courtesy of an audio file recorded during Jon Ronson's visit there while researching the book (and accompanying documentary). The Monroe Institute's Fred 'Skip' Atwater - who was also involved in the Stargate program - tells how the Goats author took part in a remote viewing experiment while at the Monroe Institute. And, funnily enough, given the satirical and skeptical edge to the book, was fairly successful in describing the 'target'. It's a 6-part YouTube video, with the first part being the introduction and then the rest being most of the audio recorded during Jon's session (it should all autoplay, but if not head to YouTube and search for Monroe and Ronson):

Regardless of the Goats context, I found it very interesting just to hear the process of relaxation and guided visualisation that leads up to the remote viewing test - so if you've got the time, then it's worth listening right through for an insight into the techniques used. If you want the super-concise version though, click here.

The audio won't convince any remote viewing skeptics, but it does have to be admitted that in this particular case, Jon Ronson was pretty close to the mark (it would have been interesting to see his choice if given 4 images to choose from). There is some minor 'leading' by Skip Atwater, but nothing that gives too much away. For his part, Ronson has said that in his recollection "the out-of-body portion of the day worked a treat. I really had some kind of OBE at The Monroe Institute. But I was less sure about the success of the remote-viewing section. It took me a long time to identify the target, and though I got there in the end, I had some wrong guesses along the way."

But just to put a nasty edge on what has mostly been just good-humoured "he-said, she-said" between people involved, journalist and author Jim Schnabel has this week raised questions about the origin of the material in Ronson's bestseller. Schnabel - one of the first to write about 'Stargate' in his book Remote Viewers - claims that Ronson 'borrowed' material from his book without giving due credit:

Sorry — do I sound bitter?

I found The Men Who Stare at Goats at the library recently after someone tipped me off about the forthcoming Goats movie and its connection to my book, Remote Viewers. I went through Ronson’s book in amazement at his extensive borrowings - of stories from which he built up some of the major themes in his book, starting on page one with the adventures of General Stubblebine as head of Army intelligence.

I don’t deny that Ronson’s book contains a considerable amount of original reporting. But when it comes to the paranormal/government angle, too much of it is derivative, in my view, and I wonder whether Ronson could have sold his project in any of its forms, if his sources had been fully specified.

Personally I think a lot of authors over-react to what is pretty standard fair-use of information previously made public (and is something they themselves did in writing their own books), but to his credit Schnabel does go on to detail some particular instances which he claims are evidence of plagiarism of his material. I can't say either way (e.g. perhaps the similarities come from referencing the same earlier resource), but it will be interesting to see if anything further results from Schnabel's attack. In Jon Ronson's defence, I did see in the Acknowledgements at the end of Goats that he mentioned Remote Viewers, saying that "this book gave me invaluable background information for chapters 5 and 6." Schnabel though addresses this point in his article and also in this letter to the Guardian).

Edit: As Kamarling mentions in the comments, Alex Tsakiris has posted an excellent interview with Jon Ronson over at Skeptiko discussing Goats and various elements of psi research and skepticism.

Edit #2: Jim Schnabel has also pointed out to me this story about John Sargeant, who did much of the research leg-work for Goats and is unhappy with the lack of credit he has received.

Previously on TDG:

• The Men Who Stare at Goats Trailer
• Ronson on Sylvia Browne
• Robbie Williams, Ufologist?

Last week New Scientist posted an interesting story about the ongoing research into Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs). As per usual for mainstream stories on this topic, they talked to Olaf Blanke and other neurologists looking for 'misfiring brain' solutions. But at least this time there was some clarification that the 'induced OBEs' they reference are not true OBEs:

This does not, however, explain the most striking feature of out-of-body experiences. "It's a great puzzle why people, from their out-of-body locations, visualise not only their bodies but things around them, such as other people," says Brugger. "Where does this information come from?"

The article keeps to the materialist line though without discussing some of the other interesting aspects of OBEs. Would be interesting to hear what neurologists feel about the 'silver cord' aspect often reported in OBEs, and why it should be so archetypal. Not to mention it might be pertinent to note anecdotes about evidential OBEs, in which information is seemingly gained that the experiencer should not have had access to via their normal senses - and that this is being tested in NDErs by the AWARE project.

Previously on TDG:

• Not So Out of Body

British magician/mentalist Derren Brown is currently drawing top-shelf ratings with his Channel 4 series 'The Events'. Last week he allegedly glued people to their seats via subliminal messages ('allegedly', as it seemed to me to simply be suggestion *before* the 'subliminal message'). This week he follows in the footsteps of his good friend Richard Wiseman by conducting a mass remote viewing experiment - "How To Be a Psychic Spy":

I'm not sure who "the world's leading remote viewing expert" is that will be participating - taking the statement at face value it would probably be Joe McMoneagle or Paul Smith, though perhaps Derren has some British RVer lined up instead (Daz?). Good to see that this time around a real expert will be tested, although not sure I'd trust Derren and his crew to present anything absolutely straight. He is a little tricksie that boy (hell of an entertainer though)...

Previously on TDG:

• Seeking Psi on Twitter
• Twitter Fails at teh Psychic
• Remote Viewing Motherlode

Issue 22 of Shift, the magazine of the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), has been released and PDFs of article are available at the IONS website. I found the article on 'Twin Telepathy' very interesting; it's a topic that I've wondered about before, after noting the way identical twins often fill in words in each other's sentences.

In 1961, Robert Sommer, Humphry Osmond, and Lucille Pancyr interviewed fourteen pairs of twins and seven single members of a twin pair to see how many of them reported experiences of telepathy. Twelve out of the thirty-five participants believed that they could communicate telepathically with their twin. They made statements such as, “We both think the same things at the same time,” “I can tell what her feelings are,” and, “When my twin goes out, I can imagine what he is doing and see the place, like right now, even if I’ve never been there or seen the place described.”

Telepathy happens frequently between closely connected twins during crisis. The term crisis telepathy was coined after several dramatic accounts such as the following: Martha Burke felt as if she “had been cut in two” one day in 1977 when a searing pain crossed her chest and abdomen. Hours later she discovered that her twin sister had died in a plane crash halfway across the world. Similarly, in July 1975, Nita Hurst’s left leg became agonizingly painful as bruises spread spontaneously up the left side of her body. She later discovered that her twin, Nettie Porter, had been in a car crash at the very same time four hundred miles away.

Certainly a topic that I'd like to see more research on. Other articles in Shift #22 include "In Search of Happiness", "An Interview with Adyashanti", and "The Adaptive Organization".