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.

So if you happen to have children or influence over motivated young individuals, one of the best habits which you can instill in them is to read books regularly.

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.

Harpending says there are provocative implications from the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: