Editorial: Psychonaut of the week – Echonetdaily

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Hans Lovejoy, editor

Psychedelics are illegal not because a loving government is concerned that you may jump out of a third storey window. Psychedelics are illegal because they dissolve opinion structures and culturally laid down models of behaviour and information processing. They open you up to the possibility that everything you know is wrong.

This is just one quote from psychonaut Terence McKenna (19462000).

His views are not popular with those who administrate authority, which is precisely why his message is so important and valuable in the modern era of mindless tyranny.

Feeling disempowered? McKenna said this is because youre giving your time and power away to icons. Vacuous celebrities and politicians are indeed exhausting.

The reason we feel alienated is because the society is infantile, trivial, and stupid. So the cost of sanity in this society is a certain level of alienation.

Its 2020 people! Time to reclaim your mind and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half-baked moron.

Heres to a decade where well-honed corporate marketing in the fields of distraction, data mining, manipulation and mass hypnosis start to falter and dissolve.

And heres to a new decade where all those reporting for mainstream media finally get a spine and pressure politicians and bureaucrats on their integrity and record, or lack of it.

Its truly the most effective mechanism for change, apart from inspiring younger generations to learn for themselves and think critically.

Its 2020 time to break free from the shackles of the herd mentality and question the fuck out of authority!

You are a divine being, McKenna said. You matter, you count. You come from realms of unimaginable power and light, and you will return to those realms.

You are an explorer, McKenna also said. And you represent our species, and the greatest good you can do is to bring back a new idea, because our world is endangered by the absence of good ideas. Our world is in crisis because of the absence of consciousness.

All the best for 2020, everyone. Now is the time to hurl yourself into the abyss and discover its a feather bed.

Some of The Echos editorial team: journalists Paul Bibby and AslanShand, editor Hans Lovejoy, photographer Jeff Dawson and Mandy Nolan

The Echo has never underestimated the intelligence and passion of its readers. In a world of corporate banality and predictability, The Echo has worked hard for more than 30 years to help keep Byron and the north coast unique with quality local journalism and creative ideas. We think this area needs more voices, reasoned analysis and ideas than just those provided by News Corp, lifestyle mags, Facebook groups and corporate newsletters.

The Echo is one hundred per cent locally owned and one hundred per cent independent. As you have probably gathered from what is happening in the media industry, it is not cheap to produce a weekly newspaper and a daily online news service of any quality.

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Editorial: Psychonaut of the week - Echonetdaily

Gene editing could revolutionize the food industry, but it’ll have to fight the PR war GMO foods lost – CBC.ca

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In his greenhouse at the Cold SpringHarbor Laboratory in Long Island, N.Y., plant geneticist Zach Lippman is growing cherry tomatoes.

But they don't look like the ones that most people grow in their gardens and greenhouses.

Lippman's tomatoes have shorter stemsand the fruit is more tightly clustered, looking more like grapes.

"With gene editing, we now have the ability to fine-tune at will," he said. "So instead of having black or white, small fruit [or] big fruit, you can have everything in between."

Lippman used CRISPR arevolutionarygene-editing tool that can quickly and precisely edit DNA to tweak three of the plant's genes, and make them suitable for large-scale urban agriculture for the first time.

With CRISPR, researchers can precisely target and cut any kind of genetic material. Don't want your mushrooms to turn brown after a few days? Remove the gene that causes thatand problem solved.

There's a lot of excitement about the introduction of gene-edited products into the Canadian food system over the next few years, but a lot of trepidation as well.

The food industry's last foray into genetic engineering genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the 1990s was a financial success. But the practice is an ongoing public relations nightmare, as many Canadians remain wary of products critics have labelled "Frankenfoods."

Currently, the only gene-edited product commercially available is a soybean oil being used by a restaurant chain in the American Midwest for cooking and salad dressings. It has a longer shelf life than other cooking oils and produces less saturated fat and no trans fat.

Ian Affleck, vice-president of plant biotechnology at CropLife Canada, a trade association that represents Canadian manufacturers of pesticides and plant-breeding products, estimates the soybean oil might be in Canada in a year or two, followed by some altered fruits and vegetables.

Even then, he said, supplies will likely be limited while farmers and food companies determine if consumers will embrace genetically edited food.

All the major health organizations in the world, including Health Canada, have concluded that eating GMO foods does not pose eithershort or long-term health risks.

According to the World Health Organization, GMO goods currently approved for the market "have passed safety assessments and are not likely to present risks for human health."

But Canadians remain stubbornly unconvinced even though about 90 per cent of the corn, soybeansand canola grown in Canada is genetically modified, as is almost all of the processed food we consume.

A 2018 pollby market research company Statista found only 37 per cent of people surveyed strongly or somewhat strongly agreed that GMOs were safe to eat, while 34 per cent strongly or somewhat strongly disagreed.

Industry representatives now say they spent too much time marketing their GMOproducts to farmersand not enough time communicating the benefitsto consumers.

"We spoke to two per cent of the population, who are those who farm," said Affleck. "And those who opposed the technology spoke to the other 98 per cent of the population."

"We thought it was just another transition in plant breeding," recalled Stuart Smyth, who holds the University of Saskatchewan's industry-funded research chair in agri-food innovation. "Nobody expected the environmental groups to develop into a political opposition."

With gene-edited foods, Smyth believes the industry needs to focus on public education to counteract what he calls the "propaganda" that will be coming from the other side.

Gene-edited foods will differ from GMOs in one important respect.

When foods are genetically modified, foreign genes are often added to an existing genome. If you want a vegetable to grow better in cold weather, you could add a gene from a fish that lives in icy water.That's what earned GMO products the "Frankenfoods" moniker.

With gene-editing tools like CRISPR, genes can be cut out, or "turned off," but nothing new is added to the genome.

Lucy Sharratt, co-ordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, isn't convinced there's a significant difference.

"The new techniques of gene editing are clearly techniques of genetic engineering," she said. "They are all invasive methods of changing a genome directly at the molecular level.

"While we can produce organisms with new traits, that doesn't mean we know exactly all of what we've done to that organism. There can be many unintended effects," Sharratt further argued.

Unlike GMOs, which require extensive regulatory approval before going to market, gene-edited foods will likely appear without undergoing a risk assessment by Canadian regulators.

Health Canada doesn't require safety testing for new products if it determines those products aren't introducing "novel traits" into the food system. Since it considers gene editing to be an extension of traditional plant breeding, no stamp of approval will be necessary.

That concerns Jennifer Kuzma, co-director of the Genetic Engineering and Society Center at North Carolina State University, whothinks gene-edited products should be tracked and monitored "for those low-level health effects that some products might be contributing to."

Sharratt is also skeptical that gene editing will produce the benefits its supporters claim, pointing to "a biotech industry that has oversold technology and made all kinds of broad promises for the use of genetic engineering that didn't come to pass." Things like reduced pesticide use and greater drought resistance, for example.

Kuzma agrees that GMO researchers have sometimes been guilty of "perhaps overstating the promise of the technology and understating potential risk."But she believes those involved in developing gene-editing techniques want to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

"They have a really sincere desire to be more open and transparent in the ways that they communicate and in the sharing of information," she said. "They do realize that the first generation of genetic engineering did not go so well from a public confidence perspective."

The GMO food industry has fiercely opposed one of the most obvious methods to boost public confidence: mandatory labelling, even as a 2018 survey from Dalhousie University showed an overwhelming majority of Canadians support it.

Sixty-four countries require mandatory labelling for GMO products. Canada is not one of them.

There are no plans to require mandatory labelling of gene-edited foods, either.

Jonathan Latham, executive director of the Bioscience Resource Project, a New York-based non-profit organization that researches genetic engineering, thinks that's a mistake.

"If you want people to make informed decisions and you want them to make that in a democratic fashion, then the more information you give them, the better," he said. "And so to deny people information about the content of their food is to violate a very basic democratic right."

Lathamalso believes that not labelling genetically engineered productsincreases consumer skepticism.

"[Consumers] don't really understand why, if a company wants to produce a product and advertise it and tell everybody how good it is, why they shouldn't also want to label it," he said.

Sharratt would like to see Canada adopt the approach taken by the European Court of Justice, which ruled in 2018 that gene-edited foods must undergo the same testing as GMOs before being allowed on grocery store shelves.

Lippman doesn't believe that will happen. In fact, he thinks the potential of gene-edited foods is so great that the public will demand even greater access to suchproducts.

"People will start to be educated and see that there's nothing harmful about it. It's completely fine. And then the only issue sticking out there will be whether we're over-promising.That'll be it."

Click 'listen' above to hear Ira Basen's documentary, The Splice of Life.

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Gene editing could revolutionize the food industry, but it'll have to fight the PR war GMO foods lost - CBC.ca

The Top Biotech Trends We’ll Be Watching in 2020 – Singularity Hub

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Last year left us with this piece of bombshell news: He Jiankui, the mastermind behind the CRISPR babies scandal, has been sentenced to three years in prison for violating Chinese laws on scientific research and medical management. Two of his colleagues also face prison for genetically engineering human embryos that eventually became the worlds first CRISPRd babies.

The story isnt over: at least one other scientist is eagerly following Hes footsteps in creating gene-edited humans, although he stresses that he wont implant any engineered embryos until receiving regulatory approval.

Biotech stories are rarely this dramatic. But as gene editing tools and assisted reproductive technologies increase in safety and precision, were bound to see ever more mind-bending headlines. Add in a dose of deep learning for drug discovery and synthetic biology, and its fair to say were getting closer to reshaping biology from the ground upboth ourselves and other living creatures around us.

Here are two stories in biotech were keeping our eyes on. Although successes likely wont come to fruition this year (sorry), these futuristic projects may be closer to reality than you think.

The idea of human-animal chimeras immediately triggers ethical aversion, but the dream of engineering replacement human organs in other animals is gaining momentum.

There are two main ways to do this. The slightly less ethically-fraught idea is to grow a fleet of pigs with heavily CRISPRd organs to make them more human-like. It sounds crazy, but scientists have already successfully transplanted pig hearts into baboonsa stand-in for people with heart failurewith some recipients living up to 180 days before they were euthanized. Despite having foreign hearts, the baboons were healthy and acted like their normal buoyant selves post-op.

But for cross-species transplantation, or xenotransplants to work in humans, we need to deal with PERVsa group of nasty pig genes scattered across the porcine genome, remnants of ancient viral infections that can tag along and potentially infect unsuspecting human recipients.

Theres plenty of progress here too: back in 2017 scientists at eGenesis, a startup spun off from Dr. George Churchs lab, used CRISPR to make PERV-free pig cells that eventually became PERV-free piglets after cloning. Then last month, eGenesis reported the birth of Pig3.0, the worlds most CRISPRd animal to further increase organ compatibility. These PERV-free genetic wonders had three pig genes that stimulate immunorejection removed, and nine brand new human genes to make themin theorymore compatible with human physiology. When raised to adulthood, pig3.0 could reproduce and pass on their genetic edits.

