Category Archives: Immortality Medicine

Mortality has tormented ourconsciousnesssince the first human witnessed death and realized his or her own eventual demise. The inevitability of death and speculation upon the nature of afterlife has always been an object of obsession for mystics and philosophers. For many cultures, mortality is one of the major qualities that separates humanity from the Gods. While humans are born, subjected to the will of nature and die, the gods of the ancients and the gods of today are usually characterized as immortal; immune to the darkness that awaits every man and woman. Naturally, the earliest storytellers and holy men dreamed of ways to become immortal as well.

In mythologies around the world, humans who achieve immortality are often regarded as gods, or as possessing god-like qualities. One of the earliest works of literature, the 22ndcentury B.C.E. Epic of Gilgamesh, focuses on a heros quest for immortality. In some traditions, immortality was bestowed by the gods themselves. Other times, a normal human would unlock alchemical secrets hidden in natural materials that stopped death in its tracks. According to the ancients, the secrets of immortality could be found within the Earth, on the moon, or even in your own back yard.

Lingzhi Mushroom (Via Wikimedia Commons)

Chinese alchemists spent centuries formulating elixirs of life. They were frequently commissioned by the Emperor, and experimented with things like toxic mercury, gold,sulfur and plants. The formula for gunpowder,sulfur, saltpeter and carbon wasoriginally an attempted elixir of immortality. Traditional Chinese medicine and early Chinese alchemy are closely related, and the use of plants, fungi and minerals in longevity formulas is still commonly practiced today.

As early as 475 BCE, Chinese texts reference the Mushroom of Immortality, a key ingredient in the elixir of life. The Lingzhi, literally translated as the Supernatural Mushroom, is the oldest known mushroom used medicinally. According to the 82ndcentury Book of Han, the Masters of Esoterica; alchemists; magicians, known as the Fangshi knew secret locations on Mount Penglai where the Lingzhi grew. Several Qin and Han Emperors sent large expeditions in search of a genuine mushroom of immortality, but none succeeded.

Though there are no historical accounts of someone actually achieving immortality from a Lingzhi mushroom, various species are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to this day. One species, theGanoderma Lucidum,produces Ganoderic Acid. This substance ismolecularlysimilar to steroid hormones. These could havea variety of medical applications, from balancingcholesterolto recovering frominjuries.

Amanita Muscaria (via)

According to the Rigveda, a collection of ancient Vedic hymns that are a cornerstone of Hinduism, Amrita is a drink that bestows immortality. In Hinduism and other traditions, it is also referred to as Soma. Indra, the god of heaven, and Agni, the god of fire, drink Amrita to attain immortality. After drinking the mysterious substance, they state:

We have drunk Soma and become immortal; we have attained the light, the Gods discovered.Now what may foemans malice do to harm us? What, O Immortal, mortal mans deception? (Rigveda 8.48.3)

There are many other references to Amrita and Soma across Hindu, Zoroastrian, and Indo-European texts. Ambrosia, the food of immortality of the Greek gods, is analagous with Amrita. They come from the same Indo-European root, n-mr-to, roughly translated as non-death. Similarly, the Greek drink of the gods, Nectar (Nktar), literally translates to Death (Nek) Overcoming (Tar). According to some Yogic traditions, Amrita can be released from the pituitary gland during deep meditation.

While the consumption of Amrita by humans is common in traditional texts, the knowledge of where to obtain it has been lost. It is undoubtedly a plant or fungus. Instructions for preparation involve pounding parts of the plant into a paste or to release juices. It is sometimes filtered through wool and mixed with cows milk before consumption. Like the Mushroom of Immortality, it is often described as growing in the mountains. While such detailed accounts exist,the true identity of Amrita was lost. Today, some Indian rituals include prayers apologizing to the Gods for the lack of Amrita.

Scientists, historians and shamans have speculated on the identity of the Amrita plant. Because of the spiritual experiences associated with Soma consumption, it is usually assumed to be entheogenic, producing an altered state of consciousness. Many anthropologists point to Fly Agaric (Amanita Muscaria), a mildly hallucinogenicmushroom widely used by Siberian shamans.

Ethnobotanist Terence McKenna believes Amrita may be the Psilocybe Cubensis, a hallucinogenic mushroom that grows in cow dung. Cows are often referred to as the embodiment of soma in Vedic literature. Some, like McKenna, postulate that the P. Cubensis is responsible for the elevation of cows to sacred status in Hindu culture. McKenna and other hands-on ethnobotanists report little to no psychedelic effect from the Amanita Muscaria mushroom, concluding that the more potent P. Cubensis is a more probable candidate.

Others believe Amrita is derived from a plant in the Ephedra genus. These have been widely used in Zoroastrian communities of Iran, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and modernpharmaceuticals. The Ephedra plants contain Ephedrine andPseudoephedrine, which are chemically similar to methamphetamine and act as stimulants and appetitesuppressants. Ephedra plantsare also traditionally used to treat low blood pressure.

In 2003,archaeologistViktor Sarianidi claimed to have discovered vessels used for the preparation of Soma in a site in Bactria (present day Afghanistan). The claims were neververified by other academic sources, but according to Sarianidi, the vessels contained residue of Ephedra, Poppy, and Cannabis. These ingredients wouldundoubtedlycreate an altered state of consciousness if prepared properly, and are all native to the region where Soma is most sacred.

The Egyptian God Thoth (via)

The idea of ingesting liquid metals for longevity is present in alchemical traditions from China to Mesopotamia to Europe. The logic of the ancients suggested that consuming something imbued the body with the qualities of whatever was consumed. Since metals are strong and seemingly permanent andindestructible, it was only rational that whoever ate metalwould become permanent andindestructible.

Mercury, a metal that is a liquid at room temperature, fascinated ancient alchemists. Mercury is also highly toxic, and many died after experimenting with it. Mercury is named for the Roman analogue of the Greek God Hermes and Egyptian Thoth. Some relate these to the legendary philosopher Hermes Trismegistus, thepurportedauthor of the HermeticCorpus. All of these similar figures are said to have consumed Liquid Gold or White Drops to achieve immortality. Stories like this obsessed ancient and medieval alchemists who sought to suspend gold in a drinkable liquid state or merge gold and mercury.

