Exploring Mysticism and Parapsychology. This blog is also an attempt to promote awareness of a Modern Universal Paradigm known as Multi-Dimensional Science. It offers a "Scientific" testable Hypothesis for a more "objective" understanding of claimed Psychic and Spiritual Phenomena. A link to this subject should be found on this page or alternatively it can be found easily via a word search.Please note that the Internet articles here may not always reflect the views of the Blogger.
A Physicist Just Explained Why the Large Hadron Collider Disproves the Existence of Ghosts
He's got a point.
BEC CREW Ref Science Alert
23 FEB 2017
Recent polls have found that 42 percent of Americans and 52 percent of people in the UK believe in ghosts - a huge percentage when you consider that no one has ever come up with irrefutable proof that they even exist.
But we might have had proof that they don't exist all along, because as British theoretical physicist Brian Cox recently pointed out, there's no room in the Standard Model of Physics for a substance or medium that can carry on our information after death, and yet go undetected in the Large Hadron Collider.
"If we want some sort of pattern that carries information about our living cells to persist, then we must specify precisely what medium carries that pattern, and how it interacts with the matter particles out of which our bodies are made," Cox, from the University of Manchester, explained in a recent episode of BBC's The Infinite Monkey Cage.
"We must, in other words, invent an extension to the Standard Model of Particle Physics that has escaped detection at the Large Hadron Collider. That's almost inconceivable at the energy scales typical of the particle interactions in our bodies."
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who was also on the show, replied, "If I understand what you just declared, you just asserted that CERN, the European Centre for Nuclear Research, disproved the existence of ghosts."
"Yes," said Cox.
It's become glaringly obvious that the Standard Model of Physics is an incomplete theory, with several gaping holes that physicists have been trying to patch up for decades, but Cox says the existence of ghosts doesn't fall within the 'known unknowns' of the Standard Model.
Instead, he says it directly contradicts the one of the most rigorously tested and fundamental laws of the Universe we have - the second law of thermodynamics.
The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of an isolated system always increases over time.
Entropy is a measure of the randomness or disorder within a closed or isolated system, and the second law of thermodynamics states that as usable energy is lost, chaos increases - and without extra energy being put into a system, that progression towards disorder can never be reversed.
In other words, energy is always lost to heat in any system - whether it's a washing machine or the Universe - and you can never get back all the energy you put in.
The principle can be used to explain why the arrow of time only ever marches forwards; why there's a past, future, and present; and why you can't un-scramble an egg, because it would lower the Universe's entropy.
So how does that apply to ghosts?
Because we can't touch and interact with them, ghosts can't be made of matter, but instead of energy.
And if energy is necessarily lost within every system - particularly if they're doing anything that requires using more of it, such as moving, emitting light, or making spooky sounds - it would be impossible for them to maintain their existence for any significant period of time.
The second nail in the coffin comes from the Large Hadron Collider, because while there are things about the Universe we still can't find using this giant particle accelerator, what we can see very well is the way energy drives our cells' information.
If we assume that the energy that sustains ghosts isn't an entirely new substance or medium, but carries on from when we were living, then this mysterious force controlling the particles that make up our cells would have been detected in the Large Hadron Collider by now.
"I would say if there's some kind of substance that's driving our bodies, making my arms move and legs move, then it must interact with the particles out of which our bodies are made," says Cox.
"And seeing as we've made high precision measurements of the ways that particles interact, then my assertion is that there can be no such thing as an energy source that's driving our bodies."
DeGrasse Tyson adds to this by saying that while he, like many people, has experienced "haunting experiences" in the past, he's yet to really find a phenomenon that's defied his complete knowledge of physics, maths, and astrophysics.
But that doesn't mean he doesn't get the very human urge to want to believe in the lingering dead.
"In that moment, there's a mystery, and it's kinda fun," he says.
"And that allows me to understand, and even embrace, the urge that people have to want there to be this deep mystery, such as ghosts of ancestors. I have a soft spot for what that psychological state is, because I've felt that intermittently, except I kept exploring and getting the answer."
You can download and listen to the whole segment at the BBC's website. H/T: Real Clear Science
Lynne Kelly has discovered that a powerful memory technique used by the ancients can unlock the secrets of the Neolithic stone circles of Britain and Europe, the ancient Pueblo buildings in New Mexico and other prehistoric stone monuments across the world. We can still use the memory code today to train our own memories.
In the past, the elders had encyclopaedic memories. They could name all the animals and plants across the landscape, and the stars in the sky too. Yet most of us struggle to memorise more than a short poem.
