The Best of Dream Studies 2011 Here’s hoping that your final days of 2011 are relaxing! As I look back what happened this year, I’m happy to report that 2011 has been a year of growth for me. Highlights: I started off the year by lecturing at Stanford University on the topic of sleep paralysis, published my first peer-reviewed article in March, and am now wrapping up the year with a new book launch on lucid dreaming. Other highlights include three sleep related articles of mine that went viral on Business Insider and an article about wolf dreams that was republished on Care2, one of the biggest healthy living sites on the web. 2011 was a big year for radio work too. I was interviewed 5 times via blog radio: all are still available to listen online and can be found in my Whereabouts page. As for DreamStudies.org, you may be interested to learn that: The top trafficked articles written this year were: And some personal favorite posts of 2011 that you may have missed: What’s ahead for 2012? Happy New Year!
CambridgeDeclarationOnConsciousness.pdf (application/pdf Object) 5 Ways Your Brain Is Messing With Your Head We accept on a regular basis the premise that our minds are being screwed with. Advertisers, politicians, magicians; we accept that they know the tricks to pull the wool over our eyes. But as it turns out, the ways in which your head is being truly and royally messed with the most, are coming from inside. Please be advised that your brain does not want you reading the following list, and may kill you to protect its secrets. #5. What is it? It's your inability to notice changes that happen right in front of you, even if they're hugely obvious... as long as you don't see the actual change take place. Um, What? Consider Alfonso Ribeiro. Now, if suddenly that image of Carlton blinked and changed to a different image, you'd notice it. In fact, if the entire text of this article--and the whole color and layout of this website--changed while you were gone, you probably wouldn't notice. A scientist named George McConkie started working on this in the 70s. Why Does the Brain Lie About it? #4. #3.
15 Interesting Facts about Dreams Dreaming is one of the most mysterious and interesting experiences in our lives. During the Roman Era some dreams were even submitted to the Roman Senate for analysis and dream interpretation. They were thought to be messages from the gods. Dream interpreters even accompanied military leaders into battles and campaigns! In addition to this, it is also known that many artists have received their creative ideas from their dreams. But what do we actually know about dreams? Here are 15 interesting facts about dreams – enjoy and what’s most important, don’t forget to share your dream stories in the comment section! 1. Within 5 minutes of waking half of your dream is forgotten. 2. People who became blind after birth can see images in their dreams. 3. Every human being dreams (except in cases of extreme psychological disorder). 4. Our mind is not inventing faces – in our dreams we see real faces of real people that we have seen during our life but may not know or remember. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
Lucid daydreaming | Snoozon.com Create account Sign in Create account We're working around the clock to give life to our upcoming online lucid dream journal. Please be patient and be the first to know about our progress, sneak previews and release date by subscribing to our free mailing list below. * Your email address will only be used for sending you updates on Snoozon. Sign in below Subscribe to our blog for the latest News, reviews and research studies We'll keep you updated on the latest lucid dreaming books, gadgets, research studies, and more. Share your thoughts! About Us Snoozon provides credible lucid dream training and dedicated online tools to support the science and worldwide practice of lucid dreaming. Contact us Rigelstraat 48 7522 HK Enschede Netherlands contact@snoozon.com +31 6 4675 7260 Terms and Conditions Privacy Policy Follow Us Be the first to know about our backstage developments, product discounts and upcoming events by keeping in touch.
