NEW DOCUMENTARY GIVES SCIENTIFIC PROOF THAT SOUND CAN EFFECT CONSCIOUSNESS IN EXTRAORDINARY WAYS

NEW DOCUMENTARY GIVES SCIENTIFIC PROOF THAT SOUND CAN EFFECT CONSCIOUSNESS IN EXTRAORDINARY WAYS

Song of the New Earth is a new feature documentary about one man’s quest to integrate modern science and ancient mysticism through sound.

Tom Kenyon was on his way to fame as a country singer in Nashville when he began to experience uninvited paranormal states of consciousness. His quest to understand these experiences sent him on a journey into Tibetan Buddhism, Yoga, mystical Christianity, Shamanism, the Taoism of China, and Egyptian alchemy.

But spirituality did not give him all the answers he needed, and he turned to science. He discovered that neurophysiology had a language that could help explain his mystical experiences. After qualifying as a psychotherapist – in part, he admits, to find out if he was going crazy – he spent years studying the effects of sound and music on the human brain and nervous system and is now an internationally recognized authority on the science of sound.

The film explores in depth the cutting edge scientific research which proves that sound shifts brain states and promotes dramatic healing. Song of the New Earth presents not only Tom Kenyon’s extraordinary journey but also an unforgettable experience with sound.

Regardless of a your religion or belief system, Song of the New Earth informs, inspires, and provides an extraordinary opportunity to experience how sound and music can be powerful medicine for ourselves and our world.

This Australian prefab home generates more energy than it uses

What's being called the world's first carbon-positive prefabricated house has been unveiled in Melbourne, Australia, and we really want one.

Created by Australian manufacturing company ArchiBlox, the prefab homes can be ordered, built and delivered, ready to move in within 12 to 28 weeks. The aim is to provide a simple, affordable and stylish way to help people greatly reduce their carbon footprint.The one-bedroom prototype features edible garden walls, rooftop solar panels, a sunroom and rainwater recycling. It's estimated that over its lifespan, the Archi+ Carbon Positive House will generate more energy than it took to build, and will offer the same environmental benefit as planting 6,095 native Australian trees.

"Archi+ Carbon Positive Houses will make significant contributions within society by addressing the increasing levels of carbon emissions and the high levels of embodied energy that come with the construction of a standard home," the company told Dezeen.

Despite the compact layout, which you can see in the floor plan below, the wood and big, open windows manage to make the home seem pretty spacious and light-filled. 

ArchiBlox

But although it looks pretty sleek, every aspect of the 75-square-metre home has been cleverly designed to save energy. The house is naturally cooled, using in-ground 'cool tubes' that pull cool air from the Earth and circulate it around the house.

The fully sealed property is also designed to face north, with a double-glazed sunroom that forms a buffer of warm air that will help heat the home in winter, and protect it from the harsh sunlight in summer.

From above, the roof is insulated with grassy plants, and it generates electricity through a solar panel on the roof.

"We have five kilowatts of solar power on the roof, edible gardens within the house itself, so it can be a bit self-sufficient for food production... green sliding walls,"architect Bill McCorkell told Simon Johanson from the Sydney Morning Herald at the start of the month. "The whole house has been designed to maximise solar gain. There are no fans, it's all just naturally ventilated, cooled and heated."

Although it's more expensive than a regular prefab house, with prices starting at A$260,000, it's generally whole lot cheaper and easier than trying to design and build your own carbon positive house from scratch.

See more pictures of the design below. So, when can we move in?

Tom Ross/Dezeen

ArchiBlox

Tom Ross/Dezeen

Tom Ross/Dezeen

Tom Ross/Dezeen

Sources: ArchiBlox, Dezeen, Inhabitat, The Sydney Morning Herald

10 AMAZING THINGS KIDS HAVE SAID ABOUT PAST LIVES

10 AMAZING THINGS KIDS HAVE SAID ABOUT PAST LIVEs

 Many parents report that their children say things to them which can only be explained in terms of past lives.   This phenomenon has been studied by scientists and psychologists alike because of the vast amount of cases that have surfaced in recent decades. Here are 10 amazing things kids have said to their parents about what they remember from a previous lifetime:

1. When my son was 3, he told me that he really likes his new daddy, he’s really nice. My husband is his one and only daddy.  I asked ‘Why is that?’

He replied: ‘My old daddy was really mean. He stabbed me in the back and I died. But I really like my new daddy, he’d never do that to me.’