Other than gold and mercury, arsenic was another paradoxical ingredient in many elixirs of life. Toxicity was so common among ancient Chinese Emperors that British historian Joseph Needham compiled a list of Emperors who probably died from elixir poisoning. Jade, cinnabar, and hematite, other long-lasting minerals with unique physical properties, were used at times in longevity potions.

Saint Germain (via Wikimedia Commons)

The chief goal of every Medieval alchemist was the creation of the Philosophers Stone. Efforts to discover the Stone were collectively called the Magnum Opus, or Great Work. The Philosophers Stone is said to turn basic metals like lead into precious metals like gold and silver. It also produces immortality. In some legends, possession of the Stone alone grants unending life. In others, the Stone is used to synthesize the Elixir of Life. The Philosophers Stone symbolizes perfection, enlightenment, and bliss.

The Philosophers Stone arose from classical Greek theories of the four elements. According to PlatosTimaeus,Earth, Air, Fire, and Water were derived fromprima materia,or first matter. Prima Materia is regarded as chaos, the source of everything. Alchemists believed Prima Materia was the key to the Philosophers Stone, and sought to replicate it through a delicate balance of ingredients representing the four cardinal elements.

Similar to the Five Element System of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the four elements were assigned qualities of heat, cold, dryness, and moisture by 8thcentury alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan. He believed altering the base qualities of a substance could transform it into a new substance altogether, but it needed a catalyst. Similar to Prima Materia, he called this theoretical catalyst al-iksir, the root of the Western term Elixir.

There are a few legends of individuals actually succeeding in the creation of the Philosophers Stone or Elixir of Life. 13thCentury polymath Albertus Magnus is rumored to have given the Stone to Thomas Aquinas shortly before his death. Magnuss writings also claim that he witnessed the transmutation of lead into gold. The mysterious 18thcentury nobleman Comte de St. Germaine was believed by some to possess the Elixir of Life. According to legends that were probably spread St. Germaine himself, he was actually hundreds of years old.

Another historical figure reputed to have created the Philosophers Stone was Nicholas Flamel. The historical Flamel was a successful French bookseller who lived from 1330 to 1418. Almost two hundred years after his death, texts surfaced that were attributed to Flamel. According to these texts, Flamel learned alchemical secrets from Jewish alchemists while traveling in Spain, and that he had obtained an original copy of the Book of Abramelin the Mage. The texts claimed Flamel possessed the elixir of life and the secrets of transmutation, and that he was probably still alive. Many believe these legends were created by 17thcentury editors to sell more books.

A lesser-known legend claims that the Philosophers Stone is in a creek in Philadelphia. A 17thgroup called the Society of the Woman in the Wilderness settled in the woods outside of Philadelphias Germantown section. The group was led by German pietist and occultist Johannes Kelpius, who believed the world would end in 1694. The group spent much of its time in peaceful meditation in caves and modest homes on the outskirts of the city. After Kelpiuss death, some of his students claimed that he had been the guardian of the Philosophers Stone, which he kept hidden in his meditation cave. Immediately before his death, it is said he ordered his students to toss the stone into the nearby Wissahickon Creek. The cave is still accessible, and is marked as a historic site today.

Many scholars recognize the process of transmutation as something that occurs internally. Much of the physical formulas of alchemy are believed to represent the journey of insight and spiritual development. The Philosophers Stone may never have actually existed, but the representation of enlightenment, bliss, and transformation is akin to Buddhist Nirvana. The Philosophers Stone as a symbol of the knowledge of psychic alchemy is more powerful than gold or bodily permanence. It can be spread through time & space in the form of written words or oral traditions and allow willing listeners to transcend mundane reality.

Moon Rabbit (via)

While the West anthropomorphized the lunar surface into a Man on the Moon, many Eastern cultures imagine a Moon Rabbit. In China, Japan, and Korea, the Moon Rabbit is visualized as using a mortar and pestle. In Chinese mythology, the Moon Rabbit is mixing the elixir of immortality. Chinese Folklore portrays the Moon Rabbit as the companion of Change, a goddess who also lives on the moon. Change herself, in some stories as a mortal human and in some an outcast deity, consumed too much elixir of immortality and floated to the moon. Other stories say she consumed the Elixir to float to the moon & escape her husband.

Today, Change and the Moon Rabbit are worshiped on Mid-Autumn Day, the full moon of the eighth lunar month. An open-air altar is set up facing the moon with fresh pastries to absorb her blessing. The blessing of Change is said to bestow beauty, and naturally, longevity. Japanese and Korean traditions also imagine the Moon Rabbit. Instead of Immortality Elixir, this Moon Rabbit is pounding a simple rice cake with his mortar and pestle. Most likely, the myth of the Moon Rabbit originated in China during the Immortality Elixir craze of the Han and Qin dynasties.

Interest in immortality faded with the rise of Buddhism, which promised spiritual immortality that transcended the physical world. Much of Chinas contact with Japan and Korea involved Chinese Buddhist monks. These monks brought with them many Chinese ideas and customs, and possibly the Moon Rabbit. With little interest in immortality elixirs, the Japanese and Korean rabbits preferred rice cakes.

These are just some of the ancient legends surrounding immortality. What they truly meant, we may never know.

More here:
5 Ancient Legends About the Secret of Immortality

If you're alive in 20 years, you may be able to live forever.

Viewzone

In 1786, average life expectancy was just 24 years. A hundred years later (1886) it doubled to 48. Right now a newborn can expect to live an average of 76 years. With recent discoveries in biology, many scientists predict that life expectancy will continue to triple-digits. In fact, if they are correct, humans shouldn't have to die at all in the future.

"Over half the baby boomers here in America are going to see their hundredth birthday and beyond in excellent health. We're looking at life spans for the baby boomers and the generation after the baby boomers of 120 to 150 years of age." -- Dr. Ronald Klatz of the American Academy of Anti-Aging.

Today's quest for the fountain of youth is taking scientists inside the genetic structure of cells and paying less attention to the role of stress and diet on life spans. Would-be immortals flock to anti-aging clinics and shell out as much as $20,000 a year for treatments that include hormone therapy, DNA analysis, even anti-aging cosmetic surgery. These experimental therapies offer no guarantees of immortality -- just the promise of prolonging life.

