Libriufo

Journal of Scientific Exploration
A Publication of the Society for Scientific Exploration
Volume 2 Number 1 1988
Society for Scientific Exploration

Editor: Bernhard M. HAISCH

Name: Ertel, Suitbert

CONTENTS

Author	Title	Pag

Henry H. BAUER	Commonalities in Arguments Over Anomalies	1-11
	Abstract: There are a number of features that seem to be common to controversies about claimed anomalies. Foremost perhaps is the very fact of controversy. Typically, the anomaly runs counter to the expectations of established orthodoxy, and there is often a populist tone to the argument. Questions concerning the demarcation of science from pseudoscience and of epistemology in general are typically raised. It becomes important to distinguish between the pros and cons of a particular claim and what is said by the disputants; an examination of the ways in which belief and disbelief are distributed among various groups can be useful in clarifying the issues. It is also vital that one distinguish between the occurrence and the reporting of events. As with interdisciplinary work, it is problematic to establish what parts of existing knowledge might be relevant; and anomalies bring to attention large and sometimes unsuspected areas of ignorance. There are pitfalls in assuming that anomalies with superficial similarities have any functional or necessary relation to one another. The manner in which anomalies are perceived is clearly influenced by contemporary science and by contemporary societal beliefs. For many reasons that go far beyond the possible reality of any given anomalous claim, then, the study of anomalies can be interesting and enlightening.

Jacques VALLÉE	Remote Viewing and Computer Communications-An Experiment	13-27
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 4 Number 2 /1990 - Comments on Remote Viewing and Computer Communications-An Experiment
	Abstract: A series of remote viewing experiments were run with 12 partic- ipants who communicated through a computer conferencing network. These participants, who were located in various regions of the United States and Canada, used portable terminals in their homes and offices to provide typed descriptions of 10 mineral samples. These samples were divided into an open series and a double-blind series. A panel of five judges was asked to match the remote viewing descriptions against the mineral samples by a percentage scoring system. The correct target sample was identified in 8 out of 33 cases: this represents more than double the pure chance expectation. Two experienced users provided 20 transcripts for which the probability of achieving the observed distribution of the percentage score by chance was 0.04. These results confirm earlier reports of successful remote viewing exper- iments while extending them to cases in which participants were thousands of miles away from each other and in which the targets were mineral samples of potential economic significance, with control of communica- tions provided by a computer network.

Michel GAUQUELIN	Is There a Mars Effect?	29-51
	Abstract: The so-called "Mars Effect" is discussed in a larger context. The phenomenon refers to a significant tendency for champion athletes to have been born at the time of either the rise or the upper culmination of the planet Mars. The populations and samples, methodology and its develop ment are described along with earlier and more recent findings. Control studies and replications by others are reported in some detail. Particular attention is paid to certain basic and procedural criticisms and the problem of bias or artifacts. The current scientific status of the issue is reviewed in light of sevenl kinds of empirical evidence that has accumulated over the past three decades. The question raised in the title of the paper is answered in the affirmative.

Suitbert ERTEL	Raising the Hurdle for the Athletes Mars Effect:Association Co-Varies With Eminence	53-82
	Abstract: By 1955, Michel Gauquelin had begun to publicize the claim that famous athletes are born with frequencies far beyond chance at times when Mars is rising over the Earth's horizon ("key sector I") or when the planet crosses the meridian ("key sector 11"). Critics did not succeed in refuting this claim empirically: The "Mars effect" survived three such at- tempts. It was largely doubts over the impeccability of M. and F. Gauque- lin's data base, however, which kept researchers from pursuing the problem further. The present study incorporates the entire repertoire of birth data of athletes available to date (N = 4391). The objective is to test the alleged planetary correlation as a function of degree of sportive eminence, the latter being determined by citation counts. It is contended that this procedure is superior to Gauquelin's own; and that the predicted eminence function could hardly be expected to materialize in case his former results were due to biased data treatment. Findings corroborate the eminence prediction: The proportion of athletes born at Mars key sector hours increases from the lowest to the highest of five ranks of sporting eminence; the trend is highly significant (p < .005) by several criteria. It is concluded that Gauquelin's hypothesis, after having passed this crucial examination, deserves the most thorough attention.