Although only a first clinical propotype that needs further validation and refinement, eGenesis is hopeful. According to one (perhaps overzealous) estimate, the first pig-to-human xenotranplant clinical trial could come in just two years.

The more ethically-challenged idea is to grow human organs directly inside other animalsin other words, engineer human-animal hybrid embryos and bring them to term. This approach marries two ethically uncomfortable technologies, germline editing and hybrids, into one solution that has many wondering if these engineered animals may somehow receive a dose of humanness by accident during development. What if, for example, human donor cells end up migrating to the hybrid animals brain?

Nevertheless, this year scientists at the University of Tokyo are planning to grow human tissue in rodent and pig embryos and transplant those hybrids into surrogates for further development. For now, bringing the embryos to term is completely out of the question. But the line between humans and other animals will only be further blurred in 2020, and scientists have begun debating a new label, substantially human, for living organisms that are mainly human in characteristicsbut not completely so.

With over 800 gene therapy trials in the running and several in mature stages, well likely see a leap in new gene medicine approvals and growth in CAR-T spheres. For now, although transformative, the three approved gene therapies have had lackluster market results, spurring some to ponder whether companies may cut down on investment.

The research community, however, is going strong, with a curious bifurcating trend emerging. Let me explain.

Genetic medicine, a grab-bag term for treatments that directly change genes or their expression, is usually an off-the-shelf solution. Cell therapies, such as the blood cancer breakthrough CAR-T, are extremely personalized in that a patients own immune cells are genetically enhanced. But the true power of genetic medicine lies in its potential for hyper-personalization, especially when it comes to rare genetic disorders. In contrast, CAR-Ts broader success may eventually rely on its ability to become one-size-fits-all.

One example of hyper-tailored gene medicine success is the harrowing story of Mila, a six-year-old with Batten disease, a neurodegenerative genetic disorder that is always fatal and was previously untreatable. Thanks to remarkable efforts from multiple teams, however, in just over a year scientists developed a new experimental therapy tailored to her unique genetic mutation. Since receiving the drug, Milas condition improved significantly.

Milas case is a proof-of-concept of the power of N=1 genetic medicine. Its unclear whether other children also carry her particular mutationBatten has more than a dozen different variants, each stemming from different genetic miscodingor if anyone else would ever benefit from the treatment.

For now, monumental costs and other necessary resources make it impossible to pull off similar feats for a broader population. This is a shame, because inherited diseases rarely have a single genetic cause. But costs for genome mapping and DNA synthesis are rapidly declining. Were starting to better understand how mutations lead to varied disorders. And with multiple gene medicines, such as antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) finally making a comeback after 40 years, its not hard to envision a new era of hyper-personalized genetic treatments, especially for rare diseases.

In contrast, the path forward for CAR-T is to strip its personalization. Both FDA-approved CAR-T therapies require doctors to collect a patients own immune T cells, preserved and shipped to a manufacturer, genetically engineered to boost their cancer-hunting abilities, and infused back into patients. Each cycle is a race against the cancer clock, requiring about three to four weeks to manufacture. Shipping and labor costs further drive up the treatments price tag to hundreds of thousands of dollars per treatment.

These considerable problems have pushed scientists to actively research off-the-shelf CAR-T therapies, which can be made from healthy donor cells in giant batches and cryopreserved. The main stumbling block is immunorejection: engineered cells from donors can cause life-threatening immune problems, or be completely eliminated by the cancer patients immune system and lose efficacy.

The good news? Promising results are coming soon. One idea is to use T cells from umbilical cord blood, which are less likely to generate an immune response. Another is to engineer T cells from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC)mature cells returned back to a young, stem-like state. A patients skin cells, for example, could be made into iPSCs that constantly renew themselves, and only pushed to develop into cancer-fighting T cells when needed.

Yet another idea is to use gene editing to delete proteins on T cells that can trigger an immune responsethe first clinical trials with this approach are already underway. With at least nine different off-the-shelf CAR-T in early human trials, well likely see movement in industrialized CAR-T this year.

Theres lots of other stories in biotech we here at Singularity Hub are watching. For example, the use of AI in drug discovery, after years of hype, may finally meet its reckoning. That is, can the technology actually speed up the arduous process of finding new drug targets or the design of new drugs?

Another potentially game-changing story is that of Biogens Alzheimers drug candidate, which reported contradicting results last year but was still submitted to the FDA. If approved, itll be the first drug to slow cognitive decline in a decade. And of course, theres always the potential for another mind-breaking technological leap (or stumble?) thats hard to predict.

In other words: we cant wait to bring you new stories from biotechs cutting edge in 2020.

Image Credit: Image by Konstantin Kolosov from Pixabay

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The Top Biotech Trends We'll Be Watching in 2020 - Singularity Hub

This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through January 11) – Singularity Hub

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Can an AI Be an Inventor? Not Yet.Angela Chen | MIT Technology Review[Ryan Abbott] believes there will be more and more cases where AI should be considered a genuine inventor and that the law needs to be ready. At stake in this discussion is the future of innovation, he says. Not allowing AI be recognized as an inventor is not only morally problematic, he says, but will lead to unintended consequences.

The Superpowers of Super-Thin MaterialsAmos Zeeberg | The New York TimesAs researchers like [Toms Palacios] see it, two-dimensional materials will be the linchpin of the internet of everything. They will be painted on bridges and form the sensors to watch for strain and cracks. They will cover windows with transparent layers that become visible only when information is displayed. Increasingly, the future looks flat.

Panasonics VR Glasses Support HDR and Look Pretty SteampunkSam Byford | The VergeThe problem with VR headsets is that they still all look like VR headsetsglorified ski goggles that shut you off from the world. my main takeaway from the demo was that hey, turns out its possible to make VR glasses that are both better qualityand with a better form factor.

Why the Quantum Internet Should Be Built in SpaceEmerging Technology From the arXiv | MIT Technology Review[Sumeet Khatri and colleagues have] studied the various ways a quantum internet could be built and say the most cost-effective approach is to create a constellation of quantum-enabled satellites capable of continuously broadcasting entangled photons to the ground. In other words, the quantum internet should be space-based.

The Gene Drive Dilemma: We Can Alter Entire Species, but Should We?Jennifer Kahn | The New York Times MagazineA new genetic engineering technology could help eliminate malaria and stave off extinctionsif humanity decides to unleash it.

Bots Are Destroying Political Discourse as We Know ItBruce Schneier | The AtlanticSoon, AI-driven personas will be able to write personalized letters to newspapers and elected officials, submit individual comments to public rule-making processes, and intelligently debate political issues on social media. They will be replicated in the millions and engage on the issues around the clock, sending billions of messages, long and short. Putting all this together, theyll be able to drown out any actual debate on the internet.

Image Credit: Karlis Reimanis /Unsplash

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This Week's Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through January 11) - Singularity Hub

Bayer and Azitra partner to harness the human skin microbiome as a source for new natural skin care products for sensitive and eczema-prone skin |…

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DetailsCategory: More NewsPublished on Sunday, 12 January 2020 11:23Hits: 327

LEVERKUSEN, Germany & FARMINGTON, CT, USA I January 10, 2020 I Bayer and Azitra Inc., a clinical-stage medical dermatology biotech company, today announced a joint development agreement to collaborate in the identification and characterization of skin microbiome bacteria. The partnership will leverage Azitras proprietary panel of Staphylococcus epidermidis strains to identify potential candidates for the treatment of adverse skin conditions and diseases. Based on the results of the research partnership, Bayer plans to develop selected Staphylococcus epidermidis strains into new natural skin care products under a future License Agreement. Prospective areas of application include medicated skin care products for sensitive, eczema-prone skin as well as therapeutic products for skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis.

Recent scientific publications suggest that microorganisms such as bacteria and especially skin-friendly bacteria, commonly referred to as skin microbiome, can significantly contribute to the protection of the skin from hostile invasions. Additional positive effects include supporting the recovery from skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis, acne, and rosacea, and may also accelerate wound healing.

The skin microbiome offers a promising platform for the development and commercialization of natural skin care products more and more people are looking for. As Bayer is committed to the development of science-based consumer health products through our own research as well as external partnerships, were delighted to collaborate with Azitra. The company has already demonstrated tolerability of a selected Staphylococcus epidermidis strain in healthy volunteers and is now planning to start the clinical demonstration of efficacy, Heiko Schipper, Member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG and President of Bayer Consumer Health, comments on the new partnership.

Bayer, a global leader in innovative and trusted skincare solutions, will actively contribute to the research collaboration by providing suitable topical formulations that are able to maintain Staphylococcus epidermidis viability while showing excellent skin compatibility and sensorial performance.

"We are strongly committed to the potential of the microbiome to provide significant benefits for improved skin health and appearance and by working together with Bayer I am confident we can deliver on the promise of this technology," states Richard Andrews, President and CEO of Azitra.

Azitras versatile platform technology offers further screening options for beneficial strains appropriate for the treatment of dermatological diseases such as atopic dermatitis, acne or psoriasis. In addition, Bayer will review the use of Azitras genetically modified bacteria in Dermatology and other Consumer Health areas such as Nutritionals and Digestive Health.

About Azitra

Azitra, Inc. is a clinical-stage medical dermatology company that combines the power of the microbiome with cutting-edge genetic engineering to treat skin disease. The company was founded in 2014 by scientists from Yale University and works with world-leading scientists in dermatology, microbiology, and genetic engineering to advance its pharmaceutical programs to treat cancer therapy associated skin rashes, targeted orphan indications and atopic dermatitis. Learn more at http://www.azitrainc.com

About Bayer

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to benefit people by supporting efforts to overcome the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development, and the Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2018, the Group employed around 117,000 people and had sales of 39.6 billion euros. Capital expenditures amounted to 2.6 billion euros, R&D expenses to 5.2 billion euros. For more information, go to http://www.bayer.com.

SOURCE: Bayer

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Bayer and Azitra partner to harness the human skin microbiome as a source for new natural skin care products for sensitive and eczema-prone skin |...

Genetically engineered poplar trees slash air pollution in 3-year field trial – Genetic Literacy Project

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Field trials in the Northwest and Southwest show that poplar trees can be genetically modified to reduce negative impacts on air quality while leaving their growth potential virtually unchanged, says an Oregon State University researcher who collaborated on the study.

The findings, published . in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are important because poplar plantations cover 9.4 million hectares globally more than double the land used 15 years ago. Poplars are fast-growing trees that are a source of biofuel and other products including paper, pallets, plywood and furniture frames.

A drawback of poplar plantations is that the trees are also a major producer of isoprene, the key component of natural rubber and a pre-pollutant.

Increases in isoprene negatively affect regional air quality and also unbalance the global energy budget by leading to higher levels of atmospheric aerosol production, more ozone in the air and longer methane life. Ozone and methane are greenhouse gases, and ozone is also a respiratory irritant.