Using traditional Aboriginal Australian songlines as the key, Lynne Kelly has identified the powerful memory technique used by indigenous people around the world. She has discovered that this ancient memory technique is the secret behind the great stone monuments like Stonehenge, which have for so long puzzled archaeologists.
The stone circles across Britain and northern Europe, the elaborate stone houses of New Mexico, the huge animal shapes at Nasca in Peru, and the statues of Easter Island all serve as the most effective memory system ever invented by humans. They allowed people in non-literate cultures to memorise the vast amounts of practical information they needed to survive.
In her fascinating book The Memory Code, Lynne Kelly shows us how we can use this ancient technique to train our memories today.
The pineal gland is the only midline brain structure that is unpaired (azygous). It takes its name from its pine-cone shape.[8] The gland is reddish-gray and about the size of a grain of rice (5–8 mm) in humans. The pineal gland, also called the pineal body, is part of the epithalamus, and lies between the laterally positioned thalamic bodies and behind the habenular commissure. It is located in the quadrigeminal cistern near to the corpora quadrigemina.[9] It is also located behind the third ventricle and is bathed in cerebrospinal fluid supplied through a small pineal recess of the third ventricle which projects into the stalk of the gland.[10]
Unlike most of the mammalian brain, the pineal gland is not isolated from the body by the blood–brain barrier system;[11] it has profuse blood flow, second only to the kidney,[12] supplied from the choroidal branches of the posterior cerebral artery.
Micrograph of a normal pineal gland – very high magnification.
Micrograph of a normal pineal gland – intermediate magnification.
The pineal body consists in humans of a lobular parenchyma of pinealocytes surrounded by connective tissue spaces. The gland's surface is covered by a pial capsule.
The pineal gland consists mainly of pinealocytes, but four other cell types have been identified. As it is quite cellular (in relation to the cortex and white matter), it may be mistaken for a neoplasm.[14]
The pinealocytes consist of a cell body with 4–6 processes emerging. They produce and secrete melatonin. The pinealocytes can be stained by special silver impregnation methods. Their cytoplasm is lightly basophilic. With special stains, pinealocytes exhibit lengthy, branched cytoplasmic processes that extend to the connective septa and its blood vessels.
Interstitial cells are located between the pinealocytes. They have elongated nuclei and a cytoplasm that is stained darker than that of the pinealocytes.
Many capillaries are present in the gland, and perivascular phagocytes are located close to these blood vessels. The perivascular phagocytes are antigen presenting cells.
In some species, neuronal-like peptidergic cells are present. These cells might have a paracrine regulatory function.
In some parts of the brain and in particular the pineal gland, there are calcium structures, the number of which increases with age, called corpora arenacea (or "acervuli," or "brain sand"). Chemical analysis shows that they are composed of calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, magnesium phosphate, and ammonium phosphate.[15] In 2002, deposits of the calcite form of calcium carbonate were described.[16] Calcium and phosphorus[17] deposits in the pineal gland have been linked with aging.
The human pineal gland grows in size until about 1–2 years of age, remaining stable thereafter,[18][19] although its weight increases gradually from puberty onwards.[20][21] The abundant melatonin levels in children are believed to inhibit sexual development, and pineal tumors have been linked with precocious puberty. When puberty arrives, melatonin production is reduced.[citation needed]
The primary function of the pineal gland is to produce melatonin. Melatonin has various functions in the central nervous system, the most important of which is to help modulate sleep patterns. Melatonin production is stimulated by darkness and inhibited by light.[22][23]Light sensitive nerve cells in the retina detect light and send this signal to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), synchronizing the SCN to the day-night cycle. Nerve fibers then relay the daylight information from the SCN to the paraventricular nuclei (PVN), then to the spinal cord and via the sympathetic system to superior cervical ganglia (SCG), and from there into the pineal gland.
The compound pinoline is also claimed to be produced in the pineal gland; it is one of the beta-carbolines.[24] This claim is subject to some controversy.
Studies on rodents suggest that the pineal gland influences the pituitary gland's secretion of the sex hormones, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and luteinizing hormone (LH). In a study by Motta, Fraschini, and Martini (1967), a pinealectomy was performed on rodents. No change in pituitary weight was observed, however there was an increase in the concentration of FSH and LH within the gland. In this same study, administration of melatonin did not return the concentrations of FSH to normal levels, suggesting that the pineal gland influences the pituitary glands secretion of FSH and LH through some other transmitting molecule.[25]
Calcification of the pineal gland is typical (1% of study participants) in young adults, and has been observed in children as young as two years of age.[29] The calcified gland is often seen in skullX-Rays.[29] Calcification rates vary widely by country and correlate with an increase in age, with calcification occurring in an estimated 40% of Americans by their 17th year.[29] Calcification of the pineal gland is largely associated with corpora arenacea also known as "brain sand".