Instant Expert 31: The human brain Cookies on the New Scientist website close Our website uses cookies, which are small text files that are widely used in order to make websites work more effectively. Find out about our cookies and how to change them Log in Your login is case sensitive I have forgotten my password close My New Scientist Look for Science Jobs Instant Expert 31: The human brain (Image: Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging)It took thousands of years, but our understanding of how the brain works has brought us to the brink of enlightenment. Milestones of neuroscience We now have a detailed understanding of the brain's building block – the neuron. More than one way to map a mind Injuries were once the key to learning how the brain worked, but advanced imaging techniques are now giving us detailed maps of where our skills ariseRead more From tiny neurons to expansive minds How does the brain generate a conscious mind? Looking over the neuroscience horizon Download a paper brain to build yourself REVIEW: 19:00 16 April 2014
5 Superpowers We All Had as Babies (According to Science) To many of us, kids are just a squishy bundle of preciousness that can't even take a decent punch. If there's anything super about them it's their ability to produce a seemingly infinite amount of poop. But you only think this because, like most super geniuses, babies revel in deception because they answer to no god. Not unlike Clark Kent, babies everywhere managed to fool the world with their mild-mannered public persona, masking the amazing superpowers nearly all of them possess. Slap a pair of tights on any random toddler, and you have a bona fide superhero (or, realistically, supervillain). When deprived of one sense or a skill, a person usually compensates for it in some other way. You blame me for never making it as a professional dancer, mommy. It gets weirder. See, their mind-reading doesn't end with fellow humans. You are... utterly disgusted and... thoroughly depressed. Take a look at this picture of two monkeys and see if you can tell the difference between them:
Stages of Sleep Usually sleepers pass through five stages: 1, 2, 3, 4 and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. These stages progress cyclically from 1 through REM then begin again with stage 1. A complete sleep cycle takes an average of 90 to 110 minutes. The first sleep cycles each night have relatively short REM sleeps and long periods of deep sleep but later in the night, REM periods lengthen and deep sleep time decreases. Stage 1 is light sleep where you drift in and out of sleep and can be awakened easily. In stage 2, eye movement stops and brain waves become slower with only an occasional burst of rapid brain waves. Slow wave sleep comes mostly in the first half of the night, REM in the second half. In the REM period, breathing becomes more rapid, irregular and shallow, eyes jerk rapidly and limb muscles are temporarily paralyzed. Infants spend almost 50% of their time in REM sleep. The brain waveform during REM has low amplitudes and high frequencies, just like the waking state. Microsleep
The Best Lucid Dreaming Techniques Movies like Inception and Avatar have made lucid dreaming a household word. The buzz around the idea that we can wake up in our dreams ripples outwards, rocking our collective boat as more us realize that the world as we know it is malleable and magical. But lucid dreaming can be difficult to learn. What I suggest is simple, but not necessarily easy. While dreams can open us up to new possibilities, most of the time our interests, preoccupations and cognitive abilities in dreams mirror the same constructs that we nurture in waking life. Towards Lucid Living Practice gratitude. Breathe. Feel your dreambody. See if you can give a name to this feeling: heart-achiness, burning belly, or fluttery chest. Lucidity is in the Mind and the Body Words confine, awareness defines This simple exercise, drawn from the work of psychologists Arnold Mindell and Eugene Genlin, puts us in direct contact with the dreambody. But in our dreams, the dreambody is front and center. The Path Up is Down
The 6 Most Mind-Blowing Animal Senses You probably already know that when it comes to everything but intellectual pursuits and wearing cardigans in a knot over one's shoulders, animals have humans beat. All of your senses together can't match what a dog can pick up with its nose, for instance. But every now and then, an animal's sensory superiority goes above and beyond the usual and takes a turn for the bizarre and/or terrifying. #6. Wikipedia Vampire bats are the only mammals that subsist entirely on blood -- otherwise, we'd just call them "bats." Livescience.comBats only appear on film as 1980s school photos. That nose that God forgot actually does more than just invite business cards of bat plastic surgeons -- it can sense the heat of your blood flowing through your veins. Its nose-lip combo contains infrared heat cells that can sense the warmth of the blood at a distance. WikipediaIt's the fact that they refuse to eat or drink unless it's served to them in a sterling silver bowl. #5. Photos.com #4. Wikipedia
5 Mind-Blowing Ways Your Senses Lie to You Every Day We are so completely dependent on our five senses every moment of the day that we totally forget how full of shit they can be. Your reality is cobbled together from a bunch of different parts of your brain working in conjunction, and often it's like a bickering conference room full of uncooperative co-workers. In fact, we're pretty sure the thing your brain does best is convince you that it works. But it doesn't take much to spot the bizarre little flaws in your gray matter. #5. Photos.com/AbleStock.com/Getty Images When you hear someone talk, the whole process is pretty straightforward, right? Short answer: your eyes. In the clip, you see (and hear) a guy saying "bah bah bah" over and over. BBCYour brain also gave the "fah" version a tan, for unknown reasons. This illusion is called the McGurk effect, and the creepiest part is that, even knowing know full well what's going on, you can't get your ears to hear the correct sound. But that's not the only time your eyes screw you over ... #4.