Poplar and other trees including oak, eucalyptus and conifers produce isoprene in their leaves in response to climate stress such as high temperatures.

A research collaboration led by scientists at the University of Arizona, the Institute of Biochemical Plant Pathology in Germany, Portland State University and OSU genetically modified poplars not to produce isoprene, then tested them in three-year trials at plantations in Oregon and Arizona.

They found that trees whose isoprene production was genetically suppressed did not suffer any ill effects in terms of photosynthesis or biomass production they were able to make fuel and grow as well as trees that were producing isoprene.

Steve Strauss, distinguished professor of forest biotechnology in the OSU College of Forestry, said there are a couple of possible explanations for the findings.

One is that, without the ability to produce isoprene, the modified poplars appear to be making compensatory protective compounds.

Another is that most of the trees growth takes place during cooler times of the year, so heat stress, which triggers isoprene production, likely has little effect on photosynthesis at that time.

Our findings suggest that isoprene emissions can be diminished without affecting biomass production in temperate forest plantations, Strauss said. Thats what we wanted to examine can you turn down isoprene production, and does it matter to biomass productivity and general plant health? It looks like it doesnt impair either significantly. In Arizona, where its super hot, if isoprene mattered to productivity, it would show up in a striking way, but it did not. Plants are smart theyll compensate and do something different if they need to.

In this study, scientists used a genetic engineering tool known as RNA interference. RNA, ribonucleic acid, transmits protein coding instructions from each cells DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid, which holds the organisms genetic code.

RNA interference is like a vaccination it triggers a natural and highly specific mechanism whereby specific targets are suppressed, be they the RNA of viruses or endogenous genes, Strauss said. You can also do this with CRISPR at the DNA level, and it usually works even better.

CRISPR, short for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, targets specific stretches of genetic code for DNA editing at exact locations.

You could also do the same thing through conventional breeding, Strauss said. It would be a lot less efficient and precise, and it might be a nightmare for breeders who may need to reassess all of their germplasm and possibly exclude their most productive cultivars as a result, but it could be done.

Corresponding author Russ Monson of the University of Arizona said the study lays the groundwork for future isoprene research, including in different growing environments.

The fact that cultivars of poplar can be produced in a way that ameliorates atmospheric impacts without significantly reducing biomass production gives us a lot of optimism, Monson said. Were striving toward greater environmental sustainability while developing plantation scale biomass sources that can serve as fossil fuel alternatives. We also need to keep working toward solutions to the current regulatory and market roadblocks that make large-scale research and commercial uses for genetically engineered trees difficult.

Sustainable forest management systems and their certifying bodies operate under the assumption that genetically modified equates to dangerous, Strauss said.

If something is GMO, its guilty until proven safe in the minds of many and in our regulations today, he said. These technologies are new tools that require scientific research to evaluate and refine them on a case-by-case basis. We have a huge need for expanded production of sustainable and renewable forest products and ecological services, and biotechnologies can help meet that need.

Original article: Poplars genetically modified not to harm air quality grow as well as non-modified trees

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Genetically engineered poplar trees slash air pollution in 3-year field trial - Genetic Literacy Project

Bayer and Azitra Partner to Harness the Human Skin Microbiome as a Source for New Natural Skin Care Products for Sensitive and Eczema-Prone Skin -…

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LEVERKUSEN, Germany & FARMINGTON, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bayer and Azitra Inc., a clinical-stage medical dermatology biotech company, today announced a joint development agreement to collaborate in the identification and characterization of skin microbiome bacteria. The partnership will leverage Azitras proprietary panel of Staphylococcus epidermidis strains to identify potential candidates for the treatment of adverse skin conditions and diseases. Based on the results of the research partnership, Bayer plans to develop selected Staphylococcus epidermidis strains into new natural skin care products under a future License Agreement. Prospective areas of application include medicated skin care products for sensitive, eczema-prone skin as well as therapeutic products for skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis.

Recent scientific publications suggest that microorganisms such as bacteria and especially skin-friendly bacteria, commonly referred to as skin microbiome, can significantly contribute to the protection of the skin from hostile invasions. Additional positive effects include supporting the recovery from skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis, acne, and rosacea, and may also accelerate wound healing.

The skin microbiome offers a promising platform for the development and commercialization of natural skin care products more and more people are looking for. As Bayer is committed to the development of science-based consumer health products through our own research as well as external partnerships, were delighted to collaborate with Azitra. The company has already demonstrated tolerability of a selected Staphylococcus epidermidis strain in healthy volunteers and is now planning to start the clinical demonstration of efficacy, Heiko Schipper, Member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG and President of Bayer Consumer Health, comments on the new partnership.

Bayer, a global leader in innovative and trusted skincare solutions, will actively contribute to the research collaboration by providing suitable topical formulations that are able to maintain Staphylococcus epidermidis viability while showing excellent skin compatibility and sensorial performance.

"We are strongly committed to the potential of the microbiome to provide significant benefits for improved skin health and appearance and by working together with Bayer I am confident we can deliver on the promise of this technology," states Richard Andrews, President and CEO of Azitra.

Azitras versatile platform technology offers further screening options for beneficial strains appropriate for the treatment of dermatological diseases such as atopic dermatitis, acne or psoriasis. In addition, Bayer will review the use of Azitras genetically modified bacteria in Dermatology and other Consumer Health areas such as Nutritionals and Digestive Health.

About Azitra

Azitra, Inc. is a clinical-stage medical dermatology company that combines the power of the microbiome with cutting-edge genetic engineering to treat skin disease. The company was founded in 2014 by scientists from Yale University and works with world-leading scientists in dermatology, microbiology, and genetic engineering to advance its pharmaceutical programs to treat cancer therapy associated skin rashes, targeted orphan indications and atopic dermatitis.Learn more at http://www.azitrainc.com

About Bayer

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to benefit people by supporting efforts to overcome the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development, and the Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2018, the Group employed around 117,000 people and had sales of 39.6 billion euros. Capital expenditures amounted to 2.6 billion euros, R&D expenses to 5.2 billion euros. For more information, go to http://www.bayer.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayers public reports which are available on the Bayer website at http://www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

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Bayer and Azitra Partner to Harness the Human Skin Microbiome as a Source for New Natural Skin Care Products for Sensitive and Eczema-Prone Skin -...

Rural broadband and regenerative ag make waves in subcommittee hearing | 2020-01-09 – Agri-Pulse

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Agricultural practices have the potential to address climate change by sequestering carbon,witnesses told a Housesubcommittee Thursday at a hearing focused on regenerative agriculture and ag technology.

David Potere, head of GeoInnovation at Indigo Agriculture,outlinedhow his company is creating a new market for a different type of crop: carbon. The company, which was founded in 2014, has begun an initiative to sequester 1 trillion tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide in farmland around the world, and through Indigo Carbon is offering farmers the opportunity to get paid for increasing the carbon content of their soil.

Bringing farmers into the solution can be a definitive part of the solution for climate change because of the potential of ag soils to absorb carbon, Potere told members of the House Innovation and Workforce Development Subcommittee.

Potere pointed totheEnergy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008, which contains a provision allowing oil companies to receive a tax incentive for carbon sequestration when they pull oil out of the ground. The way the act is currently written, farmers don't get the same incentive.

If there is broad bipartisan support for federal policy that incentivizes corporate, industrial and energy producers to sequester carbon, why cant the same support be there when farmers try and do the same?Potere said.

When asked about other ways growers can employ ag technology to make their farms more sustainable, witnesses offered a variety of suggestions.

Roberto Meza, co-founder of Emerald Gardens Microgreens in Bennett, Colo., touted the importance of channeling funding into regenerative agriculture practices to help develop innovative models for producing food.

Interested in more climate changecoverage and insights? Receive a free month of Agri-Pulse or Agri-Pulse West by clickinghere.

Kevin France, president and CEO of SWIIM Systems in Denver,said instead of asking the government to create somethingnew, it should make programssuch as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program more accessible to farmers.

Douglas Jackson-Smith, professor and assistant director of the school of environment and natural resources at Ohio State University, brought up the missed opportunity and regulatory hurdles surroundinggenetic engineering. He said there are many technologies that could benefit farmers and consumers but havent hadthe opportunity to enter the marketplace because of the current regulatory process set in place on genetic engineering.

Witnesses and members of Congress also used the occasion to call for improved rural connectivity. Subcommittee chairman Jason Crow, D-Colo., called connectivitythe backbone of ag tech," noting the ability ofbroadband to makeit possible for farmers to aggregate and analyze data in real time. He emphasized the need forgreater deployment of high-speed internet in rural communities to help ag technology thrive.

Potere commented on the impact rural broadband access has had on his company, sayingIndigo has had tobuildmobile technology that is resilient to the lack of internet connectivity. Creating this technology for farmers has required Indigo to increase itsdevelopment cost, something Potere said puts unnecessary financialpressure on the company, especiallywhen a simple solution such as rural broadband already exists.Farmers, he said, just lack access to it.

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Rural broadband and regenerative ag make waves in subcommittee hearing | 2020-01-09 - Agri-Pulse

Acepodia Announces FDA Clearance of IND for its NK Cell Therapy Drug Candidate ACE1702 to Treat Patients with HER2-expressing Solid Tumors |…

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DetailsCategory: AntibodiesPublished on Thursday, 09 January 2020 19:01Hits: 759

ACE1702 is a potential off-the-shelf cell therapy developed using Acepodias Antibody-Cell Conjugation technology

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA and TAIPEI, Taiwan I January 09, 2020 I Acepodia, a biotechnology company developing cancer immunotherapy based on its novel ACC (Antibody Cell-Conjugation) technology platform, today announced it has received clearance of its Investigational New Drug (IND) application from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to initiate a Phase 1 clinical study of its natural killer (NK) cell therapy and lead drug candidate ACE1702 in patients with HER2-expressing solid tumors.

The FDAs clearance of our IND for ACE1702 is a major milestone for Acepodia that represents an important initial validation of our ACC platform, which can link any antibody, including those that have already proven effective in targeting tumors, to proprietary off-the-shelf natural killer cell line (oNK cells) without the need for genetic engineering, said Sonny Hsiao, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Acepodia, and the inventor of ACC while at University of California, Berkeley. This novel approach allows us to circumvent the complexity and the limitations associated with CAR-T and traditional NK based cell therapies. ACC significantly improves manufacturing costs and has the potential to generate a cost-effective cancer treatment that can deliver increased benefit to patients. We look forward to advancing ACE1702 into its first clinical trial.

About ACE1702ACE1702 is Acepodias lead clinical product candidate developed from the Companys proprietary ACC platform. It targets human HER2-expressing solidtumors using anti-HER2 antibody conjugated oNK cells. ACE1702 has demonstrated enhanced tumor cellkilling activities both in vitro and in vivo, while maintaining a favorable safety profile in GLPtoxicology studies. In preclinical studies, ACE1702 has shown enhanced tumor-killing activities against HER2 IHC 1+, 2+ and 3+ human cancer cells.