"Anti-aging medicine is not about stretching out the last years of life. It's about stretching out the middle years of life... and actually compressing those last years few years of life so that diseases of aging happen very, very late in the life cycle, just before death, or don't happen at all." -- Dr. Klatz.

Why do we age and die?

The cause of what we call "aging" is now being understood. This new understanding may soon move anti-aging cosmetics and surgery to the ranks of snake oil and Siberian yogurt as life-extension fads -- but not yet. There are a few obstacles that need to be addressed.

Just when you thought that holographic TV and outer space travel were on the future horizon of modern technology, immortality has silently been revealing itself to scientists like Doctor John Langmore [right] of the University of Michigan's Department of Biology.

Dr. Langmore and his group looked inside human cells, at the very essence of human life: the DNA molecule. Specifically, Dr. Langmore looked at the tips of the DNA molecule -- a previously overlooked part of the double-helix molecule -- that contain a kind of chain of repeating pairs of enzymes.

Called telomeres, these molecular chains have often been compared to the blank leaders on film and recording tape. Indeed, telomeres seem to perform a similar function. During the replication process the spiral DNA molecule must split in half and reassemble a copy of itself. Protecting the vital DNA molecule from being copied out of synch, telomeres provide a kind of buffer zone where mis-alignments (which are inevitable) will not result in any of the important DNA code being lost.

Perhaps the best analogy I have heard is to compare the telomeres to the white margin surrounding an important type written document. In this analogy, the printed text is the vital DNA code while the white space is the "blank" telomeres. Imagine that this paper is repeatedly slapped on a copy machine, a copy is made, and then that copy is used to make another copy. Each time the paper is subject to errors of alignment and these errors accumulate. After enough copying, it is probable that the white space will diminish and some of the actual text will not be copied. That's what happens inside our cells and it is the reason we get old and die.

As any cell gets older, it is under attack by oxides and free-radicals in the body and environment. We survive as living beings because our cells have the ability to duplicate and replace themselves before being killed by these natural causes. Each time our cells divide, the DNA molecule makes a new copy of itself.

[Right: DNA is a complex molecule that resembles a spiral ladder. When it divides, it splits along the "rungs" then each half of this "ladder" rebuilds the missing half -- viola! -- two DNA molecules. Now the cell can divide. The old cell dies and the new cell continues on.]

But the procedure is very complex and not perfect. Usually a small portion of the DNA molecule is lost, misaligned and not copied. Since errors are more frequent on the ends of the DNA molecule, this area, the telomere, does not contain any important DNA information and the effect is insignificant.

Telomeres -- programmed to die!

Scientists observe that the length of telomere chains becomes shorter as we grow older. Eventually the telomeres become so short that cell replication produces lethal errors or missing pieces in the DNA sequence, ending the cell's ability to replace itself. This point, when the cell has lost vital DNA code and cannot reproduce, is called the Hayflick limit. It's the measure of how many times a cell can copy itself before it dies.

Some cells in our body have a very high hayflick limit. Cells that line the inside of your mouth and intestines, for example, are constantly being worn away and replaced. Indeed these cells appear to have the ability to regrow telomeres even in aged bodies. Scientists were curious why some cells shut down telomere growth with age, and some do not.

Dr. Langmore used physical, biochemical, and genetic techniques to study the structure and function of telomeres. His group developed a cell-free system to reconstitute functional model telomeres using synthetic DNA, and studied the mechanism by which telomeres normally stabilize chromosomes and how shortening of the telomeres could cause instability.

The protein factors responsible for stabilizing the ends of chromosomes are being identified, cloned, and studied. Electron microscopy is used to directly visualize the structure of the model telomeres. Dr. Langmore's group used new enzymatic assays to determine the structure of telomere DNA in normal and abnormal cells grown in vivo and in vitro, in order to address specific hypotheses about the role of telomeres in aging and cancer. It's exciting research, for sure, and there have been some promising discoveries.

Scientists have discovered an important enzyme that can turn the telomere production on the DNA molecule "on" and "off." It's called telomerase. Not surprisingly, it seems that as we get older, the amount of telomerase in our cells decreases.

The Cancer Problem

You might be wondering why biologists don't simply find a way to keep our body's telomeres long. This would prevent replication errors and humans could live indefinitely. The big problem is cancer.

Usually, if a cell makes an error in copying itself, the error will prevent the cell from duplicating itself in the future. So the mistake is limited. But with cancer, cells with errors somehow "turn on" the production of telomerase and make the mutant cell immortal. Now, aberrant cells can reproduce unchecked and outlive normal cells. This is the process that creates tumors.

Since we all have mutant, pre-cancerous cells in our bodies, nature has decided to shut off the telomerase as we age, thus preventing these mutant cells from growing telomeres. It's a kind of programmed death -- a trade off to reduce our lifespan in order to save us from being riddled with tumors. Nevertheless, some pre-cancerous cells manage to re-activate their telomeres and this has caused the research to focus more on blocking telomere production rather than trying to extend it.

[Right: A 3-d rendering of the telomerase enzyme.] The molecular structure shows an interesting "groove" (show in green) where the enzyme attaches to the end of the DNA molecule.

Ant-cancer researchers believe that by introducing a molecule to block this groove, the telomerase would become unable to attach itself to the DNA and thereby limit the length of telomere production. While this work holds hope for stopping tumor cells from reproducing forever, it does little to extend healthy cells from being rejuvinated. However, if the molecular "blocker" could specifically target only cancerous cells, without blocking telomerase activity in healthy cells, it could be a step towards human life extension if and when a pharmaceutical can be developed that activates telomerase in the human body. [4]

Viewzone asked Dr. Langmore to give us his thoughts on the role of telomerase, and the possibilities of using it to repair and lengthen telomeres in human cells. His comments follow:

Telomeres are special, essential DNA sequences at both ends of each chromosome. Each time chromosomes replicate a small amount of the DNA at both ends is lost, by an uncertain mechanism. Because human telomeres shorten at a much faster rate than many lower organisms, we speculate that this telomere shortening probably has a beneficial effect for humans, namely mortality. The telomere hypothesis of aging postulates that as the telomeres naturally shorten during the lifetime of an individual, a signal or set of signals is given to the cells to cause the cells to cease growing (senesce). At birth, human telomeres are about 10,000 base pairs long, but by 100 years of age this has been reduced to about 5,000 base pairs.

Telomerase is actually an enzyme (a catalytic protein) that is able to arrest or reverse this shortening process. Normally, telomerase is only used to increase the length of telomeres during the formation of sperm and perhaps eggs, thus ensuring that our offspring inherit long "young" telomeres to propagate the species.

Dr. Langmore: The telomere hypothesis of cancer is that the function of telomere shortening is to cause cells that have lost normal control over growth to senesce (i.e. stop growing) before being able to replicate enough times to become a tumor, thus decreasing the frequency of cancer.

Immortal cells like cancer have an unfair advantage over normal human cells which are designed to senesce. But nature seems to have planned this human telomere shortening perhaps to prolong life by hindering the otherwise unchecked growth of non-immortal or benign tumors. Malignant, or immortal tumors can simply outlive the rest of the organism.

Malignant cancer cells are being studied because they appear to have altered the shortening of telomeres by turning "on" the telomerase. Thus it appears that some cancers and aging are both connected with the biology of telomeres.

It is possible that increasing telomerase activity in normal cells might stop the biological clock of aging, yet the side effect of this intervention might be an increase in the rate of cancer. Further understanding and refinement in the telomere hypothesis might lead to a way to slow the aging process and prevent or arrest cancer.

However telomeres function, they are an integral part in the very complex process of cell growth, involving many other factors as well. Telomerase might be the Achilles Heal of aging and cancer, but as our understanding of factors that interact with telomerase, factors that are responsible for telomere shortening in the first place, and non-telomerase mechanisms for increasing the length of telomeres, we might find that one of these factors is more easily manipulated to slow aging or prevent cancer. Also there are additional factors that affect aging and cancer, which might prove in the end to be more important than telomeres and telomerase.

ViewZone: Are telomeres unique to individual DNA? If so, does this preclude any universal treatment for aging?

Dr. Langmore: Different individuals have telomeres with exactly the same DNA sequence but of different lengths. It is too early to say whether there is any relationship between telomere length in an individual and his or her life expectancy, or whether a treatment that would artificially lengthen telomeres would arrest (or reverse) the aging process. One problem is that even in one individual the telomeres of different chromosomes have very different lengths. Therefore an individual might have on average long telomeres; but, he might have one chromosome with a very short telomere that could affect cell growth.

ViewZone: In the work of Shay and Wright (see below), increased telomere length was positively associated with telomerase. How significant is this?

Dr. Langmore: Shay, Wright and all their many collaborators stimulated telomerase activity in normal cells. This was expected to 1) Increase the length of telomeres and 2) Prolong the lifetime of the cells in tissue culture. The treatment did both, in perfect agreement with the telomere hypothesis of aging.

ViewZone: How much was cell lifetime prolonged due to this treatment that reactivated telomerase?

Dr. Langmore: The increased proliferation of the cells was perhaps equivalent to hundreds of years of human life.

Dr. Langmore received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Chicago in 1975. He has held postdoctoral fellowships at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge and at the University of Basel.

[Above:] One of the more surprising developments in telomere structure was the discovery by collaborative efforts from Jack Griffith's and Titia de Lange's groups that mammalian telomeres looped back on themselves to form large lariat-like structures, called t-loops (Griffith et al., 1999).

This structure may help to conceal the end of the molecule from DNA damage surveillance mechanisms and guard against recognition of the chromosome terminus as a double-strand break. [11]

More links to cancer

In the March 15 issue of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Journal, Dr. Jerry Shay and Dr. Woodring Wright, both professors of cell biology and neuroscience at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, report manipulating the length of telomeres to alter the life span of human cells. Shay and Wright are the first to report this important finding. They received an Allied-Signal Award for Research on Aging to explore this line of research last year.

"By lengthening the telomere, we were able to extend the life of the cell hybrids," Wright explained. "This study is strong evidence that telomere length is the clock that counts cell divisions."

"The expression of the enzyme telomerase maintains stable telomere length. Telomerase is not detected in normal cells and telomeres shorten and then the cells stop dividing and enter a phase called cellular senescence."

Shay and Wright have shown in earlier studies that telomeres maintain their length in almost all human cancer cell lines. This correlated with inappropriate expression of telomerase and as a consequence allowed the cell to become "immortal." Cell immortality is a critical and perhaps rate-limiting step for almost all cancers to progress. Previous work by the UT Southwestern investigators showed that in a special group of advanced pediatric cancers the lack of telomerase activity correlated with critically shortened telomeres and cancer remission.

Naturally, the exploration of this enzyme is now the focus of much investigation, but for now the research is aimed at understanding how to turn telomeres "off" to limit the spread of "immortal" cancer cells.

Abnormally high levels of telomerase have been found in cancerous breast cells and have been evident in many kinds of tumors.[1]

Consequently, an idea gaining momentum is that the ability to measure and perhaps alter telomere length and/or telomerase activity may give physicians new diagnostic and treatment tools for managing the care of patients with cancer.

Shay and Wright tried to alter already-immortal cells by attempting to inhibit telomerase activity and cause telomeres to shorten. "Unexpectedly, we found the opposite result. Rather than inhibiting telomerase, our treatment caused the immortal cells to develop longer telomeres," Shay explained. "Although we were surprised with the result, we now know there is a causal relationship between telomere length and the proliferate capacity of cells.

"Essentially, we combined the tumor cells containing experimentally elongated telomeres with normal cells and extended the life span of those cell hybrids compared to similar hybrids using cells without experimentally elongated telomeres."

Shay and Wright said the mechanism that causes telomeres to lengthen is still unclear. However, Shay said, "Our observations increase confidence in the hypothesis that immortal cells and reactivated telomerase are essential components of human tumors. Ultimately, we may be able to regulate tumor cells by inhibiting telomerase activity."

