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  Book Review: The Holographic Universe 

     I’ve chosen to review Michael Talbot’s The Holographic Universe because I am deeply interested in scientific models of the cosmos that attempt to provide an explanation for experiences typically deemed mystical or supernatural. Most of the traditional scientific literature with which I am familiar ignores, minimizes or disavows the existence of a diverse array of experiences: precognition, retrocognition, psychometry, psychokinesis, clairvoyance, lucid dreaming, etc. Talbot’s theory (which he also describes as a “paradigm”, “analogy” and “metaphor”, in acknowledgement of the fact that it is “still an idea in the making”[p.7]) offers us a compelling “story” about the source of these, and many other anomalous phenomena.

Feminism: The Ecological Practice of Science

Rosemary Malfi

I. Introduction: Ecology and the Feminist Critique of Science

Like many successful lesson plans, I choose to start this piece with definitions. Let us take a look at the etymology of the word ecology. The prefix eco- comes from the Greek word oikos, meaning “house” or “dwelling” and –ology refers to logia, which means “study of.” Therefore, the field of Ecology is literally “the study of the house or dwelling.” You might be asking yourself, “Isn’t ecology about plants and animals? What does a house have to do with it?” I answer this question with another, albeit less ancient, definition. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, ecology is “The science of the economy of animals and plants; that branch of biology which deals with the relations of living organisms to their surroundings, their habits and modes of life, etc.” In some rudimentary way, ecology is about plants and animals, but more accurately, ecology encompasses the study of all living organisms on this earth, small and large, and how they interact with each other and the environment.

When we speak of our physical selves, we are often referring to the image we have of our body, as it is represented in the mind. Many faculties are involved in creating this mental representation; some are sensations which we receive as input to the nervous system. These immediate experiences allows for the perception that there is a unity of the body, but this perception is grounded in assumptions and preexisting information about the body. Knowledge of the body is organized to fit a certain schema that permits one to view themselves as a complete embodied person. The mental image of our body schema is the body image. It comes to us through the senses, but is not a mere perception; there are mental pictures and representations involved in it, but it is not a mere representation.

Howard Belsey began preparing the projector for his daily lecture and putting his History of Art slides in order. This routine had become almost as tedious as the students that partook in his classes and he executed his preparation without enthusiasm. The time had come for the lecture to begin and the students began to fill the empty seats in front of him. Some faces he recognized and others he did not; he presumed they were only shopping the class. The last student to arrive rushed in, closed the door behind her and walked over to the nearest available seat. Her name was Alyssa and she was one of the students who had decided to shop the class and was using this single lecture as the deciding point to whether she would take Howard’s class. The lecture began and Howard projected his first image on to the screen: "Rembrandt's Dr. Nicolaes Tulp Demonstrating the Anatomy of the Arm” (1632). He had offered them a Rembrandt who was neither a rule breaker nor an original but rather a conformist; he had asked them to ask themselves what they meant by 'genius' and, in the perplexed silence, replaced the familiar rebel master of historical fame with Howard's own vision of a merely competent artisan who painted whatever his wealthy patrons requested.

Anxiety disorders can take on many forms and can have multiple causes often acting together to create the neurological disorder. Among the different types of anxiety disorder are panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder, social phobia, specific phobias, and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).(1) Life experiences, psychological traits, and genetic factors all play a role in developing anxiety.(2) Different forms of anxiety disorders receive different amounts of influence from each of these different factors. Panic disorder for example, is influenced more by genetic factors than other types.(2) Symptoms often include sudden attacks of terror accompanied by a pounding heart, sweatiness, weakness, faintness, or dizziness.(1) People who suffer from panic attacks are overcome by a strong sense fear that distorts their reality or distances them from it. They also have a fear of their inexplicable symptoms leading them to believe that they are very possibly about to die. This disorder blurs the lines of reality for many who suffer from it and serves as an example of how the human brain is capable of manifesting reality without being under control of the individual.

How Deadly is Sleep Deprivation?
Emilie Wlodaver

As I sit in front of the computer among this sea of studying women, I can’t help but wonder what kind of damage I am doing to myself and that these other women are doing to themselves from days of irregular sleeping interspersed with days of no sleeping.  It is notorious that college students are sleep deprived especially at this time of year when everyone is struggling to finish their work and cram for those final exams.  The conversations in the computer lab are all the same: “Oh yeah, I only have a 300 page paper on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a final exam in the meaning of life left.”  So what does sleep deprivation do to the brain and body?  I know that I have a headache of the most extreme dimension and it feels like someone has been sitting on my back and I can feel my fingers starting to tingle and my stomach is grumbling but I’m in such a trance of concentration that I can’t bring myself to go get something to eat.  Someone help me!  I guess I only have three more days left until I can sleep a full eight hours, so it’s all good.  I just have to be a trooper for these last few days.

      When searching for a book to read and review, the title of the book by Roger Shattuck, The Forbidden Experiment stuck out and caught my attention.  It had a more interesting title than others I had looked at, so I looked it up to see what it was about; what could the forbidden experiment be?  When I discovered it was about one of the many cases of a child who had lived in the wild for a good part of his life until discovered by civilization, my decision was made: I wanted to read this book.  It is human nature to be interested in somewhat bizarre cases concerning their fellow man, and I was interested in finding out the story of the Wild Boy of Aveyron and those involved in his life.  The Forbidden Experiment is an interesting examination of the course of the Wild Boy’s life with a focus on the most important people in his life.  While this was not a subject discussed directly in class, general ideas can be applied to the story of the Wild Boy’s life.

      The word nymphomania is often used in an almost slang sense in modern language, especially in the abbreviated form of “nympho”.  While it is often used loosely, it is important to remember that there is a clinical basis for the word, although the disorder is more commonly called hypersexuality, perhaps to move away from the connotations that are now attached to the word nymphomaniac.  Upon researching hypersexuality, many articles came up that related various drug therapies in relation to hypersexuality, the most common one was any drug therapy related to Parkinson’s disease.  There were also articles about hypersexuality and drug therapy for strokes and epilepsy.  I found this to be quite interesting due to the fact that one does not often associate hypersexuality with older people, who are much more likely to have developed Parkinson’s disease or have had a stroke.  To discover how the two were related, research had to be done to discover what the effects of these diseases and their drug therapies had on the brain.

When it comes to the topic of reality and the nervous system, most of us in the class will readily agree that the brain summarizes what we perceive and consequently acknowledge it as ‘reality.’ To be able to feel everything our sensors communicate to our nervous system would be overwhelming. Can you imagine being constantly aware of each and every piece of clothing you are wearing, the acrylic on your fingernails, the perfume you wore over three hours ago, the jewelry you have on, and the empty spot for each piercing you have? Intense right?! That is why the brain provides us with only what we need to properly function and survive.

The I-function, as explained in Neurobiology 220, at Bryn Mawr College is one’s ability to make internal executive decisions that can and do affect one’s overall behavior and life. In order for one to make decisions that are socially-sound and ethically-viable, one needs the I-function, better known as the ego[1]. The I-function is highly important in exhibiting caution, thoughtfulness, and logical pattern in any one individual. However, it does not exist within a sphere that is not influenced by other factors.