About Acepodia Acepodia is a privately held US-Taiwan biotechnology company committed to developing safe, effective, and affordable immunotherapeutic medicines targeting diseases with significant unmet medical needs, with a primary focus on oncology. Acepodias proprietary ACC (Antibody Cell-Conjugation) technology platform links tumor targeting antibodies to the surface of a novel and proprietary human NK cell line that have been specifically selected for their potent antitumor activity. The ACC technology can be seamlessly combined with currently available antibodies allowing for the rapid development of new targeted therapies in multiple indications, without the need for genetic engineering.

SOURCE: Acepodia

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Acepodia Announces FDA Clearance of IND for its NK Cell Therapy Drug Candidate ACE1702 to Treat Patients with HER2-expressing Solid Tumors |...

With $110M to add to the bankroll, Generation Bio sets its sights on engineering a revolution in the gene therapy field – Endpoints News

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Whoever comes out on top of the current race to gain pioneering approvals for new AAV-delivered gene therapies will have to look over their shoulders to watch the next tech wave forming on the horizon for gene therapy 2.0.

One of those next-gen players, Generation Bio, just brought in $110 million of venture cash to cover the cost of the rest of their preclinical journey toward something completely new in the field. The latest round brings the biotech which now has about 80 staffers up to $235 million in total since its inception about 3 years ago. That will fuel the rest of its preclinical stage of development as it looks to break into human studies in the back half of 2021.

That kind of 4-plus year timeline before the first human dosing could test the endurance level of a venture player. But Generation CEO Geoff McDonough looks over the past 2 years advancing a new lipid nanoparticle delivery system for their closed-end DNA therapies working to the day when gene therapies can be produced and sold for far less than the $2 million-or-so price tag today and sees lots of fast-paced advances.

I think the reality is we didnt have an expectation at the outset (on timelines), McDonough tells me. Recognizing the novel work needed to build the platform, the investors knew it would take time and money to bring them up to a GMP level.

I would say for a 40-year problem, adds the CEO, 2 years seems pretty good.

The founding tech at Generation was designed to do what AAV treatments do in the nucleus, offering enduring expression, while allowing manufacturing at a biologic scale with a more economical, capsid-free production method. Taking a page from the tech handbooks at companies like Alnylam and Moderna, theyre building a gene therapy that they believe can do much better than the fragile, one-time-only pioneers. And without the $1 million production cost that keeps wholesale prices in the low 7-figure range.

Theyre looking for much greater economy, eventually taking these therapies to much broader ailments and out of the realm of rare diseases with a new approach that they believe can be infinitely redosable on an as-needed basis.

Thats the big picture.

Generations team is working on 2 lead programs for hemophilia A and phenylketonuria (PKU) to go into IND-enabling studies. Theyve now identified Wilson disease and Gaucher disease as likely starting points for the next steps as they move past the liver to skeletal muscle and the retina and then other tissues. And McDonough the former CEO at Sobi is looking down the road 12 to 18 months when hed like to turn to the public markets with an IPO to fund the first clinical-stage work.

In the meantime, hed like to concentrate on opening another new chapter of the company on the dealmaking side.

It felt very important not to partner initially, says McDonough. The investors wanted to retain ownership of platform. We just had tremendous good fortune we didnt need to do that for finance reasons. But now that they have a better grasp of the technology and what needs to be done, its time to partner probably later in the year.

T. Rowe Price funds and accounts led the round, with Farallon and Wellington Management Company jumping in alongside. Existing investors Atlas Venture, Fidelity, Invus, Casdin, Deerfield, Foresite Capital and an entity associated with SVB Leerink came back to stay in the syndicate. Cowen served as exclusive placement agent for the offering.

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With $110M to add to the bankroll, Generation Bio sets its sights on engineering a revolution in the gene therapy field - Endpoints News

Office of Technology Assessment: It’s time for a second coming | TheHill – The Hill

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Congress must deal with a growing number of issues that new technological developments are forcing on the nation. I deliberately write forcing because the way technology works, no one asks the nation or its elected representatives if we need or want a given new technology. Any investor or engineer, these days more often a startup group or a tech corporation, can make the nation adapt to whatever they concoct.

For instance, a small group of young hotshot engineers is perfecting deep fake, a technology that enables one to make a video that will seem to be a very authentic presentation by a well-known politician, only it is completely made up. To consider the implications of this new gift to mankind, imagine that a day before the election, a candidate states that she has changed her mind and now favors something that will completely antagonize her base. By the time denials are issued and the truth comes out, the election may well be lost.

All of this does not point to the need for some licensing board to which technologists will have to apply before they can proceed but to a growing and urgent need for the nation to have the capacity to learn about new technological developments as early as possible, and prepare to deal with the consequences. And, possibly, in some rare cases well need to impose some restrictions on these developments.

Individual members of Congress and their staffs often do not have the resources, time or sufficient technical backgrounds to carry out such assessments. Hence the merit of recent moves to reestablish an Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) to play a major role in preparing technological assessments for Congress.

Last April Rep. Tim RyanTimothy (Tim) RyanOffice of Technology Assessment: It's time for a second coming Key moments in the 2020 Democratic presidential race so far GM among partners planning .3B battery plant in Ohio MORE (D-Ohio) included funding for OTA in a 2020 spending bill. But when the matter was discussed during a hearing of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology in December, only a few members seemed to favor a full revival of the OTA.

The value of the defunct OTA is captured in an op-ed by Celia Wexler, the senior Washington representative at the Center for Science and Democracy. Wexler wrote:

The information they provided was used to make smart and applicable policy decisions. A 1984 study questioning the reliability of polygraph tests led Congress to enact limits on their use by employers. Another report from 1994 helped lawmakers assess the Social Security Administrations computer procurement plan, and ended up saving the government $368 million. OTA reports in 1987 and 1990, which concluded that Pap smears and mammograms for older women could save thousands of lives, were instrumental in extending Medicare reimbursement for these tests.

In 1972, Congress created the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) to counsel senators and members of the House of Representatives on topics related to science and technology. Its ambitious goal was to give Congress technical expertise equal to that available to the executive branch through its many departments and agencies. The OTA board included representatives of both political parties and houses of Congress.

For over 20 years it produced approximately 750 reports dealing with issues raised by new technologies.

Congress defunded the OTA in 1995, keeping a promise that Rep. Newt GingrichNewton (Newt) Leroy GingrichMORE (R-Ga.) made during the successful Republican election campaign in 1994. Rep. Robert S. Walker (R-Pa.), who chaired the House Science Committee, disapproved of the OTA, argued that the pieces of legislation its reports were meant to inform often had to proceed without them due to the amount of time it took the OTA to produce a report.

The director of the agency acknowledged that it did not always finish reports in time to inform legislation. But he noted that agency researchers had testified about their work in progress at hearings and prepared less lengthy interim reports, when requested.

No single reason was given for the closing of the OTA. But some Republican lawmakers came to view it as duplicative, wasteful and biased against their party.

Another factor in the demise of OTA were, oddly, its neutrality. A former head of the OTA, Dr. John H. Gibbons, put it this way: If you belong to everyone, you belong to no one.

Another complaint was the dearth of public participation. Jathan Sadowski of the Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes at Arizona State University explained that [i]t did not adequately collect and examine the perspectives of a wider citizenryby, say, changing up their advisory panels or through methods like opinion polling and consensus conferences.

A major reason why the OTA must be revived is the accelerating pace of technological innovation, including in countries such as China. To illustrate, we need to assess the effect of AI (whether advanced in the U.S., China, Israel or elsewhere) on the destruction of jobs; the safety of driverless autos; the morality of the use of CRISPR for genetic engineering; facial recognition as a public safety tool; the impact of social media on democracy and society; and much more.

There seems to be ample work for at least one OTA. But it may well need to draw on the help of other organizations, such as the National Academy of Sciences, the NSF and DARPA.

Amitai Etzioni is a university professor and professor of international affairs at The George Washington University. Click here to watch a recent, four-minute video Political and Social Life after Trump. His latest book, Reclaiming Patriotism, was published by University of Virginia Press in 2019 and is available for download without charge.

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SAB Biotherapeutics Announces Research Collaboration With CSL Behring – Yahoo Finance

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SAB Biotherapeutics (SAB), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical development company advancing a new class of immunotherapies, today announced that it has entered into multiple collaboration and option agreements with global biotherapeutics leader CSL Behring. The collaborations will explore the possibility and the potential of new therapies to treat challenging autoimmune, infectious and idiopathic diseases by leveraging SABs DiversitAb platform.

SAB has developed a unique platform, through advanced genetic engineering, to naturally and rapidly produce large amounts of human antibodies without using human donors.

The agreement includes a research program which will investigate a potential new source for human immunoglobulin G (IgG). Human IgG is currently used for a number of immunological and neurological diseases including Primary Immunodeficiency, Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP), Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), and Multifocal Motor Neuropathy (MMN).

CSL Behring is a leader in the global immunoglobulins market, which has grown substantially over the last five years. Key factors fueling market growth include an aging population, increased emphasis on the diagnosis and treatment of immune diseases, and its increased use in new indications.

"SAB Biotherapeutics has developed a very interesting and novel platform for the production of human immunoglobulins," said Dr. Andrew Nash, Senior Vice President, Research for CSL Behring. "CSL Behring is committed to the continuous development of innovative therapies that address unmet needs for patients with rare and serious diseases. This collaboration will provide both companies an opportunity to explore the potential of these new approaches to positively impact areas of need."

CSL Behrings R&D footprint includes more than 1,700 scientists across the globe with an R&D investment exceeding $800 million in 2018 - 2019.

"We are excited that CSL Behring has chosen to work with SAB Biotherapeutics to explore new immunotherapies leveraging our technology platform," said Dr. Eddie J. Sullivan, president, CEO and co-founder of SAB Biotherapeutics. "We believe combining our unique human antibody development and production capabilities with CSL Behrings established immunoglobulin franchise and vast expertise in biopharmaceutical development will broaden therapeutic possibilities."

CSL Behring and SAB will share research program and related costs and plan to complete the initial phase in 2020. The collaboration may lead to subsequent development and commercialization agreements.

About SAB Biotherapeutics, Inc.

SAB Biotherapeutics, Inc. (SAB), headquartered in Sioux Falls, S.D. is a clinical-stage, biopharmaceutical development company advancing a new class of immunotherapies leveraging fully human polyclonal antibodies. Utilizing some of the most complex genetic engineering and antibody science in the world, SAB has developed the only platform that can rapidly produce natural, highly targeted, high-potency, immunotherapies at commercial scale. The company is advancing programs in autoimmunity, infectious diseases, inflammation and exploratory oncology.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200107005718/en/

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Melissa Ullerichmullerich@sabbiotherapeutics.com +1 605.679.4609

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Carolyn Cushman Reviews Laughter at the Academy by Seanan McGuire and Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson – Locus Online

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Seanan McGuire, Laughter at the Academy (Subterranean Press 978-1-59606-928-2, $40.00, 374pp, hc) October 2019. Cover by Carla Speed McNeil.