The potential implications for research on human aging also are significant. "It is still speculative, but understanding the role of telomere shortening in cell aging may give us the information we need to increase the life span of an organism," Wright said. (News Releases from UT Southwestern)

Read the original:
Why We Get Old: Programmed to die?

The ubiquity of smartphones has fundamentally changed the way we live our lives. And now, thanks to advancements in wireless technology, smartphones are uniquely positioned to change the way we stay alive.

Today, many patients and doctors are using smartphones as a health care tool. Worried about that rash on your arm? You might be able to snap a photo and send it to your dermatologist. Need to go over your medical history with a new doctor? You could pull up your record on your phone for her perusal. Concerned about chest pains? Theres an EKG app for that.

The smartphone is the future of medicine, says cardiologist and digital medicine researcher Eric Topol. All of [your] medical data [can be] captured in the wild, in the real world. Relevant medical data is coming into your phone. That helps [doctors and patients] to get a handle on virtually all medical conditions and monitor them on a continuous basis.

To highlight the way smartphones and wireless technology are improving our health and saving lives, weve partnered with Qualcomm to take a look at just how much of the future of medicine is in the palm of our hands.

Changing the Model

In the past, doctors were seen as the sole gatekeepers to a patients well-being. They had the education and the experience to make the appropriate diagnosis, the thinking went. As such, they didnt need much input from their patients besides their test results.

But there was a shift in the 20th century to a more patient-focused brand of medicine. Care is better when it recognizes what patients' problems are rather than what the diagnosis is, a 2011 article in The Permanente Journal said. A major failure of primary care is the great underestimation of the importance of long-term relationships with patients independent of care for specific disease episodes.

Smartphones have now brought information into the hands of patients. Thanks to mobile sensors and an array of health-focused apps, people can now measure and monitor data that help make up their health profiles. Weve become inundated with apps that help us eat, travel and bank better. Now were beginning to see health care apps that provide similar types of guidance.

Changing the Way We Communicate

This level of insight and access to data is powerful. We can use data about our bodies to tell us a lot of things, statistician Talithia Williams said during a TED talk on owning your bodys data. Medical doctors [are] experts on the population, but you are the expert on yourself. And so when two of you come together, when two experts come together, the two of you are able to make a better decision than just your doctor alone.

Justin Williams, founder of Data Minded Solutions, a health care technology company, agrees: For the first time, we have the ability to have meaningful and evidence-based interactions with health care providers.

Patients can also have a deeper context for their health today. When his blood glucose lab results hadnt reached his doctor in time for a scheduled appointment, Steve Malik, founder of Medfusion, an app that displays your medical history at a swipe, could bring it up on his smartphone. So when I was getting that talk we all get from our doctors about the three or four things we need to do, I had context, Malik says. I think thats a big part of taking ownership of [your health].

Having that data can be very empowering for people they can begin to have informed discussions with their health care providers about their health and any necessary interventions from a position of greater awareness. They carry both their own and their familys health data in their hands.

Smartphones and wireless technology have also changed the way physicians communicate with their patients. An estimated 3 million people will have their health monitored via mobile networks, and 142 million health apps will be downloaded in 2016, according to Cognizant, a global consultant on business and technology services. E-visits having a doctors appointment via a smartphone or mobile on-demand app are not out of the ordinary. (Deloitte estimates there were 100 million such visits worldwide last year.)

Changing the Way We Receive Care

There are now multitudes of different apps and sensors that can be attached to your smartphone to retrieve your health data. As Topol puts it, The mobile device has just become a Swiss Army knife of tremendous potential.

California-based company Scanadu has developed a sensor that captures important physiological data -- from heart rate and temperature to detailed blood information -- simply by placing it to your forehead. The company is also working on a urine test kit that can provide data on your liver and kidney functions; a smartphone app quickly processes and explains the test results. The University of Washingtondeveloped ApneaApp can wirelessly test for sleep apnea while a patient is asleep by capturing sound waves through a phones speaker to track breathing patterns. (It is expected to be available to consumers within the next two years.)

Not only does this type of wireless technology have the potential to make health care more accessibleit could also make it cheaper for both consumers and insurance companies. This is especially important, as Americans spent around $2.9 trillion on health care in 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Topol recently had a patient who called him with concerns about his heart rate. Usually, Topol wouldve been able to diagnose his patient wirelessly with the help of a $69 electrocardiogram app. But the patient didnt have the app downloaded, and he went to the ER instead, where Topol met him.

Before he ever got into the actual emergency room, I had him put his fingers on my smartphone, did the cardiogram, and I diagnosed what it was, he said.

After a night at the hospital and a battery of tests, the patient was given the same medication Topol would have prescribed with the help of an app. His bill for the emergency room? We're talking several thousand dollars. And all of this could have been [avoided with] a $69 app that he has now, Topol said with a wry laugh.

Changing the Way We Monitor Our Health

With this type of data within our reach, were just at the beginning of a medical revolution. But its definitely coming, experts say.

Not only do people want a consolidated health record in their pocket, said Medfusion founder Malik, they also want to be notified on their wrist if it's time to take a med or that a lab result came in. When you add in the whole sensor capability, it really gives you an idea of where we're going.

And wheres that? A healthier and more empowered future for more people, thanks to the everyday wonder of a smartphone.

Qualcomm believes that we must challenge what we see today, so we can invent the technologies that will shape our tomorrow. To learn more about our Why Wait campaign, click here.

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How Mankind Is Inching Ever Closer To Immortality Through ...

Big Think

Within 10 years, everyone will have a digital copy of their genome for just $1000, and by comparing millions of these codes, we may find the cure for aging and many other diseases.

Michio Kaku: Now because computer power keeps doubling every 18 months, it means that that will affect biology; specifically genomics, meaning that within 10 years time, I expect us to have a CD-ROM with every single gene in our body costing about $1,000. Today, to sequence every gene in your body would cost $50,000. That is the cheapest you can sequence every single gene in your body. Because of Moore's Law because things are being computer powered, it will be cheaper and cheaper, it means that within a 10-year period of time it means that that genomics will cost may be just about a thousand dollars and that will be the basis of all your medicine. Which means that we'll be able to scan millions of genomes with a computer that can create a revolution in how we numerically analyze genes. For example, let's say we have a million old people and a million young people, we sequenced genes of old people, sequenced the genomes of young people because all of them have a CD-ROM, and we subtract. That allows you to isolate where aging takes place, specifically which genes are damaged in the aging process. Think of a car. Where does aging take place car? Well, the engine, why? Because that's where combustion takes place, that's where we have the gum of deposits and soot buildup in the engine because that's where oxidation takes place. But where does oxidation takes place in itself? The mitochondria. The mitochondrion is the engine of the cell. So we now know where aging takes place. And by scanning the genes, we can look at the genes of the mitochondria and be able to repair some of those genes. And that could open up a whole new realm of biology. In other words, biology will be reduced to computer science.

Michio Kaku: Now because computer power keeps doubling every 18 months, it means that that will affect biology; specifically genomics, meaning that within 10 years time, I expect us to have a CD-ROM with every single gene in our body costing about $1,000. Today, to sequence every gene in your body would cost $50,000. That is the cheapest you can sequence every single gene in your body. Because of Moore's Law because things are being computer powered, it will be cheaper and cheaper, it means that within a 10-year period of time it means that that genomics will cost may be just about a thousand dollars and that will be the basis of all your medicine. Which means that we'll be able to scan millions of genomes with a computer that can create a revolution in how we numerically analyze genes. For example, let's say we have a million old people and a million young people, we sequenced genes of old people, sequenced the genomes of young people because all of them have a CD-ROM, and we subtract. That allows you to isolate where aging takes place, specifically which genes are damaged in the aging process. Think of a car. Where does aging take place car? Well, the engine, why? Because that's where combustion takes place, that's where we have the gum of deposits and soot buildup in the engine because that's where oxidation takes place. But where does oxidation takes place in itself? The mitochondria. The mitochondrion is the engine of the cell. So we now know where aging takes place. And by scanning the genes, we can look at the genes of the mitochondria and be able to repair some of those genes. And that could open up a whole new realm of biology. In other words, biology will be reduced to computer science.

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Michio Kaku: Genetics: The Key to Immortality? - YouTube

If you're reading this, congratulations on having achieved the primary goal with which we begin each day: You have avoided death.

We're big on this idea of not dying. We love stories of immortal vampires and invincible superheroes, each of us wishing on some level that was us. If we didn't have to worry about death, we could finally get shit done.

But could we? If you take a moment to think about it, you realize immortality is grossly overrated.

Contrary to what many people believe, humans are still evolving. That's not a big deal if you have the kind of immortality that only lasts 1,000 or 2,000 years, but of course real immortality means you'll still be walking the earth, in your current body, a million years from now.

Science has no idea where future mutations might lead us by that point, so it's anyone's guess what your neighbors will look like in the future. You, on the other hand, will be walking around as the future equivalent of this:

Their bodies and brains are going to continue to adapt to an ever-changing world. Yours won't. Will your digestive system be able to handle the same food they eat? Will your brain enjoy the same entertainment? Will your non-evolved tongue even be able to speak the languages they speak in the year one million AD? Would an unfrozen caveman be able to do all of that now?

One thing we do know: You won't be getting any lovin'. It turns out that mother nature hates inter-species breeding, and is such a big cockblocker that science had to come up with a name to describe it: Reproductive Isolation. It's the reason there aren't packs of ligers or centaurs roaming around.

Basically, it's nature's complicated "the triangle doesn't go in the square hole" law, with a bunch of subset rules that will kill off your children if you decide to take a hammer to the triangle. Meaning that as that species further evolves, there is no possible chance for you to create a new species closer to your own that you could stand to look at for five minutes.

Of course, that's assuming that you're even safe walking around among the members of this new freak species. Will they treat you like a novelty and cast you in hilarious insurance commercials, like the Geico cavemen? Or will they do to you what current humans would do if they finally caught Sasquatch roaming around through the forests (that is, stick you in a zoo)? Though whatever the freak-species decides to do with you won't be as bad as no sex for the rest of your life. Who knows, maybe someone will decide to make you the donkey in their next show.

And it's probably irrelevant, since your inability to make friends with mortals will go out the window long before then...

Let's say some kid goes rummaging around in your basement, finds that witch's old portrait of you and discovers that you are immortal. Word spreads and suddenly you're famous the world over. Sure, a lot of people might not buy the story at first, but folks have become famous for much less.

Sounds pretty sweet, right? Probably get a reality show out of it. But that's just scratching the surface. You're not just going to be famous; you're going to be a god. You have eternal life, which means you must know the secret to eternal life, which means you will immediately be the center of the world's newest and most popular religion. You'll be like a guy revealing himself to be Jesus, and proving it. Why would anyone continue to worship an invisible deity when they have a god walking around amongst them? Each morning your yard will be packed full of several thousand terminally ill people, or parents with their sick kids, asking you to grant them the same immortality you have.

That, of course, is assuming a government or crime syndicate doesn't get to you first. Literally every powerful and wealthy person on Earth will decide that in your veins pumps the one thing they can't buy: freedom from death. They're not going to stop until they've spent every penny they can spare to see if they can turn your blood and organs into unending life for themselves. Think about the wars that are being fought over oil. The secret to eternal life would be worth far, far more.

So we're not talking about the occasional blood test and urine sample here and there while they let you stay in some five-star facility. It's more like you getting kidnapped and kept in some damp underground shack away from any civilization while they go balls out on your organs E.T.-style.

"Just contact our concierge if you need anything."

Get comfortable, because since nobody will know where you are, they can keep you there for as long as they want.

But let's say you give them the slip, and successfully keep your secret under wraps with a series of new identities. It's going to get awfully hard to keep track of all of them, because...

We're not saying that if you were to be magically granted immortality, you'd eventually get Alzheimer's anyway--we assume that the Elixir of Life you sipped will keep your brain physically young just like the rest of you. We're saying it won't matter.

Imagine if your cell phone number changed every week, and every week you were forced to memorize the new one. It gets exponentially harder because all of those old numbers are still in your memory, clogging up the works. Then imagine someone asked you to instantly recall the number you had five numbers ago.