	`Correspondence`
Richard F. HAINES	Expanding Ball of Light (EBL) Phenomenon	83-85
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 4 Number 1 /1990 - Comments on "Expanding Ball of Light (EBL) Phenomenon"(Haines, 1988)

	`Book Review`
Henry H. BAUER	Origins-A Skeptic's Guide to the Creation of Lie on Earth, by Robert Shapiro	87-89

Journal of Scientific Exploration
A Publication of the Society for Scientific Exploration
Volume 6 Number 3 Autumn 1992
Society for Scientific Exploration

Name: Ertel, Suitbert

CONTENTS

Author	Title	Pag

	`SSE News Items`
	Highlights of the 1992 European SSE Meeting	205-211
	Next SSE Meeting	211
	SSE Council Member Radin Work Cited	211

Michael EPSTEIN	The Skeptical Perspective	213-216

Illobrand VON LUDWIGER, T. AUERBACH	Heim's Theory of Elementary Particle Structures	217-231
	Abstract: Heim's theory is defined in a 6-dimensional world, in 2 dimensions of which events take place that organize processes in the 3 dimensions of our experience. A very small natural constant, called a "metron", is derived, representing the smallest area that can exist in nature. This leads to the conclusion that space must be composed of a 6-dimensional geometric lattice of very small cells bounded on all sides by metrons. The existence of metrons requires our usual infinitesimal calculus to be replaced by one of finite areas. The unperturbed lattice represents empty vacuum. Local deformations of the lattice indicate the presence of something other than empty space. If the deformation is of the right form and complexity it acquires the property of mass and inertia. Elementary particles are complex dynamical systems of locally confined interacting lattice distortions. Thus, the theory geometricizes the world by viewing it as a huge assemblage of very small geometric deformations of a 6- dimensional lattice in vacuum. The theory also has significant consequences for cosmology

Michael EPSTEIN, Luigi GARLASCHELLI	Better Blood Through Chemistry: A Laboratory Replication of a Miracle	233-246
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 7 Number 1 Spring/1993 - Comments on Better Blood Through Chemistry
	Abstract: -The recent simulation of the miracle liquefying blood of Saint Januarius is shown to be viable from both historical and scientific standpoints. The history of the holy blood is traced and means and motivation for the simulation are provided. Spectral analysis of the simulated blood, a thixotropic gel of iron hydroxide (FeO(OH)), shows the absorption spectrum to be similar to old blood. Many reported characteristics of the holy blood can be explained by the behavior of a thixotropic gel. Modifications of the preparation procedure are attempted to bring the simulation into agreement with fourteenth century alchemical knowledge. A critical evaluation of previous spectroscopic studies of the miracle blood is presented.


Suitbert ERTEL	The Gauquelin Effect Explained? Comments on Arno Miiller's Hypothesis of Planetary Correlations	247-254
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 4 Number 1 /1990 - Planetary Influences on Human Behavior ("Gauquelin Effect"): Too Absurd for a Scientific Explanation? [Müller, Arno]
	Abstract: Arno Müller's "hypothesis of the planetary klite" (Müller,1990) amended Gauquelin's "midwife hypothesis", which suffered from weaknesses. The approach is a welcome contribution to the persistent problem of how to explain planetary correlations with human births (the Gauquelin effect). However, it is inconsistent with empirical observations: (1)Gauquelin effects are unrelated to character traits. Miiller's hypothesis explains a correlation that does not exist. (2) Sometimes planetary effects decrease with eminence. This is inconsistent with Muller's idea that more eminent as compared to less eminent people should have cultural and biological advantages. (3)Birth frequencies can be infrequent instead of abundant when the planet is rising or culminating. This is inconsistent with Muller's assumption that in prehistorical times the births of children were desired, not avoided, when the divine planet was so placed. (4) The doctrine of planetary heredity-the basic precondition of Muller's hypothesis-is probably invalid. (5) The Gauquelin effect is weakest for Venus. Muller's claim of an impact of planetary appearances on the evolution of the Gauquelin effect would predict the opposite. (6) Muller's model covers only the evolution of conditioning between planetary sensitivity and character traits. It does not explain the evolution of planetary sensitivity prior to such conditioning. Gauquelin's original midwife hypothesis as well as Muller's new version of it could be refuted straightforwardly if further tests showed that the Gauquelin effect occurred undiminished in eminent births induced by obstetric drugs.
Arno MÜLLER	The Gauquelin Effect Explained? A Rejoinder to Ertel's Critique	255-259

A. I. GRIGOR'EV, I. D. GRIGOR'EVA, S. O. SHIRYAEVA	Ball Lightning Penetration into Closed Rooms: 43 Eyewitness Accounts	261-279
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 8 Number 1 Spring/1994 - Comments on Ball Lightning
	Abstract: `43 Eyewitness Reports on the ability of ball lightning to penetrate into rooms through window glass (very often leaving no holes) and to enter houses through radio and electric sockets are presented.`

Ian STEVENSON	A Series of Possibly Paranormal Recurrent Dreams	281-290
	Abstract: In 1986 Dr. Walter D'Souza, an Indian physician living in the United States, had a series of realistic dreams in which his deceased father, who had been buried in India three years earlier, appeared to be leaving his coffin and trying to communicate something to him. After Dr. D'Souza had had three of these dreams, a letter from India informed his mother that his father's bones had not been adequately disposed of. Dr. D'Souza then believed that his dreams had some connection with the matter of his father's bones. He urged his mother to go to India and attend to the burial, but she and his sister minimized the difficulty, and did not wish to spend money on a journey to India. Dr. D'Souza then had a fourth dream similar to the previous three. He told his family about his dreams and insisted that his mother go to India and attend to the disposition of the bones. She agreed to go and the dreams ceased. It seems unlikely that Dr. D'Souza before he had his dreams had any normal awareness that anything further needed to be done for the proper disposition of his father's bones. Paranormal interpretations of the dreams have plausibility. Attention is drawn to the quality of vividness in dreams as a possible marker of paranormality.

	`Letters to the Editor`
	Comments on Survival or Super-psi?	291
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 6 Number 2 /1992 - Survival or Super-psi? [Braude, Stephen E.]
	Are Memories of Alien Abductions Recollections of Surgical Experiences?	291-294
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 7 Number 2 Summer/1993 - Comments on James Wilson's Letter to the Editor

	`Book Review`
Ian STEVENSON	Scientific Literacy and the Myth of the Scientific Method by Henry H. Bauer	295-297

	Erratum	297
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 6 Number 2 /1992 - Highlights of the Princeton SSE Meeting

Journal of Scientific Exploration
A Publication of the Society for Scientific Exploration
Volume 7 Number 2 Summer 1993
Society for Scientific Exploration

Name: Ertel, Suitbert

CONTENTS

Author	Title	Pag

Topher COOPER	Anomalous Propagation	105-110

Michael EPSTEIN	The Skeptical Perspective	111-115

Larry DOSSEY	Guest Column: NIH Creates the Office of Alternative Medicine	117-122

Henry BAUER	Dinsdale Prize	123-124

Helmut SCHMIDT	Non-Causality as the Earmark of Psi	125-132

Wiilis W. HARMAN	Towards an Adequate Epistemology for the Scientific Exploration of Consciousness	133-143
	Abstract: The scientific exploration of phenomena and experience relating to consciousness (a category which includes many "anomalous" phenomena) has long been hampered by two obstacles. One is that subjective experience does not meet the commonly accepted criteria for data in a scientific analysis, in that it is not public, objective, and replicable. The other is that many consciousness-related phenomena do not appear to fit comfortably into the accepted scientific worldview. Scientists have improvised ways of dealing with these two obstacles, so that for much of practical science (e.g., research on pain) they don't get in the way. Nevertheless, the situation can hardly be considered satisfactory. Two concepts have recently come to light which may help liberate us from this predicament-one new, the other revived from the respected writings of American philosopher William James. The first, based on recent work by Max Velmans, involves a different model of perception; the second, referring back to James' concept of "radical empiricism," proposes a different criterion for admission of scientific data.


Suitbert ERTEL	Puzzling Eminence Effects Might Make Good Sense	145-154
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 7 Number 4 /1993 - Comments on Suitbert Ertel's Puzzling Eminence Might Make Good Sense
	Abstract: -According to Gauquelin's eminence hypothesis, planetary effects increase with increasing professional renown. The author's former findings, however, did not always support this hypothesis. In some cases planetary ef- fects went down, or first up and then down, with increasing eminence. Miiller's recent unexpected results with very eminent professionals, which showed a considerable weakening of planetary effects instead of an amplifi- cation, gave rise to the hypothesis that the relationship of planetary effects to eminence might be curvilinear, instead of linear, across all planets and profes- sions. Thus previous results suggesting linear relationships might have been due to restricted eminence sampling. By extending the analyses to athletes (olympic medallists), scientists, and actors covering a wider range of emi- nence, marked curvilinear patterns did in fact emerge.
J. W. NIENHUYS	Comments on Puzzling Eminence Effects	155-159

Satwant PASRICHA	A Systematic Survey of Near-Death Experiences in South India	161-171
	Abstract: -In order to determine the prevalence rate of Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) in south India, the author systematically surveyed four villages with a total population of 6430 persons. Eighteen persons were reported to have died (or nearly died) and revived. Thirteen (72%) of them reported having had NDEs which is about 2 cases per thousand of the population surveyed. Eleven features of the south Indian cases are compared with the features of north Indian cases. Most of the principal features of the south Indian cases resemble those reported from north India. However, they also differed in the frequencies of four features; two of the features were reported chiefly by the north Indian subjects while another two only by the south Indian subjects. All these four features have been reported among American cases. The author suggests the possibility of a genuine phenomenon underlying the similarities of features among cases in two different cultures.