It seems that the internal secretions of the pineal gland inhibit the development of the reproductive glands, because, in cases where it is severely damaged in children, the result is accelerated development of the sexual organs and the skeleton.[30]
Some studies show that the degree of pineal gland calcification is significantly higher in patients with Alzheimer's disease vs. other types of dementia.[31]
Pineal gland calcification may also contribute to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease and may reflect an absence of crystallization inhibitors.[31] Calcium, phosphorus,[17] and fluoride deposits in the pineal gland have been correlated with aging, showing that, as the brain ages, more deposits collect.[32] By old age, the pineal gland contains about the same amount of fluoride as teeth.[32] Pineal fluoride and pineal calcium are correlated.[32]
Tumours of the pineal gland are called pinealomas. These tumours are rare and 50% to 70% are germinomas that arise from sequestered embryonic germ cells. Histologically they are similar to testicular seminomas and ovarian dysgerminomas.[33]
A pineal tumour can compress the superior colliculi and pretectal area of the dorsal midbrain, producing Parinaud's syndrome. Pineal tumours also can cause compression of the cerebral aqueduct, resulting in a noncommunicating hydrocephalus. Other manifestations are the consequence of their pressure effects and consist of visual disturbances, headache, mental deterioration, and sometimes dementia-like behaviour.[34]
These neoplasms are divided into three categories, pineoblastomas, pineocytomas, and mixed tumours, based on their level of differentiation, which, in turn, correlates with their neoplastic aggressiveness.[35] The clinical course of patients with pineocytomas is prolonged, averaging up to several years.[36] The position of these tumours makes them very difficult or impossible to remove surgically.
Pinealocytes in many non-mammalian vertebrates have a strong resemblance to the photoreceptor cells of the eye. Some evolutionary biologists believe that the vertebrate pineal cells possess a common evolutionary ancestor with retinal cells.[37]
Pineal cytostructure seems to have evolutionary similarities to the retinal cells of chordates.[37] Modern birds and reptiles have been found to express the phototransducingpigmentmelanopsin in the pineal gland. Avian pineal glands are believed to act like the suprachiasmatic nucleus in mammals.[38]
In some vertebrates, exposure to light can set off a chain reaction of enzymatic events within the pineal gland that regulate circadian rhythms.[39] Some early vertebrate fossil skulls have a pineal foramen (opening). This correlates with the physiology of the modern "living fossils," the lampreys and the tuatara, and some other vertebrates that have a parietal eye, which, in some of them, is photosensitive. The parietal eye represents evolution's earlier approach to photoreception.[40] The structures of the pineal eye in the tuatara are analogous to the cornea, lens, and retina, though the latter resembles that of an octopus rather than a vertebrate retina. The asymmetrical whole consists of the "eye" to the left and the pineal sac to the right. "In animals that have lost the parietal eye, including mammals, the pineal sac is retained and condensed into the form of the pineal gland."[40]
Fossils seldom preserve soft anatomy. The brain of the Russian Melovatka bird, about 90 million years old, is an exception, and it shows a larger-than-expected parietal eye and pineal gland.[41]
In humans and other mammals, the light signals necessary to set circadian rhythms are sent from the eye through the retinohypothalamic system to the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) and the pineal gland.
The secretory activity of the pineal gland is only partially understood. Its location deep in the brain suggested to philosophers throughout history that it possesses particular importance. This combination led to its being regarded as a "mystery" gland with mystical, metaphysical, and occult theories surrounding its perceived functions.
The pineal gland was originally believed to be a "vestigial remnant" of a larger organ. In 1917, it was known that extract of cow pineals lightened frog skin. Dermatology professor Aaron B. Lerner and colleagues at Yale University, hoping that a substance from the pineal might be useful in treating skin diseases, isolated and named the hormone melatonin in 1958.[47] The substance did not prove to be helpful as intended, but its discovery helped solve several mysteries such as why removing the rat's pineal accelerated ovary growth, why keeping rats in constant light decreased the weight of their pineals, and why pinealectomy and constant light affect ovary growth to an equal extent; this knowledge gave a boost to the then new field of chronobiology.[48]
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