"Wait! It had a six in it."

That's one reason your memory degrades as you get older. Your brain and its ability to store and recall memories is limited, but the amount of stuff you're asking it to remember keeps piling up over the decades.

That's a problem because your brain relies on not just storing information, but being able to rapidly recall it at a moment's notice. As time goes on, more and more memories pile up, along with names and dates and birthdays and anniversaries. Your brain can keep all that stuff organized for a while (say, the span of most of a normal human lifetime) but it's not like you can go into your brain and just delete files like cleaning up a hard drive. So useless stuff starts accumulating, clogging up the works and slowing everything down, like all those toolbars on your mom's Internet browser.

"Thanks, Yahoo!"

Your immortal life and experiences may be infinite, but your brain's ability to store and recall them is not. It wouldn't be very long before your brain is piled up with junk like one of the houses on Hoarders. Your body will be young, but you'll still be forgetting people's names and telling the same jokes to the same person twice in one day. Though you'll still be perfectly capable of giving a grumpy speech on where you were when the World Trade Center was destroyed and how kids in the future have it so easy.

And, even if you find a way around this, you still have to deal with the fact that...

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5 Reasons Immortality Would be Worse than Death | Cracked.com

National Geographic did a special on Forever Young: The Fountain of Youth, Who has it an what do U have to say. They came out to my Yoga Ashram in San Diego Mtns & I shared w/ them the age old secret to youthification. The Show did little to really share w/ the audience all the aspects to this practice. I shared 3 days an 12 hours!, of filming the truth I had to share. I'm disappointed that the show did not make the point I was sharing. They left out 95% of the yoga practices an teachings. Oh well U can't expect that they would want everyone to know the truth for example that your own urine can be the only medicine U will ever need as long as U accompany it w/ proper diet or FASTING. So I would like to share more information so SUBSCRIBE & I shall do more informative videos later.

Yogi Zen Facebook me: Yogi Zen Or Caveman Yogi

Call to speak to our team at the school. 310 266 5229

Email Yogi @ Yogaswinger @hotmail.com

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NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: FEATURING YOGI ZEN & THE ELIXER OF ...

This Norse brooch of the 600s shows Jormungand, the serpent that encircles the world in Norse mythology. In one story, the god Thor tries to drain the ocean and remove the World Serpent.

Serpents and snakes play a role in many of the world's myths and legends. Sometimes these mythic beasts appear as ordinary snakes. At other times, they take on magical or monstrous forms. Serpents and snakes have long been associated with good as well as with evil, representing both life and death, creation and destruction.

Serpents and Snakes as Symbols. In religion, mythology, and literature, serpents and snakes often stand for fertility or a creative life forcepartly because the creatures can be seen as symbols of the male sex organ. They have also been associated with water and earth because many kinds of snakes live in the water or in holes in the ground. The ancient Chinese connected serpents with life-giving rain. Traditional beliefs in Australia, India, North America, and Africa have linked snakes with rainbows, which in turn are often related to rain and fertility.

As snakes grow, many of them shed their skin at various times, revealing a shiny new skin underneath. For this reason snakes have become symbols of rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing. The ancient Greeks considered snakes sacred to Asclepius, the god of medicine. He carried a caduceus, a staff with one or two serpents wrapped around it, which has become the symbol of modern physicians.

For both the Greeks and the Egyptians, the snake represented eternity. Ouroboros, the Greek symbol of eternity, consisted of a snake curled into a circle or hoop, biting its own tail. The Ouroboros grew out of the belief that serpents eat themselves and are reborn from themselves in an endless cycle of destruction and creation.

immortality ability to live forever

underworld land of the dead

Living on and in the ground, serpents came to be seen in some religions and mythologies as guardians of the underworld. In this role they could represent hidden wisdom or sacred mysteries, but they also had other, more sinister meanings. The use of serpents

Snakes appear in the myths and legends of the Aborigines of Australia. This wall painting located near the town of Kuranda, Queensland, shows a snake among many different animals.

The Nagas of Hindu and Buddhist mythology show how serpents can symbolize both good and evil, hopes and fears. Although these snake gods could take any shape, including a fully human one, they often appeared as human heads on serpent bodies. The Nagas lived in underwater or underground kingdoms. They controlled rainfall and interacted with deities and humans in a variety of ways. Some were good, such as Muchalinda, the snake king who shielded Buddha from a storm. Others could be cruel and vengeful.

Serpents and Snakes in Myths. Many mythical creatures, such as dragons, combine snakelike qualities with features of humans or animals. In Greek mythology, Echidna was a half-woman, half-serpent monster whose offspring included several dragons. Cecrops had a man's head and chest on a snake's body and was a culture hero to the Athenians. In Toltec and Aztec mythology, Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, held an important place. In medieval Europe, people told tales of the basilisk, a serpent with a dragon's body that could kill merely by looking at or breathing on its victims. Melusina, another figure in European folklore, was part woman, part fish and snake and had to spend one day each week in water.

deity god or goddess

culture hero mythical figure who gives people the tools of civilization, such as language and fire

medieval relating to the Middle Ages in Europe, a period from about A.D. 500 to 1500

Myths that emphasized the frightening or evil aspects of serpents and snakes often portrayed them as the enemies of deities and humans. The Greek hero Perseus rescued Andromeda, who was chained to a rock, by slaying a sea monster that threatened to eat her. In Norse* mythology, a monster called the Midgard serpentalso known as Jormungandwas wrapped around the earth, biting its tail. Thor* battled the serpent, which lived in the sea, where its movements caused storms around the world. Another Norse monster, the Nidhogg or dread biter, was an evil serpent coiled around one of the roots of Yggdrasill, the World Tree. It was forever trying to destroy the tree by biting or squeezing it.

* See Names and Places at the end of this volume for further information.

In the mythology of ancient Egypt, Apopis was a demon of chaos who appeared in the form of a serpent. Each night he attacked Ra*, the sun god. But Mehen, another huge serpent, coiled himself around Ra's sun boat to protect the god from Apopisa perfect illustration of how snakes can be symbols of both good and evil in mythology.

