Forensic approach to an archaeological casework of “vampire” skeletal remains in Venice: odontological and anthropological prospectus.

“During the years 2006–2007, the Archeological Superintendent of Veneto (Italy) promoted a research project on mass graves located on Nuovo Lazzaretto in Venice, where the corpses of plague deaths were buried during the 16th and 17th centuries. The burials were of different stages and are believed to be the remains of plague victims from the numerous outbreaks of pestilence, which occurred between the 15th and 17th centuries. Among the fragmented and commingled human bones, an unusual burial was found. The body was laid supine, with the top half of the thorax intact, arms parallel to the rachis axis, the articulations were anatomically unaltered. Both the skull morphology and the dimensions of the caput omeris suggest the body was a woman. A brick of moderate size was found inside the oral cavity, keeping the mandible wide open. (more…)

Why revelations have occurred on mountains? Linking mystical experiences and cognitive neuroscience.

“The fundamental revelations to the founders of the three monotheistic religions, among many other revelation experiences, had occurred on a mountain. These three revelation experiences share many phenomenological components like feeling and hearing a presence, seeing a figure, seeing lights, and feeling of fear. In addition, similar experiences have been reported by non-mystic contemporary mountaineers. The similarities between these revelations on mountains and their appearance in contemporary mountaineers suggest that exposure to altitude might affect functional and neural mechanisms, thus facilitating the experience of a revelation. (more…)

Effect of housing rats within a pyramid on stress parameters.

“The Giza pyramids of Egypt have been the subject of much research. Pyramid models with the same base to height ratio as of the Great Pyramid of Giza, when aligned on a true north-south axis, are believed to generate, transform and transmit energy. Research done with such pyramid models has shown that they induced greater relaxation in human subjects, promoted better wound healing in rats and afforded protection against stress-induced neurodegnerative changes in mice. The present study was done to assess the effects of housing Wistar rats within the pyramid on the status of oxidative damage and antioxidant defense in their erythrocytes and cortisol levels in their plasma. (more…)

Becoming a vampire without being bitten: the narrative collective-assimilation hypothesis.

“We propose the narrative collective-assimilation hypothesis—that experiencing a narrative leads one to psychologically become a part of the collective described within the narrative. In a test of this hypothesis, participants read passages from either a book about wizards (from the Harry Potter series) or a book about vampires (from the Twilight series). Both implicit and explicit measures revealed that participants who read about wizards psychologically became wizards, whereas those who read about vampires psychologically became vampires. (more…)

Doing better by getting worse: posthypnotic amnesia improves random number generation.

“Although forgetting is often regarded as a deficit that we need to control to optimize cognitive functioning, it can have beneficial effects in a number of contexts. We examined whether disrupting memory for previous numerical responses would attenuate repetition avoidance (the tendency to avoid repeating the same number) during random number generation and thereby improve the randomness of responses. (more…)

Disturbance of sleep by sonic booms.

“After a pilot study (2 subjects, 19 nights) we tested two different subjects during 57 nights, administering sonic booms (1 mb, 300 ms; sound level of sonic boom in the bedroom 80-85 dB (A) and recording EEG and peripheral blood volume. After 7 nights without noise, 30 nights with either 2 or 4 sonic booms (alternately) were applied. (more…)

Ignite talk at Google SciFoo 2011.

NCBI ROFL: The case of the haunted scrotum. “On CT scanning of the abdomen and pelvis, the right testis was not identified but the left side of the scrotum seemed to be occupied by a screaming ghost-like apparition (Figure 1).”

NCBI ROFL: Does garlic protect against vampires? An experimental study. “Garlic has been regarded as an effective prophylactic against vampires. We wanted to explore this alleged effect experimentally. Owing to the lack of vampires, we used leeches instead.”

NCBI ROFL: Exorcism-resistant ghost possession treated with clopenthixol. ”An Indian man now in Britain explained his criminal behaviour as episodic ghost possession. Traditional exorcisms failed to help. ”
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The illusion of owning a third arm.

“Could it be possible that, in the not-so-distant future, we will be able to reshape the human body so as to have extra limbs? A third arm helping us out with the weekly shopping in the local grocery store, or an extra artificial limb assisting a paralysed person? Here we report a perceptual illusion in which a rubber right hand, placed beside the real hand in full view of the participant, is perceived as a supernumerary limb belonging to the participant’s own body. (more…)

Balloon-assisted flight of radio-controlled insect biobots.

“We report on radio-controlled insect biobots by directing the flight of Manduca sexta through neuromuscular activation. Early metamorphosis insertion technology was used to implant metal wire probes into the insect brain and thorax tissue. Inserted probes were adopted by the developing tissue as a result of the metamorphic growth. (more…)