Irwin WIEDER	The Guillemette Pass Oregon UFO Photo Revisited: An Explanation	173-198
	Abstract: In November of 1966, a Ph.D. scientist, returning to his California home from a business trip in Washington, was driving through Oregon and paused at a lookout point to photograph Diamond Peak. Of the three photographs taken at this location the last one included a strange object. This photo ultimately became the focus of a controversy among UFO investigators and has been the subject of numerous articles as well as a book. In this paper we present a chronicle of the author's investigation of this intriguing photo as well as an explanation of the true nature of the object in the photo

	`Letters to the Editor`
	Vallee Comments on Book Review "Revelations: Alien Contact and Human Deception"	199
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 7 Number 1 Spring/1993 - Revelations: Alien Contact and Human Deception? [Canon, Bradley C]
	Comments on James Wilson's Letter to the Editor	200-202
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 6 Number 3 Autumn/1992 - Are Memories of Alien Abductions Recollections of Surgical Experiences?

	`Book Reviews`
H. C. SPRUIT	Quasars, Redshifts and Controversies by Halton Arp	203-208
Bradley C CANON	Advanced Aerial Devices Reported During the Korean War	208
	Review: Richard F. HAINES,ADVANCED AERIAL DEVICES REPORTED DURING THE KOREAN WAR - 1990
Henry BAUER	Secret Life: Firsthand Accounts of UFO Abductions	208-209
	Review: David Michael JACOBS,SECRET LIFE - 1992
Ron WESTRUM	First Review of Secret Life	209-211
	Review: David Michael JACOBS,SECRET LIFE - 1992
Willy SMITH	Second Review of Secret Life	212-215
	Review: David Michael JACOBS,SECRET LIFE - 1992
David M. JACOBS	Response to Westrum and Smith	215-218
	Book:David Michael JACOBS,SECRET LIFE - 1992

Journal of Scientific Exploration

Volume 7 Number 3 1993

Name: Ertel, Suitbert

CONTENTS

Author	Title	Pag

	`Research and Review Articles`
Michael SCHROTER-KUNHARDT	A Review of Near Death Experiences	219-239
	Abstract: Near death experiences (NDEs) have been reported throughout time in essentially all cultures. The contents of modem NDEs is independent of gender, age, and profession. The frequency of occurrence is estimated to lie between 10 and 50 percent of all near-death situations. This frequency could be higher still, perhaps even 100 percent, were it not for the dreamlike and dissociative character of the experience and the amnesia-prone participation of the temporal lobe causing a clear tendency to forget the NDE. A number of similar elements are common to NDEs, such as an out-of-body experience (OBE) in which the physical body and its surroundings are observed from various external vantage points, often from above. Numerous cases exist in which the reality of the OBE-observation can be independently 'verified, by external conditions, situations, people, objects, etc. Even previously non-religious ND experiencers subsequently show a markedly decreased fear of death and a corresponding increase in belief in life after death. Certain elements of NDE-like experiences can be induced by, for example, electrical stimulation of the right temporal lobe or the use of hallucinogenic substances. It is possible that hallucinogenic transmitters (and endorphins) of the brain itself play a role in the NDE. Nevertheless, there are NDE-elements, such as the frequently reported life-review and certainly the acquisition of external, verifiable information concerning the physical surroundings during the experience, that cannot be explained by physiological causes. Wish-fulfillment, death-denial or other defense mechanisms of the brain are also not adequate explanations. The large body of NDE data now accumulated point to genuine evidence for a non-physical reality and paranormal capacities of the human being.
Bruce MACCABEE	Analysis and Discussion of the May 18, 1992 UFO Sighting in Gulf Breeze, Florida	241-257
	Abstract: A professional TV crew traveled to Gulf Breeze, Florida on two occasions in the spring of 1992 at a time when sightings were occurring on a weekly basis. On each occasion anomalous lights were observed and videotaped passing through the Gulf Breeze skies. This paper reports briefly on the first sighting and concentrates on the analysis of the second sighting when the TV crew used a special "high power" camera. During the second sighting the lights were observed from two locations allowing for triangulation and a subsequent estimate of the spacing between them (about 10 ft). They were moving in an early rectilinear path at a speed exceeding 20 mph before they faded out. A discussion of the hoax hypothesis involving pyrotechnic devices and incandescent light sources is presented. It is shown that the sightings, if not of "real" UFOs, constitute a hoax of considerable ingenuity, expense and persistence. This sighting was just one of about 170 which have occurred in the Gulf Breeze area during 1990-1992.
York H. DOBYNS	Selection Versus Influence in Remote REG Anomalies	259-269
	Abstract: A large body of remote human-machine interaction data has been collected in a protocol structurally similar to that used for experiments in remote perception, with somewhat comparable anomalous results. This suggests that the effects seen in the former could be attributable to a selection or sorting process on a reservoir of unperturbed data, rather than to any remote influence on the machine behavior per se. Fortunately, the statistical consequences of these two modalities are clearly distinguishable within the available empirical data. When properly evaluated by Bayesian hypothesis-comparison methods, the experimental results overwhelmingly favor the direct influence hypothesis over any selection mechanism.
J. W. NIENHUYS	Dutch Investigations of the Gauquelin Mars Effect	271-281
	Abstract: A team of Dutch skeptics have investigated a new explanation for the Mars effect with sports champions of Michel Gauquelin. They conjectured that outstanding sports people might have diurnal and seasonal birth rhythms different from average people and that moreover the short time base of Gauquelin's observations might further enhance these effects. Essentially their findings were negative. Simulations were either not possible because of lack of data or they showed that along these lines an explanation is only possible if very implausible additional assumptions are made. However, it is argued that the Gauquelin data suffer from a bias, namely some artifact of the exploratory phase. The eminence effect of Ertel is shown to be too weak to draw firm conclusions about its existence. It seems plausible that the Gauquelins did not realize that said artifact had to be tightly controlled for