McGuires introduction calls this her first single-author short story collection, which isnt exactly true, but it is her first collection of non-series stories, 22 of them, all originally published from 2009-2017. The bulk of them are dark tales; she has a tendency to pick one creepy idea and then push it to extremes. Many of the story introductions include trigger warnings, ranging from unapologetic to outright boasting. Most symptomatic, perhaps, is The Tolling of Pavlovs Bells which Contains a remarkably high death toll, even for me, and detailed discussion of disease progression. The story, about a mad doctor determined to teach the world a lesson about not taking the risk of plagues seriously, is truly scary yet amusingly over-the-top germophobes and hypochondriacs beware. The title story also plays with mad science, though with a twist. McGuire likes twisting things like tropes, urban legends, and familiar stories; two look at the legend of Peter Pan, while one of my favorite stories, Emeralds to Emeralds, mixes elements of film noir and Oz, with Dorothy a bitter witch investigating a murder in an Oz where the arrival of too many visitors from Earth has caused the natives of Oz to turn against them. We Are All Misfit Toys is a near-future horror story of what happens when AI toys become too attached to their children. Plague and mad science, AI, genetic engineering, ghosts, Lovecraftian beingstheres a lot of variety here, and not a little humor, but the dark thread is what sticks with you. There are so many ways to envision the end; even a fish story, Threnody for Little Girl, With Tuna, At the End of the World, that had me tearing up. Just a little.

Margaret Rogerson, Sorcery of Thorns (McElderry 978-1-4814-9761-9, $17.99, 453pp, hc) June 2019. Cover by Charlie Bowater.

Libraries and books come alive in this young-adult fantasy about an orphan raised to protect books of spells from the demon-wielding sorcerers who would misuse them. Elisabeth Scrivener, an apprentice librarian in the Great Library of Summershall, dreams of becoming one of the magic-fighting wardens, but things start going wrong. The librarys Director is killed, and a grimoire gets loose and turns into an evil Malefict and has to be destroyed. Elisabeth, who managed to stop the Malefict, is accused of the crime, and carted off to the capital by the powerful sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn who, it turns out, is only 18, and not pure evil as Elisabeth had been raised to expect. Even his demon, Silas, turns out to be less terrifying than punctilious, at least most of the time. Someone is out to stop Elisabeth from telling the truth, and she ends up fighting for her life, facing a high society she doesnt understand, escaping an appalling hospital for disturbed females, and ultimately works to save the world from a sorcerer backed by an ancient conspiracy. With Nathaniels help, she ultimately succeeds, but at a cost. The fantastic battles and magical encounters are nearly non-stop, leavened by Elisabeth and Nathaniels rocky relationship, which is beset by all sorts of absurd misconceptions that both have to get past if they are to work together. The humor and touches of romance make a charming counterpoint to the grim magics they face. Add books that want to join in the fighting and libraries that can choose whom to help, statues that come alive, and otherworldly encounters, and its a wonderfully dramatic and colorfully weird fantasy with a special appeal for book lovers.

Carolyn F. Cushman, Senior Editor, has worked for Locus since 1985, the longest of any of the current staff, and handles our in-house books database, writes our New and Notable section, and does the monthly Books Received column. She is a graduate of Western Washington University with a degree in English. She published a fantasy novel, Witch and Wombat, in 1994.

This review and more like it in the November 2019 issue of Locus.

While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time or recurring donation. We rely on reader donations to keep the magazine and site going, and would like to keep the site paywall free, but WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT to continue quality coverage of the science fiction and fantasy field.

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Carolyn Cushman Reviews Laughter at the Academy by Seanan McGuire and Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson - Locus Online

The Shepherd and the Shrink | Dexter duo launches podcast combing spirituality and psychology – thesuntimesnews.com

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| 3 min read | by Doug Marrin, dmarrin@thesuntimesnews.com |

Do spirituality and psychology have anything in common? Or, as has been commonly thought, are they at opposite ends of the spectrum? If we favor one, must the other be excluded? Its easy to feel tugged between the two.

However, as conflicting as the two disciplines can sometimes seem, there is a psychologist and pastor in Dexter who believe the two approaches to the human condition have much in common and can be brought together to work in powerful ways for our wellbeing.

Meet The Shepherd and the Shrink: Psychologist Dr. MartyFletcher of Renew Hope Counseling in Dexter and Dr. Matt Hook Senior Pastor ofDexter United Methodist Church. The two have teamed up for a podcast (TheShepherd and the Shrink) where psychology meets spirituality.

I caught up with the two just before the taping of their inaugural podcast which releases today, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2020.

The idea for The Shepherd and the Shrink is that weregoing to bring psychology together with spirituality and dig deep into both ofthose so people can make lifestyle changes, says Marty. It will also bring tolight the communitys mental health crisis.

We have a mental health crisis right now, he continues. While our culture is prospering in material goods and lifestyle, and although these material measures are improving, our mental health is getting worse and worse. We have a 30% increase in suicides since the year 2000. Other data points show that we have a spiritual crisis of meaning. Anxiety disorders are up almost 20% and depression also keeps going up.

Spirituality is one of those ambiguous terms that take on different meanings depending on who youre talking to. It can range from a reference to all things unexplained by science to cloaked language for you should go to church. The term is used across a broad spectrum of contexts.

In my mind, spirituality means connectedness, not a religion, explains Matt. I can go out on a starry night, look up at the sky, and feel wow with a connectedness to the universe. Thats spiritual. When were specifically talking Christian spirituality, it is connectedness with God through Jesus Christ.

The seeds for The Shepherd and the Shrink were planted sixyears ago when the duo met. Marty, the clinical psychologist got into aconversation with Matt, the spiritual Christian pastor, and the two quicklydeveloped a friendship with open and candid conversations. What they discoveredwas that psychology and spirituality were not separate disciplines in the sensethat in choosing one you must exclude the other. Over the course of a fewyears, the two came to understand that psychology and spirituality were twocomponents of a persons overall wholeness, and one couldnt be treated withoutaddressing the other.

What was amazing to me was to hear (Marty) describe howpsychology repeats what is already in the Bible, says Matt. For those of uswho grew up Christian and arent so sure about the faith versus science thing,this was such amazing news to realize its not either/or.

Integrating psychology and Christian spirituality can be very reassuring, says Marty without skipping a beat. People are longing for the transcendent right now. You can see it by the movement into things like UFO shows, New Age type practices, and even zombies. Sadly, Christianity has seemed to have lost a lot of its mysticism and spirituality. Christians need to return back to the transcendent nature and life-changing transformation of Christianity, not just give it lip-service and then go about your life.

The purpose of the podcast is simple: The two men want to help people.

We are in a crisis of loneliness at epidemic proportions,says Matt. Were told it is worse than heart disease that comes from smokingtwo packs a day. Loneliness is that devastating for people.

I believe that theres a real need for this type of thing, adds Marty. Eighty percent of people who need treatment for mental health wont get it mainly because of the stigma. This podcast is mental health help that is not stigmatizing.

I sat in on the first taping of The Shepherd and the Shrinkpodcast upstairs in the Red Brick. Owner Pete Landrum has also jumped on boardwith the cause by donating the space to be converted into a makeshift studio.

Marty and Matt conversed easily and freely. It was obviousthey have had many conversations with each other already as well as several infront of the DUMC congregation on Sunday mornings.

The Shepherd and the Shrink can be followed on their Facebook page.

Here is Episode #1 from The Shepherd and the Shrink

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The Shepherd and the Shrink | Dexter duo launches podcast combing spirituality and psychology - thesuntimesnews.com

Spirituality Has Long Been Erased From Art History. Heres Why Its Having a Resurgence Today – artnet News

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What to do when, in the words of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, All that is solid melts into air? Times of upheaval inspire a search for alternative understandings of reality. This was as true a century ago as it is today. In a prefiguring of our own troubled moment, the rise of modern capitalism undermined long established social systems while new scientific discoveries challenged long accepted religious beliefs. Then, as now, those dissatisfied with mechanistic explanations of life and society had two choices: retreat back to now discredited philosophies or seek other ways of understanding the forces reshaping human life.

In the late 19th century, two phenomena emerged from this confusion. Many of the eras leading thinkers embraced the new science while rejecting a purely materialist vision of human existence. At the same time, artists moved beyond conventional representational strategies toward a radical new approach to art. In 1986, a now legendary exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art proposed a link between these two developments. The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 18901985 challenged prevailing formalist histories of modernism by tracing the origins of Western abstraction to a confluence of ideas about spirituality current at the turn of the last century.

Maurice Tuchman, the exhibition curator, threw down the gauntlet in the first line of his catalogue essay. He declared, Abstract art remains misunderstood by the majority of the viewing public. In a sprawling exhibition of works by more than 100 artists, he presented both canonical figures and little known practitioners, early modernist masters and contemporary artists, in each case revealing deep connections to spiritual, utopian, or metaphysical beliefs.

At the time, his radical reconceptualization of the history of modernism landed like a thud. In 1998, author Charlene Spretnak interviewed him about the shows effect on art-world attitudes. He responded: None, whatsoever. But that assessment is no longer accurate. Where once it was, in the words of Rosalind Krauss, embarrassing to mention art and spirit in the same sentence, today it could not be more au courant.

Massimiliano Gionis 2013 Venice Biennale, titled The Encyclopedic Palace, was dedicated to spiritualist cosmologies of all kinds. Since that time, a steady drip of rediscoveries of art with occult themes has been felt. In 2014 and 2015, Marjorie Cameron (19221995), aka Cameron, had her occult art showcased at LA MoCAs Pacific Design Center (Songs for the Witch Woman) and Jeffrey Deitch in New York (Cinderella of the Wastelands). A 2016 exhibition of British artist Georgiana Houghtons spirit drawings at the Courtauld in London drew huge crowds, the same year that Language of the Birds at New York Universitys 80WSE Gallery presented a cross-historical exploration of art inspired by Kabbalah, alchemy, hermeticism, and Tarot. Self-taught painter and telepathic healer Emma Kunz was featured at the Serpentine just last spring. And, of course, the Guggenheims Hilma af Klint show broke records for attendance last yearperhaps the moment it became clear to all that the new interest was truly a juggernaut.

Installation view of Hilma af Klints The Ten Largest. Image courtesy of Ben Davis.

This build-up of exhibitions has shed a light on an important aspect of the modernist embrace of spirituality, a phenomenon that has to be views in a wider context. In the early modern era, the boundary between science and faith was far more porous than it is today. Charles Darwin, who did so much to shake the foundations of 19th-century religion, was adamantly opposed to the supernatural. Yet Alfred Russel Wallace, who simultaneously and independently conceived of the theory of evolution and was originally listed as its co-discoverer, was a true believer. His embrace of spiritualism may account for the degree to which he has been erased from the history of science.