2. When I was a little girl, I lost [it] when I saw some guy at the grocery store. It was unusual, because I was generally quiet and well behaved. I never had to be taken out of somewhere for misbehaving, but we had to leave the store.

When my mom asked what was wrong when we got in the car, I told her he took me away from my first mom and hid me under his floor and made me sleep for a long time until I woke up with my new mom.
I then refused to sit in the seat of the car on the ride home, but insisted on cowering under the dash board so he couldn’t take me again. It freaked her … out, as she is definitely my biological mother, so obviously my ‘first’ mom.

3. Getting my 2-and-a-half-year-old daughter out of the bath one night, my wife and I were briefing her on how important it was she kept her privates clean. She casually replied: ‘Oh, nobody “scroofs” me there. They tried one night. They kicked the door in and tried, but I fought back. I died and now I’m here.’  She said this like it was nothing.

 

4. ‘Before I was born here, I had a sister, right?   Her and my other mom are so old now. They were OK when the car was on fire, but I sure wasn’t!’

He was maybe 5 or 6 years old. It was totally out of the blue.

5. When my little sister was younger, she used to walk around the house with a picture frame with a picture of my great grandpa in her hands crying and saying, “I miss you Harvey.”

Harvey had died before even I was born. Other than this common occurrence, my mom told me that she would constantly say things that my great grandma Lucy would say.

6. When my little sister first started talking, she used to say some really disturbing things. She used to tell us about how her old family would put things inside of her and would make her cry, but her Daddy eventually burned her so much that she was able to find us, her new family.

She spoke about things like that from the ages of almost 2 to 4. She was much too young to have ever been exposed to any content where children, or anyone else could [experience those things], so my family has always thought she held memories of a prior life.

7. Between the ages of 2 and 6, my son would tell me the same story of how he picked me to be his mother.
He said something about being with a man in a suit and picking a mother that would help him accomplish his souls mission. … We didn’t discuss spirituality … nor was he raised in any sort of religious environment.
The way he described it was that it was similar to grocery shopping, that he was in a bright room with people who were lined up like dolls, and that he picked me. The man in the suit asked him if he was sure, he replied that he was, and then he was born.

My son also had an early fascination with WWII era planes. He could identify them, their parts, what region they were used in, and the like. I still have no idea where he got that information. I’m a science gal, his dad is a math guy.

We have always called him ‘Grandpa,’ because of his peaceful and gingerly demeanor. This kid seriously has an old soul.

8. My nephew when he first began really talking in sentences told my sister and her husband that he was ‘so happy he picked them.’ And then went on to say that before he was a baby he was in a bright room and saw lots of people and he ‘picked his Mom because she had a nice face.’

9.  My older sister was born the year my Dad’s mom died. According to my dad, as soon as my sister was old enough to say the words, she said ‘I am your mother.’

10. According to my mom, when I was younger, I would tell her about how I had died in a fire a long time ago. I don’t remember that, but one of my biggest fears is my house burning down. Just being around open fire scares me.

What do you think about these cases?  Is there something going on here?

Man’s death leads to the discovery of a new virus Another reason to avoid ticks.

Man’s death leads to the discovery of a new virus

Another reason to avoid ticks.

Scientists have described a previously unknown insect-borne virus, following the death of a man in the Kansas county of Bourbon in the US in mid-2014. 

According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the otherwise healthy, 50-year-old man was working outside on his property in mid-2014, when he sustained multiple tick bites, which led to an array of symptoms including fever, fatigue, rash, headaches, nausea and vomiting around two days after. After he was hospitalised, his white blood cell count dipped, his lungs and kidney started failing, and by day 11, suffered a heart attack, and died.The culprit? Scientists were able to isolate a new virus from a blood sample collected from the patient nine days after he fell ill, and attributed it to theThogotovirus genus in the virus family Orthomyxoviridae. This family contains six genera - Influenza virus A, Influenza virus B, Influenza virus C, Isavirus, Thogotovirus and Quaranjavirus. 

The researchers say there’s a marked difference between the symptoms suffered by this man, and other known Thogotoviruses. As Liz Szabo reports at USA Today, Thogotoviruses usually cause diseases such as meningitis or encephalitis, where the lining of the brain becomes severely inflamed. But they've never seen these viruses destroy white blood cell counts like the Bourbon virus did to this man.