Suitbert ERTEL	Comments on Dutch Investigations of the Gauquelin Mars Effect	283-292
	Abstract: -The first of two Dutch skeptics' attempts at disproving the Mars effect failed (Nienhuys 1993a). Contrary to the Nienhuys view, however, the second pass of the Dutch critics at the Gauquelin claim- an attempt at undermining the validity of his data base- is shown to fail as well. The critics drew apparent support from my previous unearthing of a Gauquelin biasGauquelin had exempted cases from publication (Ertel, 1988). Yet they neglected the fact that any such bias had been neutralized as a result of my pooling of published and unpublished data. Specifically, a significant eminence trend was demonstrated in the unmanufactured total sample in my 1988 report. In addition, Dutch endeavours at rendering the eminence relationship insignificant either failed (even a less sensitive scale with 12 instead of 36 sector division yielded significance) or were illegitimate (splitting up of the entire sample for that purpose violates methodological logic). Thus, the present (fourth) attempt in the history of resistance against the Gauquelin challenge by organized skeptics has added two misses to their record.

	`Invited Essay`
William A. TILLER	What Are Subtle Energies?	293-304
	Abstract: A brief discussion is given of a set of anomalous experimental phenomena that are inexplicable based only on the four accepted forces operating in the physical universe. Possible explanations require defining the existence of subtle energies. Using a quantum mechanical description, the seat of subtle energy functioning is traced to the vacuum state with magnetic vector potential assuming the role of bridge between the subtle energies and physical energies. A brief discussion is given of how we might reliably detect subtle energies and a zeroth order model of the subtle domains as substructure for the vacuum state is given.

	`Columns`
Topher COOPER	Anomalous Propagation	305-310
Michael EPSTEIN	The Skeptical Perspective	311-315
j. DOMMANGET	Guest Column: The Comite PARA-European Skeptics Committee	317-321

	`Letters to the Editor`
	Ukraine Research Institute on Anomalous Phenomena	323-325
	Comments on Guide to UFO Research	325-326
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 7 Number 1 Spring/1993 - A Guide to UFO Research [Swords, Michael D.]

	`Book Reviews`
Ian STEVENSON	Beyond Natural Selection by Robert Wesson	327-328
Peter A. STURROCK	First Review of Forbidden Science	328-330
	Review: Jacques VALLÉE,FORBIDDEN SCIENCE - 1992
Keith THOMPSON	Second Review of Forbidden Science	330-333
	Review: Jacques VALLÉE,FORBIDDEN SCIENCE - 1992
Hilary EVANS	Roads to Center Place: A Cultural Atlas of Chaco Canyon and the Anasazi by Kathryn Gabriel	333-335

	`SSE News Items`
	Preliminary Announcement of 1994 SSE Meetings	336
	Abstracts of 1993 SSE Meeting	336

Journal of Scientific Exploration
A Publication of the Society for Scientific Exploration
Volume 7 Number 1 Spring 1993
Society for Scientific Exploration

Editor: Bernhard M. HAISCH

Name: Ertel, Suitbert

CONTENTS

Author	Title	Pag

	`Editorial`
Bernhard HAISCH	More is More!	1

	`SSE News Items`
	1993 Annual SSE Meeting	3-4
	SSE President Sturrock Named Honorary Fellow	4
Edwin C. MAY	In Memory of Charles Honorton	4-5
Suitbert ERTEL	In Memory of Michel Gauquelin	5-7

