If you are like most people, you learned quite a few things in school that you will probably never use in your life. Things like how to dissect a frog, the amount of rainfall during summer in the Amazon jungle, and plenty of weird equations required to solve algebraic problems.

Unfortunately I do not foresee what we are taught in schools changing anytime soon.

However, I do know that there is a tremendous amount of very useful information available in all of the millions of books that have been written over the course of a very long time.

To give a flavor for how the power of intention is being studied in the laboratory, let’s briefly consider two experiments recently conducted at IONS. The first explored the quantum observer effect - modern physics’ “skeleton in the closet” suggesting that consciousness is inextricably wound into the fabric of reality.

Experienced meditators and nonmeditators were asked to imagine that they could intuitively perceive a low-intensity laser beam in a distant, shielded Michelson interferometer. If such nonlocal observation were possible, it would theoretically “collapse” the photons’ quantum wave-functions and change the pattern of light produced by the interferometer.

Few topics generate more false confidence or genuine bewilderment than the nature of consciousness. At scientific conferences, debates about the origins of consciousness - especially the purposeful, intentional aspects of consciousness - resemble professional wrestling matches more than sober academic affairs. Skeptics hold meetings where they fervently reinforce their belief that intentions (like consciousness) are mere illusions manufactured by the brain. Popular books and movies promoting the power of intention, such as The Secret, are runaway bestsellers.

Researchers discovered genetic evidence that human evolution is speeding up - and has not halted or proceeded at a constant rate, as had been thought - indicating that humans on different continents are becoming increasingly different.

“We used a new genomic technology to show that humans are evolving rapidly, and that the pace of change has accelerated a lot in the last 40,000 years, especially since the end of the Ice Age roughly 10,000 years ago,” says research team leader Henry Harpending, a distinguished professor of anthropology at the University of Utah.

Have you ever changed your mind in a big way? In a way that fundamentally shifted how you see yourself, your friends and family, your livelihood, even your core relationship to the world in which you live? Maybe it was a change you sought - the product of a lengthy process - or a change that was thrust upon you in a time of transition: a sudden illness, a failed relationship, the death of a loved one,or an unplanned change in career. In each case you may have examined your deepest assumptions about how to live or what has meaning for you.

Everyday experience and psychology research both indicate that paying close attention to one thing can keep you from noticing something else.

However, a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests that attention does not have a fixed capacity - and that it can be improved by directed mental training, such as meditation.

Seeing and mentally processing something takes time and effort, says psychology and psychiatry professor Richard Davidson of the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health and the Waisman Center. Because a person has a finite amount of brainpower, paying close attention to one thing may mean the tradeoff of missing something that follows shortly thereafter. For example, when two visual signals are shown a half-second apart, people miss the second one much of the time.

A UCL (University College London) study has found that you are more likely to perform well if you do not think too hard and instead trust your instincts. The research, published online in the journal Current Biology, shows that, in some cases, instinctive snap decisions are more reliable than decisions taken using higher-level cognitive processes.

Participants, who were asked to pick the odd one out on a screen covered in over 650 identical symbols, including one rotated version of the same symbol, actually performed better when they were given no time at all to linger on the symbols and so were forced to rely entirely on their subconscious.

Memorizing a series of facts is one thing, understanding the big picture is quite another. Now a new study demonstrates that relational memory — the ability to make logical “big picture” inferences from disparate pieces of information � is dependent on taking a break from studies and learning, and even more important, getting a good night’s sleep.

Led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), the findings appear on-line in today’s Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Money changes everything, and that includes changing people’s motivations for the better and their behavior toward others for the worse, according to a new study published in the international journal Science.

Florida State University psychology graduate student Nicole Mead was among a group of researchers who found that the concept of money brings about a state of self-sufficiency that allows people to work harder and more independently to achieve personal goals but makes them more socially insensitive in the process.

“Money changes people’s motivations,” Mead said. “They want to work really hard to achieve their goals. Consequently, they are less focused on other people. In this sense, money can be a barrier to social intimacy.”

Powerful people view life through rose-colored glasses, with their more optimistic outlook ultimately leading them to engage in riskier behavior.

So says Cameron Anderson, an associate professor at the Haas School of Business. Anderson and his co-author, Adam Galinsky of Northwestern University, in an article published in the issue of the European Journal of Social Psychology demonstrate how a sense of power leads individuals to risk-seeking behavior.

The article, “Power, Optimism, and Risk-Taking,” is based on five separate studies the researchers conducted. Although the studies involved students, Anderson and Galinsky’s findings apply more broadly to a range of powerful individuals, from heads of state to CEOs to prominent community leaders.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to make a lot of money, according to new research. A nationwide study found that people of below average intelligence were, overall, just about as wealthy as those in similar circumstances but with higher scores on an IQ test.

A nationwide study found that people of below average intelligence were, overall, just about as wealthy as those in similar circumstances but with higher scores on an IQ test.

Furthermore, a number of extremely intelligent people stated they had gotten themselves into financial difficulty.

Top scientists team up with author to create the world’s largest ever mind-over-matter experiment.

Can our thoughts influence the world around us? This extraordinary possibility is being tested throughout 2007 in a series of mind-over-matter experiments that are being monitored by leading physicists.

Tens of thousands of volunteers from around the world are being recruited to participate in a series of web-based experiments, making it the largest mind-over-matter study in history.

The experiments are the brain-child of science writer Lynne McTaggart, whose new book The Intention Experiment forms the catalyst for the trials. The book is published in the New Year in the US, (Simon & Schuster) the UK (Harper Collins) and The Netherlands (Ankh-Hermes).