In 2007 scientists declared that they are creating life.

Not by my definition. What is the spark of life which suddenly allows inanimate chemicials to jump to life? This “spark” has not been discovered. What scientists have managed to perform is to create artificial bits of DNA and insert it into bacteria  creating a new life form from modification of an existing bacteria. But no one has taken completely non-living compounents and created life.

I contend that life has the ability to communicate with other life forms and gather information from the universe. How is this possible. Earlier, I reported on microbes’ ability to communicate with each other through glass and I also reported that a single molecule could act as a radio reciever and transmitter. Thus, what are the essential ingredients which allow these communications? Scientists have not unraveled the answers.

What are your thoughts? Does any of this bear on healing the rift between science and spirituality?

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Having discovered water on the red planet, over the next several years NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) will launch several probes to discover the source of the gas and perhaps even find added evidence of life on Mars.

What will it mean to you if life is found on Mars or elsewhere in space?

What are your thoughts on whether this will help or hinder healing the rift between science and spirituality?

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Many of you have heard me state that psychiatry is too focused on drugs. The most recent family of drugs are the so-called selective serotonin uptake inhibitors or SSRI antidepressants. But what about psychologists and their use of the mind or “cognitive” therapy?

According to Nobelist Eric Kandel, a neuroscientist at Columbia University, as reported by Science “cognitive behavioral therapy is as good if not better than selective serotonin uptake inhibitors in moderate depression.” Since many mental disorders such as OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and depression have physical abnormalities in the brain, mind over matter exists! Mind can and does rewire the brain. It also changes our bodies and can lead to health or illness.

Did you see 2012 the movie

Read my blog on John and the show.

Please send your comments to me regarding the movie and/or the radio show.

We are far from having magic bullets to cure cancer, but yet we are ignoring medicines which prevent two of the most devastating cancers–breast cancer and prostate cancer.

Think I am talking about taking your vitamins, getting exercise, and eating a healthy diet? No. I am talking about medicines backed with clinical trial data. Earlier, I wrote about losing the war on cancer and that it is all about money, but that was focused on cures.

How can this be? See “Medicines to Deter Some Cancers Are Not Taken” in the New York Times November 13, 2009. Clinical trials on the generic drug finasteride show the efficacy of this $2 per day regime and for breast cancer two drugs (tamoxifen and raloxitene) can cut the risk in half.

Thus, we do not seem to believe that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

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The New York Times’ (Science Section November 3, 2009 title: Creationism without a Young Earth emerges in the Islamic World) discusses a version of creationism rarely discussed–That not all creationism theories are the same!

What do you think of when you hear the word “creationism”? I would wager that most of you would imaging a fundamentalist Christian who believes that our world was created by God 6,000 years ago. This version of creationism is called “young Earth creationism.” So is there another type of creationism? Yes!

Old Earth creationism doesn’t take the bible or religious teachings literal. Many religions believe in some form of creationism yet have no difficulty with evolution theory.  As the New York Times article points out even many Muslims do not take the Koran literally but understand the metaphoric tale of creation. Furthermore, depending on which country the Muslim resides in, she or he may also accept evolution.

Before you brand me as siding with Islam, let me state what I said in my book, Healing the Rift–Science and spirituality say the same thing using different metaphors. Here again is an example.

How many of you believe that there was some force (maybe a god) which created the universe which was predestined to have life? And do you believe that once life appeared on Earth evolution is logical? Many of you believe in both of these. Interesting, so do many religions and most people outside of North America and Western Europe.

Bottom line: when we hear the word “creationism” let’s not automatically jump to the conclusion that it must mean the young Earth version. For many, it still is logical to subscribe to the old Earth version accepted by the vast majority of the people of our planet.

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Please join me on Monday November 2nd at 9 am PT (and anytime for the archived show after November 4 available for listening 24/7) when my guest Len Saputo, MD will discuss his book: A Return to Healing–Radical Health Care Reform and the Future of Medicine.

Dr. Saputo will discuss our flawed health care system and what he is doing to change it and how you can too.

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Tune in to a great radio show with my guest Dr. Pardis Mahdavi who is an Assistant Professor of anthropology at Pomona College.

She will describe the happenings in Iran and Iran’s sexual revolution when we discuss her new book: Passionate Uprisings: Iran’s Sexual revolution.

Like the tip of a gigantic iceberg, Ms. Mahdavi’s book on Iran’s sexual revolution vividly describes the history, frustration, hopes, and fears of Iran’s youth which embrace sex as a means of rebellion. Find out the complexities which created and continues to influence Iran’s sexual revolution.

I have followed the recent elections in Iran with fascination and I wonder if an implosion or an explosion is building. If it happens it will, no doubt, have repercussion which will reverberate throughout the 21st century.

I recommend this fascinating read even if you are not interested in Iran or sex! This country on the opposite side of the Earth from the US will continue to play an important part in the world community and it behooves all Americans and westerners to understand Iran’s culture, mores, and politics–why not start at the top and work down?

Years ago I was involved in agricultural biotechnology and my research group added various genes from a microbe (as describe in my book, Healing the Rift) to fight corn rootworm and many other pests and aiding other crops. Scientist now have discovered that originally corn made a chemical when its roots were attacked which attracted microscopic worms to attack the worm eating the corn. However, with the focus on high yields and not knowing the gene which made this chemical corn has lost this ability–until now.

Oregano has such a gene and it has been engineered into corn plants to resist corn rootworm.

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False gospels, misplaced beliefs, and scientific dogma have led to scientists ignoring where there are truths. A recent Scientific American devoted the entire issue to address the big questions such as the origin of the universe and how life may have begun on Earth. The authors are world-class scientists who practice and preach their belief system that our world can be fully explained by “things.”

Of course this materialistic belief ignores the possibility that this assumption is what is preventing them from the truth. Professor Richard Henry in the journal Nature has criticized scientists’ materialistic stance: “The only reality is mind and observations, but observations are not things. To see the universe as it really is, we must abandon our tendency to conceptualize observations as things. The universe is immaterial–mental and spiritual.”

Let me be clear. I am a scientist and have a high regard for the contributions of the hundred of thousands of scientists who worship the false gospel of materialism. I subscribe to Scientific American and enjoy its articles: however, I realize that for the big questions scientists’ materialistic perspective is shrouding the truth.

But this materialistic focus has not succeeded in explaining our world. Quantum theory and experiments are screaming an alternate perspective that when given the consideration of Richard Henry solves the mysteries.

Dark energy, dark matter, parallel universes, hidden dimensions of space, origin of the universe, and origin of life all are products of the materialistic perspective. I find this sad.

I ask of you readers and fellow scientists to consider the alternative–this is what scientists are taught to practice, to avoid false beliefs. Dogma is a powerful intoxicant.

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