Topher COOPER	Anomalous Propagation	9-13

Michael EPSTEIN	The Skeptical Perspective	15-18

Tom VAN FLANDEM	Guest Column: Major Meeting on New Cosmologies	19-22

Paul DEVEREUX	Acculturated Topographical Effects of Shamanic Trance Consciousness in Archaic and Medieval Sacred Landscapes	23-37
	Abstract: Various linear enigmas exist in ancient sacred landscapes worldwide. These include examples of Native American landscape lines, such as the Chacoan "roads", New Mexico, and the Nazca "lines", Peru; Neolithic linear earthworks, called "cursuses", in Britain; stone rows in Europe, Malaysia and elsewhere; temple alignments in Indonesia. There is also the archaeologically heretical idea of "leys" (alignments of ancient sites), put forward by Englishman Alfred Watkins in 1921. Although the ley theory has long been derided by mainstream scholarship, new German and Dutch findings show that there was a medieval tradition of straight "Doodwegen" (death roads) or "Geisterwege" (ghost paths). It seems Watkins may have unwittingly uncovered vestiges of these features. Certainly Watkins had no concept of current "New Age" notions of "energy leylines", which are modem fantasies. It is argued that such medieval features arise out of a deep-seated, universal conceptual complex associating "spirit ways" with straight lines: straight cords and threads in ancient traditional healing practices as well as straight tracks and other ceremonial landscape markings. It is suggested that these ideas have their roots in archaic shamanism, which, throughout Eurasia, influenced later, ceremonial aspects of monarchy. A proto-Indo-European language vestige is cited. Preliminary evidence is presented indicating that the spirit - line association derived from the ecstatic "journey" experienced during the shamanic trance. This gave rise to images of "flying shamans" in tribal societies throughout the world, and, ultimately, to the "magical flight of the sovereign" in proto-state and state societies. It is this "flight of the soul" that seems to have been translated onto ancient sacred landscapes as straight lines, which later became variously acculturated as sacred ways, spirit and fairy paths, roads of the dead or of ghosts, or Royal Routes. The neurological aspects of the so-called out-of-body state, and its possible association with modem psychological epidemics such as "UFO abductions", is alluded to

Gerard L. EBERLEIN	Mainstream Sciences vs. Parasciences: Toward an Old Dualism?	39-48
	Abstract: The Observatory for New Spiritual Movements has been operating at the Technical University of Munich since 1980. It is concerned with the study of cults, New Age ideologies and with the parasciences from anthroposophy to cryptozoology. The parasciences are being analyzed by the science of sciences, i.e., by the philosophy of science, psychology and sociology of science, as well as by the history of science. The following ten hypotheses, characteristics and questions are discussed: (1) Mainstream sciences may make neither monopolistic nor absolutistic claims. (2) The six main criteria of the academic sciences are compared to the six main criteria of the parasciences. (3) The two types of science also differ in their value orientations. (4) Social processes and structures are characteristics of both. (5) What are the characteristic motivations of parascientists? (6) What is the historical background of the mainstream sciences? (7) What are the difference between the metaparadigms of mainstream science and those of the parasciences? (8) What are the social functions of mainstream sciences and parasciences? (9) Do the functions of the parasciences transcend those of mainstream science? (10) What are the characteristic differences between practitioners of mainstream science and the parasciences?

Shigeru MORIYAMA	Existence of Life and Homeostasis in an Attnospheric Environment	49-63
	Abstract: -A geophysiological model is used to show how a regulation of the atmospheric C02 level could counteract the effect of a gradual increase in solar luminosity. In our model, the biosphere and the atmosphere-ocean system exchange carbon through a biological process which includes the internal and mutual antagonism. It is suggested that as soon as the biologically regulated system had appeared on the early earth, the regulatory aspect of the ecosystem would have been fully operational, and thus, that the earth's environment has been maintained in homeostasis for a long time. One model for the temporal variation of the carbon distribution on the earth, which is in agreement with observed carbon isotopic data, is also suggested. An important result is that our ecosystem left a completely biologically controllable state some six hundred million years ago, and that the current trend is toward destruction of the ecosystem on the earth

Michael D. SWORDS	A Guide to UFO Research	65-87
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 7 Number 3 /1993 - Comments on Guide to UFO Research
	Abstract: `-The very natural query of the interested intellectual: what should 1 read to understand the status of the UFO Phenomenon?, has no simple answer. This review article briefly examines the characteristics of the "UFO Problem" and relates those characteristics to the problem of ignorance in the academic community. An "inside look" at the appropriate library for the "working UFOlogist" is then explored.`

	`Letters to the Editor`
	Comments on Better Blood Through Chemistry	89-94
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 6 Number 3 Autumn/1992 - Better Blood Through Chemistry: A Laboratory Replication of a Miracle [Epstein, Michael & Garlaschelli, Luigi]
	Super-psi or Reincarnation?	94-95