Arthur Conan Doyle, now mostly associated with his creation of Sherlock Holmes, was a fervent Spiritualist and in fact devoted many more books to spiritualism than to his hyper-rational detective. Thomas Edison was keenly interested in occult motion and invented the telephone to talk to the dead. William James, one of the fathers of modern psychology, conducted experiments to confirm the existence of life after death and the persistence of spirit.

The receptivity of these and other 19th-century intellectuals to spiritual concerns was no doubt encouraged by new technologies and discoveries. The telegraph, x-rays, radioactivity, and the possibility of non-Euclidan geometry and a fourth dimension (after Einstein this came to be defined as spacetime) all seemed to confirm the existence of an invisible, non-material realm.

Conversely, even the wonkier proponents of the spiritualist view couched their ideas in scientific terms. Madame Blavatsky, founder of theosophy, a doctrine influential on many artists of the age, situated her synthesis of Hinduism and Buddhism within the scientific world, applying the new concept of evolution to the spiritual evolution of humanity. Rudolf Steiners anthroposophy, an outgrowth of and reaction against theosophy, was also concerned with psychic and cosmic evolution to be achieved by the application of what he called spiritual science.

Agnes Pelton, Sand Storm (1932). Photo by Edward C. Robison III, courtesy of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas.

What has until now been underappreciated is just how pervasive such ideas were, especially among the artists who formed the modernist avant-garde.

In her 2014 book, The Spiritual Dynamic in Modern Art, Charlene Spretnak expands on the ideas in Tuchmans The Spiritual in Art exhibition, taking it beyond abstraction to suggest the spiritual underpinnings of a wide swath of modern and contemporary artists. Her book, based on painstaking research into the motivations of artists from 1800 to the present, proposes a radical revision of our understanding of the history of modernism. Spretnak argues that spirituality is at the heart of the established canon and that mystical and occult ideas run through the works of artists as diverse as Kandinsky, Malevich, Mondrian, Beckman, Mir, Dove, and Klee.

Spretnak builds her argument around broadly recognized artists. The exhibitions cited above, by contrast, focus on figures who have been more marginal to art history. As a result, there has been some debate about their legitimacy as artists.

Hilma af Klint, for example, was an established and recognized member of the Swedish art community. However, the works for which she is now being celebrated were done privately, as part of her involvement with a group of four other spiritually inclined women, created at the direction of a spirit guide. These paintings, which the spirits decreed should be displayed in a specially designed temple, would provide knowledge necessary for the coming New Age. Anticipating critical hostility, af Klint decreed that her works of visionary geometry were not to be unveiled to the public until 20 years after her death. In fact, it took more than 40 posthumous years for these works to enter the art discourse through Tuchmans 1986 exhibition.

The paintings were unlike anything being done at the time. Their spirals, circles, calligraphic notations, and esoteric symbols were deeply indebted to af Klints study of theosophy. As a result, even today the curators of the Guggenheim show seem uncertain how to situate this work. In a round-table discussion published in the exhibition catalogue, a group of eminent writers, artists, and curators debate questions about af Klints intentionality, the authorship of works produced under the influence of a spirit guide, and whether a painting that is a diagram of a higher reality qualifies as an abstraction. In the New York Review of Books, Susan Tallman raised similar issues, asking, To what degree does celebrating these things as works of art, and celebrating af Klint as their creator, invalidate everything she was hoping to achieve?

However, the notion of the artist as channel for otherworldly forces is hardly unique to Hilma af Klint. Artists as comfortably canonical as Whistler, Mondrian, Kandinsky, and Malevich were also inspired by theosophy and anthroposophy. None of them created the kind of pure abstraction extolled by mid-century critics. Kandinsky, for one, produced controlled explosions of color that bear a striking resemblance to images that appear in Thought-Forms, a standard theosophical text. Mondrians geometric compositions were meant to express the dynamic equilibrium of the immaterial realm. And, of course, the Surrealists were entranced by automatic drawing as a way to connect with the unconscious.

Hyman Bloom, Cadaver. Courtesy of Getty Images.

Agnes Pelton, whose work will be showcased at the Whitney Museum starting in March, has a clearer claim to conventional art history. Another follower of theosophy founder Madame Blavatsky, she was included in the 1913 Armory show before moving out west.

There, she joined a community of like-minded artists who shared not only her interest in spiritualism, but also her more liberal views on gender and sexual practice. Visitors to her Whitney exhibition will see dreamlike semi-abstractions that mingle evocations of desert landscapes with ethereal and vaguely representational forms.

Pelton was concerned with the metaphysical properties of color and their ability to bring the viewer into a state of enlightenment.InEnchanted Modernities: Theosophy, the Arts, and the American West, a new book on Spiritualist movements, she is quoted as saying, These pictures are like little windows opening to the view of a region not yet much visited consciously or by intentionan inner realm, rather than an outer landscape.

While Pelton has been little known outside the western US, Hyman Bloom was once prominent enough to be dubbed the first Abstract Expressionist artist by Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock. The artist, who was raised as an Orthodox Jew, fell out of the limelight for a variety of reasons. Not least of these was his involvement with spiritual concerns.

His paintings present jewel-like surfaces that are engulfed by a struggle between light and darkness. The work is indebted to a moment of mystical illumination he experienced as a young man during a period of extreme isolation and financial hardship. As he described it, I had a conviction of immortality, of being part of something permanent and ever-changing, of metamorphosis as the nature of being.

His recent show at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Matters of Life and Death, is centered on his paintings of cadavers, which, along with lushly painted near abstract representations of synagogues, rabbis, chandeliers, seances, and archaeological digs, were part of his exploration of the astral plane. This concept posits a state of being that exists between life and death and is informed by Blooms deep reading of theosophical texts, as well as his interest in mysticism, kabbalah, and other esoteric religions.

Installation view of Emma Kunz Visionary Drawings: An exhibition conceived with Christodoulos Panayiotou at the Serpentine Galleries. Courtesy of the Serpentine.

Why are these figures, once quite marginal, moving into spotlight?

One explanation may be the breakdown of the canon under pressure from feminism and multiculturalism. Indeed, it is noteworthy how many of these artists are women or, like Bloom, members of marginalized groups. (While many Jews participated in the mid-century avant-garde, Bloom was unusual in his overt reference to his devotional practice.)

Another factor in the surge of interest may be a revulsion against todays over-the-top commodification of art. There is something very appealing about art that resists the market through its appeal to secret knowledge.

But the new receptivity to spirituality also reflects our current state of upheaval. Once again, we face destabilizing forces, among them a yawning inequality that attests to the failures of neoliberal fantasies about the rationality of the market. New technologies like AI and ever more sophisticated corporate and government surveillance threaten our very sense of self and society. And there is widespread recognition that materialism has produced a climate crisis that may spell the end of life as we know it.

Once again, a search for alternatives has manifested itself in a surge of interest in spiritual and spiritualist concerns. Astrology, the New Yorker notes, is hot right now. The New York Times reports that millennials are very into witches and witch parties. But along with astrology, the occult, magic, and alchemy, the new spirituality also manifests itself in a longing for restorative politics, and human-centered social attitudes.

Who are the contemporary equivalents to af Klint, Pelton, or Bloom? Today plenty of artists are willing to cop to spiritual influences on their work. Some go further, attempting to channel unconscious or even supernatural energies through drugs, hypnosis, or seances. Yet others seek portals through technology. In place of the spiritual progress promised by esoteric philosophies like theosophy and anthroposophy, they grapple with the Singularity and its assertion that artificial intelligence is the next state in (non)human evolution. Though none of this has yet gelled into a recognizable movement, it would seem that contemporary art and the spirit have once again made a tentative peace.

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Spirituality Has Long Been Erased From Art History. Heres Why Its Having a Resurgence Today - artnet News

Expert says medical professionals need better training on spiritual care – Crux: Covering all things Catholic

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[Dr. Tracy A. Balboni is Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School. Her primary research interests are in palliative care, including the psychosocial aspects of advanced cancer and radiotherapy for palliation. Within the psychosocial aspects of advanced cancer, she has a particular focus on the role of religion and spirituality in the experience of cancer. This includes the impact of religion/spirituality on coping and end-of-life medical care and the impact of spiritual care in the medical setting on patient end-of-life outcomes. She and her husband, Michael J. Balboni, co-wrote Hostility to Hospitality: Spirituality and Professional Socialization within Medicine. She spoke to Charles Camosy.]

Camosy: Can you tell us a bit about the backstory of how this book came to be? It isnt every day that you hear of two married Christian professors at Harvard Medical School one an oncologistand the other a theologian coming together on a project like this.

Balboni: In the early part of our marriage, Michael and I both knew a calling to work together. At the time, I was finishing medical school and heading into radiation oncology residency training, while he was starting a PhD program in practical theology.We scratched our heads a bit wondering how that calling to work together might ever come about.As trainees immersed in our respective fields of scholarship, the chasm only seemed to grow wider and more insurmountable. Yet as I cared for patients day after day, that gaping scholarly chasm, though present, grew steadily more irrelevant.

Caring for patients facing life-threatening illness inherently shines light on spirituality, not only for patients and their families, but also medical caregivers of patients facing suffering.One cannot face serious illness and dying, whether as a patient or one called to care for those suffering, without being confronted with fundamental questions of human identity, purpose, and value.Hence, Michael and I found a way to steer our paths towards one another focusing on the experiences of patients and caregivers of patients with advanced cancers.We worked together on a mixed qualitative-quantitative study of terminally ill cancer patients and medical caregivers of those patients, inquiring about the role of spirituality and religion in illness and on the perceptions of patient and medical caregivers of spiritual care the recognition of spirituality as part of care in serious illness and attention to spiritual needs.

The study was eye-opening for both of us as it underscored the simple fact that, in the words of a thought-leader in this field, Dr. Daniel Sulmasy, illness is a spiritual event.This study of patients and medical caregivers also raised a conundrum that we recognized should be addressed employing our complementary scholarly perspectives. And that conundrum is as follows: Though serious illness and medical caregiving are spiritual events for patients and for many medical caregivers, medicine largely ignores this aspect of illness and healing. And this disconnection is despite a rich history of interconnection of various major faith traditions and the practice of medicine.And so we endeavored in this book to address the layered issues underlying this puzzle.

One of the things I found most heartbreaking about the results of your research is that so many people desire a spiritual and/or religiouscomponentto their medical care, but medical teams generally dont offer it. Even from hospital chaplains. Can you give us the bottom line about why you think that is the case?

On a practical level, the answer to your question is that most medical clinicians do not receive sufficient training. In the aforementioned study of nurse and physician caregivers of cancer patients, though majorities viewed spiritual care to be an important and appropriate aspect of care, most did not provide it.The most powerful predictor of providing spiritual care to patients was spiritual care training.

