Lying down, almost asleep… wait… vibrations, tingling …. I’m…I’m separating …. lifting above my body .... floating above my body, …. looking down I see myself lying there … Who am I? .. I know who I am and I can see my body …. but I’m not in the body…. Are these experiences “real” or brain pathology? Could they be “merely dreams.” Upon awakening from a dream, I realize that my sense of “I” existed in the dream and now exists in the waking state. A previous post question

Psychedelics burst into modern life with the discovery of LSD. The chemical lysergic acid diethyl amide, known as LSD, was discovered in 1938 by the Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman, working for Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, while studying ergotamine, a chemical from grain fungus. Five years later in 1943 Hoffman accidently ingested it and had an experience, which he described as an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of col

the night is very dark -- no moon -- no clouds ….... stars are blazingly bright ...…. billions of stars in the milky way are so clear …….. the vastness is incomprehensible ….…… I feel so small …...... am I part of this universe? ………. now, fear …..... in an instant, I am part of this one great universe ……….... now, calm, bliss ........….. suddenly, I am back in my yard looking up at the stars A sudden dramatic sense of “oneness” with the universe is often part of spiri

Two thousand years ago Aristotle wrote that cells lining blood vessels determine organs. Recently, he was found correct when capillary cells demonstrated elaborate communication with stem cells and many other cells. Unique capillary cells in each organ have dramatic effects on the life of the cells in that region. With elaborate communication between immune and blood cells, tissue stem cells and neurons, they are the brains of the local region. Now, another cell, called peric

Bacteria and viruses exhibit communication and almost endless creativity and variation. We have no real idea just how many species there are. Bacteria and viruses have dramatic effects on the ecology of every part of the earth. Because of this, they have been considered by some to be the dominant life form. An increasing amount of research is focusing on the impact of bacteria and viruses on every aspect of our lives. But, are we assuming their importance because of the curre

With subjective experience new cells are incorporated into the brain and new circuits are created, altered, strengthened or weakened. The static view of the brain has been disproven and it is now known that the brain is very active—constantly changing connections and growing circuits, thought-by-thought, minute-by-minute and day-by-day. Many different brain mechanisms alter neuronal connections—in large networks, not just in individual synapses. In fact, the larger the brain

Communication among cells is the basis of all immune and nervous system activity. Research continues to find large vocabularies of signals in different languages—neurotransmitters, cytokines, small RNAs, protein transcription factors, small lipid molecules and glycan sugars. The numbers of signals is growing fantastically with at least 50 neurotransmitters, 100 cytokines, thousands of transcription factors and small RNAs and as yet indefinable large number of ubiquitin tags,

Current science has no explanation for subjective experience. There isn’t even an adequate definition of consciousness. Recent research continues many approaches in attempts to find a brain region that is correlated with basic awareness or consciousness. In order to proceed without definitions, study attempts to find simple awareness without specific content. But, recent findings show that for most mental events, almost the entire brain is part of wide circuits signaling in m

The largest number of brain molecules are lipids (fats). Unique regulation of brain lipids is complex and contributes to many diseases. Surprisingly, it has been found that membrane lipids direct proteins and proteins direct lipids. Previous posts have discussed the importance of lipids in communication between brain cells using vesicles made with fatty membranes. The rapid complex process where lipid covered vesicles transmit neuro transmitters at synapses uses 80% of all o

It is well known that neurons send a variety of intelligent critical signals to other neurons, glia, and immune cells using neurotransmitters, vesicles of several types, cytokines and nanotubes between cells. Elaborate back and forth communication between immune cells uses a wide variety of cytokines, neurotransmitters and vesicles with genetic material. Recently, intelligent decision-making by many other cells was discovered, including epithelial cells lining the intestine a

Dendrites have been considered passive calculators of input signals. In fact, they are extremely dynamic and can produce their own electrical spikes. Dendrites have a vast array of different ways to function when helping to determine the next axon action potential. Recent research has begun to scratch the surface of the complexity of dendrite calculations. A previous post described details about the ever changing and varied dendrite spines and necks with many unique shapes th

It was once thought that to prove the cause of an infection, a microbe is found. The microbe is isolated from the unhealthy person. Later, this infection is reproduced in an otherwise healthy animal by injecting that particular microbe. This approach is described in Koch’s Postulates and was the dogma of microbiology for over a hundred years. However, current research about back and forth elaborate intelligent communication between cells, including microbes, has shown that de