	`Book Reviews`
Ian STEVENSON	The Meaning of Evolution: The Morphological Construction and Ideological Reconstruction of Darwin's Theory	97-99
Bradley C CANON	Revelations: Alien Contact and Human Deception?	99-104
	Review: Jacques VALLÉE,REVELATIONS - 1991
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 7 Number 2 Summer/1993 - Vallee Comments on Book Review "Revelations: Alien Contact and Human Deception"

	SOCIETY FOR SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION POSITION PAPER

Journal of Scientific Exploration

Volume 8 Number 4 1994

Name: Ertel, Suitbert

CONTENTS

Author	Title	Pag

	`Research Articles`
Pierre GUÉRIN	A Scientific Analysis of Four Photographs of a Flying Disk Near Lac Chauvet (France)	447-469
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 9 Number 2 /1995 - Comment on McMinnville UFO Photos
	Abstract: `A series of four photographs of a disk-shaped object apparently flying in the sky was physically analyzed. Certain details led us to develop a mathematical model of the supposed trajectory. The model was validated by measurements on the photographs, which demonstrated that the disk was distant from the camera, flying along a straight and horizontal trajectory, and was not a fabrication`
R. D. Nelson et al.	A Linear Pendulum Experiment: Effects of Operator Intention on Damping Rate	471-489
	Abstract: An attractive pendulum consisting of a two-inch crystal ball suspended on a fused silica rod is the focus of an experiment to measure possible effects of conscious intention on an analog physical system. The pendulum is enclosed in a clear acrylic box, and provided with a computer controlled mechanical system to release it from the same starting height in repeated runs. A high speed binary counter registers interruptions of photodiode beams, to measure velocities at the nadir of the pendulum arc with microsecond accuracy. In runs of 100 swings, taking about three minutes, operators attempt to keep swings high, i.e. to decrease the damping rate (HI); to reduce swing amplitude, i.e. to increase the damping rate (LO); or to take an undisturbed baseline (BL). Over a total of 1545 sets, generated by 42 operators, the HI - LO difference is significant in the direction of intention for five individuals, and the difference between intention and baseline runs is significant and positive for five other operators. The overall HI - LO difference is reduced to non-significance by strong negative performances from several operators, four of whom have comparably large scores in the direction opposite to intention. Analysis of variance reveals significant internal structure in the database (main effects F,, ,,= 2.845, p = .025). Subset comparisons indicate that male operators tend to score higher than females, and that randomly instructed trials tend toward higher scores than volitional trials, especially for male operators. Trials generated with the operator in a remote location have a larger effect size than the local trials. While direct comparisons are not straightforward, it appears that effects of operator intention on the pendulum damping rate may be similar in magnitude and style to those in other humanlmachine interaction experiments. Although this result fails to support an experimental hypothesis that the analog nature of the pendulum experiment would engender larger effect sizes, it does confirm a basic similarity of consciousness effects across experiments using fundamentally different physical systems.
P. A. STURROCK	Applied Scientific Inference	491-508
	Abstract: The purpose of this article is to use the principles of scientific inference to provide guidance in evaluating complicated issues such as those raised by the study of anomalous phenomena. Specifically, the article presents a formalism (a "protocol") for organizing and combining the many judgments that must be made in the scientific evaluation of the relevant hypotheses. All judgments are to be expressed as probabilities, and the rules for combining probabilities are derived from Bayes' theorem. Setting up a problem in a manner that permits such an analysis can be helpful in imposing a structure and discipline upon the analysis, and also in exposing relevant questions that might otherwise have remained hidden. Furthermore, the introduction of probabilities makes it possible to put on a sound numerical basis such assertions as "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." One finds that extraordinary evidence can be built up from many (but not very many) items of unspectacular evidence, provided the items are truly independent. The proposed procedure permits a clear separation between a statement of initial prejudice and an evaluation of the significance of considered evidence. However, it would be even better to set out explicitly the considerations on which the prejudice is based, and to view those considerations as part of the evidence to be evaluated. The procedure also draws a clear separation between the roles and judgments of data analysts (who assign probabilities to specified statements, based on the evidence), and those of theorists (who assign probabilities to the same statements, based in turn on the considered hypotheses). In order to reach a consensus on any topic, it is recommended that probability estimates be made by teams of experts, all team-members being presented with the same data but acting independently, and procedures are proposed by which individual estimates may be combined to yield a consensus estimate.