Of course, this answer simply begs another question. Why arent clinicians trained?Clinicians are increasingly offered courses. For example, Dr. Christina Puchalski of George Washington University has led efforts with the American Association of Medical Colleges to ensure spiritual care competencies are included in medical school curricula.Despite this progress, however, the culture of medicine undermines these efforts. Due to social, technological, and economic forces, the extant ethos of medicine is to neglect and even be hostile to the spiritual dimensions of illness and caregiving.

Just as an example, a chaplain recently told me a story of his interaction with a seriously ill patient who was very closed to discussions of her terminal illness and to any spiritual conversations. The chaplain visited her regularly, and one day there was a breakthrough in their conversation, and she opened up about her fears about her illness and her spiritual questions and struggles. Just then, the medical team abruptly walked into her room and interrupted their conversation, without even acknowledging the interruption.The chaplain politely excused himself, but later returned to the patient who was appalled at how rude the medical team was.What gives a group of well-intentioned clinicians such blindness to even such basic rules of common courtesy?Their actions betray that they are acculturated to view their technical and material goals as having far greater value than all else that can occur in the hospital, including a chaplains steady care culminating in a deeply meaningful conversation with a dying patient.

And very often people on the medical teamincluding the attending physicianare personally religious, right? And yet the secularizing structures you mention keep them from having those beliefs affect the care they give their patients.

Its a bit jarring to think that in all likelihood a majority of the clinicians who barged into the room of that patient talking with the chaplain are themselves religious or spiritual individuals.A survey-based study of physicians (Curlin et al. JGIM 2005) demonstrated that 77 percent consider themselves religious or spiritual and 55 percent indicate that their religious beliefs influence their practice of medicine.

These statistics underscore how the forces influencing the culture of medicine have power greater than that of any individual.Most clinicians do not intend for their own spiritual and religious identities often prime motivators to pursuing the practice of medicine to become deeply hidden and to only occasionally pepper their clinical practice. But that is the mold that medicines culture imprints on clinicians, a mold shaped by social forces such as economics, technology, bureaucracy, death-denial, and a sharp body-spirit dualism.

You are so careful in trying to reach an audience which might be skeptical of your point of view. What are the early returns? Are they taking your researchand arguments seriously?

Weve had terrific engagement both by those that think the ideas ludicrous and by those that agree with many of its premises. For example, there was a dedicated issue in the social sciences journalSociety, with both thoughtful and often quite critical engagement.Another dedicated issue is underway in a European journalSpiritual Care.Whether criticisms or praises that there is engagement with our books ideas and juxtaposition of them with those of others means the work is provoking movement and further thought. Certainly, to move the practice of medicine further, such wrestling is needed.

In the final part of your book, you give us reasons for hope in the future development of health care with regard to the subject matter of your book. What are some reasons to be hopeful?

We have reasons to hope.We hope in the fact that fundamentally medicine is a spiritual practice.Human life is more than its mechanical parts, but something of eternal value to be honored and upheld.We are hopeful because an eternal reality greater than ourselves is touched in caring for the sick.

As Jesus declares in Matthew 25:36, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me. These spiritual realities have formed the very foundation of medicine. This spiritual root remains, but it requires nourishment to balance the growing weight of social forces such as economics, technology, and bureaucracy. This brings us to a third hope that of a revived role for faith communities to call for and nurture the sacred aspects of the practice of medicine.

Crux is dedicated to smart, wired and independent reporting on the Vatican and worldwide Catholic Church. That kind of reporting doesnt come cheap, and we need your support. You can help Crux by giving a small amount monthly, or with a onetime gift. Please remember, Crux is a for-profit organization, so contributions are not tax-deductible.

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Its possible to be spiritual without following religious practices – Hindustan Times

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At 72, his capacity to serve the society selflessly is growing stronger. This venerable monk wears multiple hats. Meet Swami Muktinathananda (also called Sujit Maharaj), adhyaksh of the Ramakrishna Math, Lucknow and secretary of the Vivekananda Polyclinic and Institute of Medical Sciences in the state capital. For a good 20 years, he has been spearheading the two diverse centres and keeping pace with the changing times.

EARLY CHILDHOOD AND EDUCATION

The Swami was born in July 1947, a few weeks before independence, at Baruipur in South 24 Parganas district in West Bengal. His pre-monastic name was Sujit Kumar Dutta. His father Sachindra Kumar Dutta was a famous lawyer and mother Bela Rani Dutta, a dedicated homemaker.

Both were very religious persons. Both my parents were initiated at an early stage in their marital life by Swami Vishudhananda, also known as Gandho Baba (Perfume Saint) of Varanasi, who was not from any order but had his own followers. I was deeply influenced by the spiritual culture which prevailed in the entire family, Swami Muktinathananda recalled.

IMPRESSIVE ACADEMIC QUALIFICATION

He went to the famous Oriental Seminary School, where Rabindranath Tagore also received his early education in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

He did BE in mechanical engineering and took admission in M Tech course at the Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur. But he did not complete his studies at IIT. Instead, he went to Canada to pursue masters in applied sciences in industrial engineering and later did PhD in operational research.

ON JOINING THE RAMAKRISHNA ORDER

I was just an ordinary child aspiring for a promising career for which I completed graduation in engineering and went to North America for post graduate studies in industrial engineering and operational research. By the time, I completed my post graduate degree and PhD programme, I had travelled the length and breadth of North America for nearly five years. During that period, I had the opportunity to get a close look at western culture.

In the meantime, I got acquainted with the Vedanta Societies of North America being run under the aegis of the Ramakrishna Mission with its headquarters at Belur Math. I also personally met some of the distinguished monks of the order engaged in different centres of the mission there, he said.

He reminisced, Simultaneously, I studied the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda in depth. I was moved by Swamijis call to the youth of India to sacrifice at least one life for the regeneration of the motherland. I decided to join the Ramakrishna Mission at its Chicago centre. However, the mission authorities opined that Indian nationals should come to India and subsequently, I joined at the Belur Math (near Kolkata), aspiring to dedicate my life to render services to the society as a monk in 1973. I was just 25 years of age then.

After spending a few years in North America, I could see the hollowness of the western society. And so I decided to become a monk, embracing the life of renunciation to service the society as advocated by Swami Vivekananda.

As soon as I sought permission from my parents in India, they vehemently objected and thought it was due to some temporary frustration. My parents set a target to complete the PhD programme to delay my resolve. I took it up as a challenge and completed the PhD programme in just about two years. And then they could not object and gave their approval, seeing the genuineness of my resolve.

EARLIEST MEMORIES OF ASSOCIATION WITH THIS ORDER

My earliest memories of association with this Order dates back to when I was a child and studying in Calcutta (now Kolkata) from where I occasionally visited Belur Math. But my real association with the order started with personal interaction with knowledgeable monks, who were holding leadership positions at different centres in the United States. I found in them, spiritual life and excellence in work beneficial to the society. This inspired me to embrace monasticism.

JOURNEY IN LUCKNOW

This has been very fulfilling and increasingly rewarding since January 2000. Here in Lucknow, I was handed over a newly built magnificent temple of Ramakrishna and also a multi-storied building as a citadel of service for ailing patients at Vivekananda Polyclinic. During these 20 years, it has been possible to make this Universal temple of Sri Ramakrishna into a dynamic centre of spirituality by organising year-round religious and cultural festivals. Simultaneously, a network of branch centres has been formed under the umbrella of Ramakrishna-Vivekanand Bhav Prachar Parishad with headquarters at Belur Math, covering about 50 remote areas of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. As a fallout of this programme, we have already established a full-fledged ashram in Ayodhya as a sub centre of Lucknow, where a charitable dispensary and a child development programme is continuing. A sincere effort has been made to procure a large piece of 7-10 acres of land in Ayodhya for expansion of medical and other activities.

EXPERIENCE AT DIFFERENT CENTRES

From the very beginning of my monastic life, I had the opportunity to directly get involved in various relief and rehab activities of the mission in various parts of the country. These activities gradually brought me to Belur Math, from where I had to organise massive relief services of the Ramakrishna Mission for 18 years between 1982-2000 after having joined the order in 1973. Subsequently, I came to Lucknow.

SPIRITUAL LIFE IN MODERN TIMES

Spiritual life in modern times is becoming increasingly relevant due to the truncated growth of society. Our ancient scriptures always advocated simultaneous development of two branches of our knowledge, namely secular and spiritual, just like a bird cannot fly on one wing alone.

Unfortunately, the utter neglect of our spiritual life for the growth of our achievements is making importance of spirituality felt in modern times.

How the message of Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda and the Holy Mother can bring peace and harmony in all walks of life?

In view of the present era of selfish competition and disrespect of human values, the message of Sri Ramakrishna, the Holy Mother Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda seems to be an all-out solution which may be applied in every walk of life.

Is it possible to lead a spiritual life without following religious practices?

Yes, definitely. Spiritual life and religious practices are altogether different subjects. Sri Ramakrishna says if a person is engaged in various religious practices, but he is not spiritual, he should be condemned. Whereas a person who is truly spiritual even if he does not involve in any religious practice, he is praiseworthy.

The true meaning of spirituality is not a bunch of beliefs, rituals or traditions but being and becoming and realising the oneness of God, irrespective of any distinction. The goal of this rare human life is to become truly spiritual and realise our own self before departing from this world. We must grow spiritually every day and the growth should be felt inside and it is radiated outside also in three distinct ways:

1) We feel happy spontaneously and make others happy as well

2) We never get tired doing any amount of work, being an instrument in the hands of the divine. And this tireless spirit is transmitted to the people around.

3) Spirituality grows with the increase in concentration of the mind which results in greater proficiency of work as well

Is a harmonious blend of science and spirituality possible?

Of course, yes. They are complementary to each other. Spirituality without science is blind. Science without spirituality is lame. Together, they become useful. They should be blended harmoniously.

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Its possible to be spiritual without following religious practices - Hindustan Times

Religion and Spirituality Book Deals: January 8, 2020 – Publishers Weekly

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Suzanne Stabile Re-Ups with IVP

Suzanne Stabile, co-author with Ian Morgan Cron of the bestselling Road Back to You (IVP, 2016), is returning to the publisher with a new book. Agent Sheryl Fullerton sold world rights to IVPs associate publisher Cindy Bunch to Stabiles The Dynamic Power of the Enneagram. The book, which will come with a study guide, explores how the Enneagram can help readers manage stress, find balance, and create lasting personal transformation, according to the publisher. Its slated for publication in fall 2021.

Fortress Makes a Move

Lisa Kloskin at Fortress Press took world rights from Rachelle Gardner of Books & Such Literary Management to a new book by Stephanie Williams OBrien. Make a Move, which is scheduled for publication in spring 2021, argues that life should be viewed as an experiment in order to ease difficult decision-making and gain meaning and direction.