The team discusses this in the current edition of the CDC journal, Emerging Infectious Diseases:

"Of the seven symptomatic human infections that have been associated with viruses in the genus Thogotovirus, most case-patients have had neurologic findings (e.g., meningitis, encephalitis) without any described abnormalities in blood counts. Although cerebrospinal fluid was not tested for the patient reported, his clinical signs and symptoms were not suggestive of neurologic infection. Furthermore, the patient did not have any respiratory symptoms that would be expected with other viruses that are known human pathogens in the large family of Orthomyxoviridae, such as influenza virus."

As of this month, this man is the only case of Bourbon virus disease that has been identified, but there are likely more cases that have yet to be diagnosed. “I think we have to assume this has been around for some time, and we haven’t been able to diagnose it,” Dana Hawkinson, an infectious disease specialist who treated the patient at the University of Kansas Medical Centre in Kansas City, told Denise Grady at The New York Times. “We suspect there have been milder cases and people have recovered from them, but we don’t have a lot of information.” 

"It will be important to determine how widespread the Bourbon virus is in both ticks, insects, animals and humans and to grasp the spectrum of illness it is capable of causing," Amesh Adalja, senior associate at the Centre for Health Security at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre in the US, told USA Today. "The fact that a novel virus was discovered underscores the need for perpetual vigilance, in all locales, with respect to emerging infectious diseases. It is only by leaving no stone unturned when investigating unexplained illnesses that humans can best prepare for microbial threats.

Giant black hole burp could transform an entire galaxy

Giant black hole burp could transform an entire galaxy

And our Milky Way galaxy is not immune.

A supermassive black hole at the centre of the PDS 456 galaxy has been caught belching up gusts of air so strong, they could halt star formation and stunt the growth of the entire galaxy.

The discovery was made by an international team of astronomers that used the European Space Agency's (ESA) XMM-Newton telescope, and NASA’s NuSTAR telescope, to watch the activity of this colossal cosmic object that lies two billion light-years away from Earth, and boasts a mass of no less than a billion Suns. For comparison, the black hole at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy has 'just' 4.3 million times the mass of the Sun.

While black hole winds - known as Ultra Fast Out-flows, or UFOs - are nothing new, the researchers managed to observe them blasting from the centre of the galaxy in every direction for the first time, before transforming into a strange, massive bubble. To help them figure out the strength and movements of the winds, NuSTAR was able to record high-energy X-ray images of the event, while XMM-Newton captured the low-energy X-rays.

"It tells us that the shape of the wind is not just a narrow beam pointed in our direction. It is really a wind that is flowing in every direction away from the black hole,” lead author Emanuele Nardini, from Keele University in the UK, told Calla Cofield at Space.com. "With a spherical wind, the amount of mass it carries out is much larger than just a narrow beam.”

The results have been published in the current edition of Science.

Black hole PDS 456 is something of a monster. It eats up all kinds of gas and dust particles that surround it, and when they’re swallowed up by the enormous sinkhole, they radiate a stunning amount of light - more than any star in the surrounding galaxy. With its super-bright centre emitting all kinds of different types of light, this young galaxy is known as a quasar. This particular quasar has been imaged on five separate occasions through 2013 and 2014. 

The two telescopes worked in tandem to give scientists the best picture of what’s happening with the black hole, with XMM-Newton picking up on the iron atoms carried by its enormous gusts, and NuSTAR showing that these atoms were scattered to every side of its gaping maw.  

"It's really astonishing that this supermassive black hole, no bigger than our Solar System, is so powerful that it influences an entire galaxy,” NuSTAR's principal investigator, Fiona Harrison at the the California Institute of Technology in the US,told Stuart Gary at ABC Science. “It's amazing when you think about it.”

I’m still getting over the idea of a ‘small’ black hole being the size of our entire Solar System. 

Harrison and her colleagues now think they have a technique for figuring out the speed, shape and size of the black hole winds, so they can determine how big they are.

The sheer power thrown up by this black hole - scientists measured the speed of the winds blasting from it to be around one-third of the speed of light, and the X-rays they produced carried more energy than a trillion Suns - suggests it has the capacity to influence the evolution of the entire galaxy around it. This is because they blast away star-forming gasses, and so rob a galaxy of the raw materials it needs to grow. And scientists now think this is also the case for other supermassive black holes,according to BBC News, including the Sagittarius A supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.

"Now we know that quasar winds significantly contribute to mass loss in a galaxy, driving out its supply of gas, which is fuel for star formation," Nardini told the BBC."This study provides a unique view of the possible mechanism that links the evolution of the central black holes to that of their host galaxies, over cosmic time."

Sources: BBC News, ABC Science, Space.com