	`Essay`
John BELOFF	The Mind-Brain Problem	509-522
	Abstract: `The mind-brain problem, which is still with us, raises the question as to whether the mind is no more than the idle side-effect of our brain processes or whether the mind can, in some degree, influence behavior. Here we rehearse the arguments on both sides plus some desperate recent attempts to eliminate mind altogether.`

Dean I. RADIN	Guest Column: On Complexity and Pragmatism	523-533

	`Letters to the Editor`
	Comments on James Warwick's Book Review of Cross Currents	535-538
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 7 Number 4 /1993 - Cross Currents by Robert 0. Becker [Warwick, James]
	Further Comments on the Unreliability of Home Blood Glucose Monitors	538-539
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 8 Number 3 /1994 - Complementary Healing Therapy for Patients With Type I Diabetes Mellitus [Wirth, Daniel P. & Mitchell, Barbara J.] Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 9 Number 1 /1995 - Erratum

	`Book Reviews`
Michael C. IBISON	The Interrelationship Between Mind and Matter edited by B. Rubik	541-545
Theodore ROCKWELL	The Interrelationship Between Mind and Matter edited by B. Rubik	545-546
Emily Williams COOK	A History of Hypnotism by A. Gauld	546-553
Angela THOMPSON	The Allagash Abductions: Undeniable Evidence of Alien Intervention by R. E. Fowler	554
	Review: Raymond E. FOWLER,THE ALLAGASH ABDUCTIONS - 1993
Henry H. BAUER	Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science by P. R. Gross and N. Levitt	555-563
Stuart EDELSTEIN	Perilous Knowledge: The Human Genome Project and Its Implications by T. Wilkie	563-565
Lori Anne NEALE	The Body, Self-Cultivation, and Ki-Energy by Y. Yuasa	565-568

Roger NELSON	The Second Euro-SSE Conference	569

	`Abstracts of the Second Euro-SSE Conference`
Robert MORRIS	Investigating Anomalies in Human-Machine Interaction	570
Jessica UTTS	Decision Augmentation Theory: Can Precognition Explain PK Data	570-571
Walter VON LUCADOU	Psychological Correlates of Experimental Human-Machine Anomalies: Influence, Selection, or What?	571
Zoltan VASSY	Correlation without Causation: on the Nature of Parapsychological Phenomena	571-572
B. E. P. CLEMENT	Conceptual Modeling in the Temporal Domain	572
Harold ASPDEN	The Experimental Pathway to New Sources of Energy	572-573
Harold E. PUTHOFF	On the Feasibility of Converting Vacuum Electromagnetic Energy to a Useful Form	573-574
Bernhard HAISCH	Zero-Point Field, Inertia, and Mach's Principle	574
Roger NELSON	Anomalous Interactions: Intention, Information, and Consciousness	574-575
S. JEFFERS, J. SLOAN	The Double-Slit Experiment as a Potentially Sensitive Detector of Anomalous Effects	575
Euan J. SQUIRES	The Implication of Quantum Theory for an Understanding of Consciousness	575-576
Jacques BENVENISTE	The Transfer of Specific Molecular Signals by Electromagnetic Means, and Its Consequences in Biology and Medicine	576
L. PYATNITSKY	Consciousness Influence on Water Structure	576-577
Zbignew WOLKOWSKI	Recent Advances in the Phoron Concept: An Attempt to Decrease the Incompleteness of Scientific Exploration	576-577
Roeland VAN WIJK	Understanding the Benefits of Subharmful Doses of Toxicants	577-578
Zoltan DIENES	Tests of Sheldrake's Claim of Morphic Resonance	578
Suitbert ERTEL	The Maharishi Effect in Transcendental Meditation: Fancy or Fact?	578-579
Archie E. ROY	The Great Crop Circle Mystery	579
Robin ALLEN	Science, Pseudoscience, and the Crop Circle Phenomenon	579-580
Léon BRENIG	Remote Sensing: A Tool for UFOLOGY	580
Paul DEVEREUX	"Earth Lights": History and Latest Developments Concerning Research into Anomalous Light Phenomena	580-581
George EGELY	Ball Lightning: The Last Enigma of the Atmosphere?	581
Erling STRAND	Project Hessdalen-A Field Investigation of an Unknown Atmospheric Light Phenomenon	581-582
Susan J. HOWAT, Deborah L. DELANOY, Robert L. MORRIS	Remote Staring Detection and Personality Correlates	582
Deborah L. DELANOY, Sunita SAH	Cognitive and Physiological PSI Responses to Remote Positive and Neutral Emotional States	581-582
	Comparison of the SenderINo Sender Conditions Using an Automated Ganzfeld System	583-584
Ian STEVENSON	Six Modem Apparitional Experiences	584
Peter A. STURROCK	The Role of Heresies in Scientific Research	584-585

	`SSE News`
	Odier Research Foundation Publishes Bulletin	587
	14th Annual Meeting: Announcement and Call for Papers	588

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