Brazos Takes on a Heavy Burden

Katelyn Beaty took world rights directly from Bridget Eileen Rivera Cruz, a leading voice on LGBTQ issues and the church, to Heavy Burdens. Scheduled to release in fall 2021, the book chronicles the ways many Christian communities have discriminated against LGBTQ people and offers a plan for healthier, more loving Christian communities, according to the publisher.

Zondervan Finds 'Balance'

Nena Madonia Oshman of Dupree Miller sold world rights to Zondervan acquisition editor Mick Silva to Balance: Tipping the Scales, Leveraging Change, and Having It All by Tour Roberts (Purpose Awakening). On sale in October 2020, the book examines the challenges in a world of constant change, laying out ways readers can make personal adjustments in order to find confidence and optimism.

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Religion and Spirituality Book Deals: January 8, 2020 - Publishers Weekly

The history of scientists dismissing spiritual experiences – The Week Magazine

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There is a long tradition of scientists and other intellectuals in the West being casually dismissive of people's spiritual experiences. In 1766, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant declared that people who claim to see spirits, such as his contemporary, the Swedish scientist Emanuel Swedenborg, are mad. Kant, a believer in the immortality of the soul, did not draw on empirical or medical knowledge to make his case, and was not beyond employing a fart joke to get his derision across: "If a hypochondriac wind romps in the intestines it depends on the direction it takes; if it descends it becomes a f, if it ascends it becomes an apparition or sacred inspiration." Another "enlightened" enemy of other-worldly visions was the chemist and devout Christian, Joseph Priestley. His own critique of spirit seership in 1791 did not advance scientific arguments either, but presented biblical "proof" that the only legitimate afterlife was the bodily resurrection of the dead on Judgment Day.

However, there is good cause to question the overzealous pathologization of spiritual sightings and ghostly visions. About a century after Kant and Priestley scoffed at such experiences, William James, the "father" of American scientific psychology, participated in research on the first international census of hallucinations in "healthy" people. The census was carried out in 1889-97 on behalf of the International Congress of Experimental Psychology, and drew on a sample of 17,000 men and women. This survey showed that hallucinations including ghostly visions were remarkably widespread, thus severely undermining contemporary medical views of their inherent pathology. But the project was unorthodox in yet another respect because it scrutinized claims of "veridical" impressions that is, cases where people reported seeing an apparition of a loved one suffering an accident or other crisis, which they had in fact undergone, but which the hallucinator couldn't have known about through "normal" means. The vicinity of such positive findings with "ghost stories" was reason enough for most intellectuals not to touch the census report with a bargepole, and the pathological interpretation of hallucinations and visions continued to prevail until the late-20th century.

Things slowly began to change in about 1971, when the British Medical Journal published a study on "the hallucinations of widowhood" by the Welsh physician W Dewi Rees. Of the 293 bereaved women and men in Rees's sample, 46.7 percent reported encounters with their deceased spouses. Most important, 69 percent perceived these encounters as helpful, whereas only 6 percent found them unsettling. Many of these experiences, which ranged from a sense of presence, to tactile, auditory and visual impressions indistinguishable from interactions with living persons, continued over years. Rees's paper inspired a trickle of fresh studies that confirmed his initial findings these "hallucinations" don't seem inherently pathological nor therapeutically undesirable. On the contrary, whatever their ultimate causes, they often appear to provide the bereaved with much-needed strength to carry on.

Rees's study coincided with writings by a pioneer of the modern hospice movement, the Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kbler-Ross, in which she emphasized the prevalence of comforting other-worldly visions reported by dying patients an observation supported by later researchers. Indeed, a 2010 study in the Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics addressed the need for special training for medical personnel regarding these experiences, and in recent years the academic literature on end-of-life care has recurrently examined the constructive functions of death-bed visions in helping the dying come to terms with impending death.

Kbler-Ross was also among the first psychiatrists to write about "near-death experiences" (NDEs) reported by survivors of cardiac arrests and other close brushes with death. Certain elements have pervaded popular culture impressions of leaving one's body, passing through a tunnel or barrier, encounters with deceased loved ones, a light representing unconditional acceptance, insights of the interconnectedness of all living beings, and so on. Once you ignore the latest clickbait claiming that scientists studying NDEs have either "proven" life after death or debunked the afterlife by reducing them to brain chemistry, you start to realize that there's a considerable amount of rigorous research published in mainstream medical journals, whose consensus is in line with neither of these popular polarizations, but which shows the psychological import of the experiences.

For instance, although no two NDEs are identical, they usually have in common that they cause lasting and often dramatic personality changes. Regardless of the survivors' pre-existing spiritual inclinations, they usually form the conviction that death is not the end. Understandably, this finding alone makes a lot of people rather nervous, as one might fear threats to the secular character of science, or even an abuse of NDE research in the service of fire-and-brimstone evangelism. But the specialist literature provides little justification for such worries. Other attested after-effects of NDEs include dramatic increases in empathy, altruism, and environmental responsibility, as well as strongly reduced competitiveness and consumerism.

Virtually all elements of NDEs can also occur in psychedelic "mystical" experiences induced by substances such as psilocybin and DMT. Trials at institutions such as Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Imperial College London have revealed that these experiences can occasion similar personality changes as NDEs, most notably a loss of fear of death and a newfound purpose in life. Psychedelic therapies are now becoming a serious contender in the treatment of severe conditions including addictions, post-traumatic stress disorder, and treatment-resistant depressions.

This brings us back to James, whose arguments in The Varieties of Religious Experience for the pragmatic clinical and social value of such transformative episodes have been mostly ignored by the scientific and medical mainstream. If there really are concrete benefits of personality changes following "mystical" experiences, this might justify a question that's not usually raised: could it be harmful to follow blindly the standard narrative of Western modernity, according to which "materialism" is not only the default metaphysics of science, but an obligatory philosophy of life demanded by centuries of supposedly linear progress based on allegedly impartial research?

Sure, the dangers of gullibility are evident enough in the tragedies caused by religious fanatics, medical quacks, and ruthless politicians. And, granted, spiritual worldviews are not good for everybody. Faith in the ultimate benevolence of the cosmos will strike many as hopelessly irrational. Yet, a century on from James's pragmatic philosophy and psychology of transformative experiences, it might be time to restore a balanced perspective, to acknowledge the damage that has been caused by stigma, misdiagnoses and mis- or overmedication of individuals reporting "weird" experiences. One can be personally skeptical of the ultimate validity of mystical beliefs and leave properly theological questions strictly aside, yet still investigate the salutary and prophylactic potential of these phenomena.

By making this quasi-clinical proposal, I'm aware that I could be overstepping my boundaries as a historian of Western science studying the means by which transcendental positions have been rendered inherently "unscientific" over time. However, questions of belief versus evidence are not the exclusive domain of scientific and historical research. In fact, orthodoxy is often crystallized collective bias starting on a subjective level, which, as James himself urged, is "a weakness of our nature from which we must free ourselves, if we can." No matter if we are committed to scientific orthodoxy or to an open-minded perspective on ghostly visions and other unusual subjective experiences, both will require cultivating a relentless scrutiny of the concrete sources that nourish our most fundamental convictions including the religious and scientific authorities on which they rest perhaps a little too willingly.

This article was originally published by Aeon, a digital magazine for ideas and culture. Follow them on Twitter at @aeonmag.

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The history of scientists dismissing spiritual experiences - The Week Magazine

Spiritual New Year’s resolutions – The News Star

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Marc Gellman Published 5:15 a.m. CT Jan. 11, 2020

Marc Gellman(Photo: Tribune Content Agency)

Here are my spiritualNew Year'sResolutions. Write to me and tell me yours.

Happy New Year!

Volunteer atMeals on Wheels. I received this soul-warming note from G inCentral Floridafollowing my giving to beggars column:

"About five years ago, when we moved toCentral Florida, we discovered there were senior citizens who had no one to celebrate the holidays with them besides theMeals on Wheelsvolunteers. At that time, there was a waiting list forMeals on Wheelsof over 200 individuals! When we dropped off our annual check this year, we discovered there was a Christmas tree in the lobby with tags asking for certain gifts for senior citizens. We chose a man and a woman whose needs brought me to tears. They weren't asking for bicycles or toys; they were asking for basics.

One asked for body wash and a set of towels. Another asked for a comforter and slippers. When we dropped off the wrapped gifts, we asked if there were any senior citizens who hadn't had any Christmas Angels assigned to them. We chose a 76-year-old man who asked for an XL winter shirt and a 71-year-old woman who asked for pajamas and a robe. While the first two were referred to by their caseworkers, the second set of recipients were referred to by theirMeals on Wheelsvolunteers, God bless them.

It was an honor to shop for these people whom we never would meet. Senior citizens have been part of the working system for most of their lives. That they must depend onMeals on Wheelsand the generosity of others breaks my heart. I wish there was a way that more attention can be given to senior citizens who are lonely and in need of basics. Thank you, again, for your God Squad column. Peace be unto you."

Learn more about a religion that is not yours. The most arrogant and foolish of all religious beliefs is the belief that God gave all the truth about God and salvation to just one faith. One can believe without arrogance that one's own faith is most true and most conducive to salvation from sin, but also believe that other religions have some really good things in them.

Judaism, for example, created the belief in life after death but sadly, over time, the belief in Heaven has mostly been championed by Christianity. I learned from FatherTom Hartmanto appreciate the hope that life after death gives us as we face our own death and the death of those we love. Tommy learned from me about the importance of finding one's beliefs in a sacred text and not just in some trendy popular book. The best way to learn is simple. Just visit some other house of worship. Visit for a service or visit for a study group, but visit. Religions study from books but they are lived in real life. Experience the lives of those walking up the same mountain as you but up a different path.

Read all the Psalms and start withPsalm 34. If you read one Psalm a week you will have completed the Psalter by next year. The Psalms are my favorite part of the Bible because they are so full of wisdom and hope but also because they are the only part of the Bible that links Jews and Christians in our liturgies. Both of us use psalms when we pray and that is a deep and loving bond between us.

Here is just a foretaste of what you have in store for you. You know Psalm 23 but listen to the wisdom of Psalm 34. Pay special attention and meditate on verse 8, "O taste and see that the Lord is good." That is the verse I hope you can keep close to your heart this coming year. That verse constitutes the spiritual value ofNew Year'sresolutions. They are not thoughts, they are actions. They are not passive intentions. They are active tastings. We cannot live life unless we taste life. We cannot experience God's goodness unless and until we taste the world.

Surely some of the world tastes bitter but the world is sweeter than you would ever know if your only contact with the world is through news and social media. You must taste the world yourself and tasting requires moving beyond the posture of an observer and becoming a true participant in the wonder of your life. The possibility that I might become an outside commentator on my own life and not a full living owner of my life is too terrible to contemplate. So taste and see that the Lord is good. It will make it so much easier for you to believe that the Lord is good.

Send questions and comments to The God Squad via email atgodsquadquestion@aol.com.Rabbi Gellmanis the author of several books, including "Religion for Dummies," co-written with Fr.Tom Hartman.

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