Mythological snakes that act as forces of good have various roles, such as creating the world, protecting it, or helping humans. Stories of the Fon people of West Africa tell of Da, a serpent whose 3,500 coils support the cosmic ocean in which the earth floats. Another 3,500 of its coils support the sky. Humans occasionally catch a glimpse of many-colored Da in a rainbow or in light reflected on the surface of water.

The Aboriginal people of northern Australia tell how the Great Rainbow Snake Julunggul shaped the world. When human blood dropped into a waterhole, Julunggul grew angry. He sent a wave of water washing across the earth, and he swallowed people, plants, and animals. Julunggul reared up toward heaven, but an ant spirit bit him and made him vomit up what he had swallowed. This happened again and again until Julunggul departed from the earth, leaving people, plants, and animals in all parts of it.

According to a story of the Diegueo Indians of California, humans obtained many of the secrets of civilization from a huge serpent named Umai-hulhlya-wit. This serpent lived in the ocean until people performed a ceremony and called him onto the land. They built an enclosure for him, but it was too small to hold him. After Umai-hulhlya-wit had squeezed as much of himself as possible into the enclosure, the people set him on fire. Soon the serpent's body exploded, showering the earth with the knowledge, secrets, songs, and other cultural treasures he had contained.

Mysterious serpents occur not just in ancient myths but in more modern legends as well. For centuries, people have reported seeing huge snakes or snakelike monsters at sea or in lakes. Although many marine scientists admit that creatures yet unknown may inhabit the depths, no one has produced reliable evidence of an entirely new kind of sea serpent. Most likely the mysterious creatures seen swimming on the water's surface are masses of seaweed, floating logs, rows of porpoises leaping into the air, giant squid, or just common sharks or sea lions.

chaos great disorder or confusion

cosmic large or universal in scale; having to do with the universe

Hindu myths contain many tales of serpents. Kaliya was a five-headed serpent king who poisoned water and land until the god Krishna defeated him in battle. Kaliya then worshiped Krishna, who spared his life. Kadru was a snake goddess who bore 1,000 children. Legend says that they still live today as snakes in human form. One of Kadru's children was the world snake Shesha that the gods used to turn a mountain and stir up the ocean, just as people churn milk into butter by using a rope coiled around a stick or paddle. As the gods churned the ocean with the snake, many precious things arose from it, including the moon, a magical tree, and the Amrita, or water of life.

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Serpents and Snakes - Myth Encyclopedia - mythology, Greek ...

Review

Chris Carter addresses the question that is, or should be, the single most important question for any being that considers himselfor suspects himself to bemortal. He argues that this is not the case. If he is right than this is not only the single most life-transforming realization for a mortal or perhaps immortal being, but also one of the most potent realizations that could prompt such a being to enter on a better path during his or her known life. And a better path is one that people now absolutely need to enter upon now if they are to thrive as individuals, and if humanity is to survive as a species. (Ervin Laszlo, Ph.D., author of The New Science and Spirituality Reader and Science and the Akashic F)

The evidence in favour of an afterlife is vast and varied. The evidence from near-death experiences and deathbed visions was described in two previous books by Chris Carter. Science and the Afterlife is the final work of his trilogy, and one will see in this wonderful book that we do indeed have strongly repeatable evidence for the continuity of consciousness after physical death, based on children who remember previous lives, reports of apparitions, and communication from the deceased. What all these cases show is that human personality survives death and, by implication, human consciousness can exist independently of a functioning brain. When one has read the overwhelming evidence as described in this excellent book it seems quite impossible not to be convinced that there should be some form of life after death. Any continuing opposition to the evidence is based on nothing more than willful ignorance or ideology. Highly recommended. (Pim van Lommel, MD, Cardiologist, author of Consciousness Beyond Life)

Chris Carters Science and the Afterlife Experience is a vigorous, detailed exploration of survival following physical death. It is a withering rebuttal of the perennial, timeworn, anemic arguments of skeptics. This book is extraordinarily important-for, as Jung said, The decisive question for man is: Is he related to something infinite or not? That is the telling question of his life. This brilliant book is an antidote to the fear of death and annihilation. It will help any reader find greater meaning, hope, and fulfillment in life. (Larry Dossey, M.D., author of The Power of Premonitions and the New York Times bestseller, Healing W)

evidence that consciousness survives bodily death is overwhelming for those with open minds. Chris Carter has presented some of the best evidence offered by the near-death experience. In this book, he astutely examines impressive and irrefutable evidence coming to us from the study of reincarnation, apparitions, and mediumship. Its informative, interesting, intriguing, and inspirational. (Michael Tymn, author of The Afterlife Revealed and The Afterlife Explorers)

This clearly written book, by one of the worlds few experts on what evidence actually bears on the survival question, points to some kind of survival. If that fact doesnt grab your attention and make you want to know more youre not thinking. (Charles Tart PhD., Professor Emeritus of Psychology University of California, Davis; a Senior)

The third volume of Chris Carters trilogy may be the best. Reincarnation, ghostlike visions, and messages from the dead make for some very stimulating reading. As an historical chronicle alone this would be a valuable work. But Carters historical treatment also combines philosophy and analysis into an always interesting and wellorganized treatise. (Robert Bobrow, M.D., Clinical Associate Professor of Family Medicine, Department of Family Medicine,)

Survival of human consciousness past the point of biological death is a fact. That will seem an extraordinary claim to some, and they may reasonably demand extraordinary evidence to support it. Carter has both made the claim and provided the evidence. (Guy Lyon Playfair, author of This House is Haunted, If This Be Magic, and Twin Telepathy)

Scientists and philosophers who have seriously studied the phenomenon of mediumship have concluded that there are only two hypotheses that, if true, would account for all the observed empirical data: either (i) human consciousness survives the death of its body or (ii) human consciousness possesses extraordinary abilities known as superESP. In Science and the Afterlife Experience, Chris Carter presents the data supporting survival with remarkable clarity and shows that the socalled superESP hypothesis is pseudoscience, and that its purpose is not to advance knowledge but rather to block an otherwise straightforward inference from empirical data to the hypothesis of survival. With the superESP hypothesis disposed of, Carter boldly (and correctly, in my opinion) concludes that the survival of consciousness after the death of the body is a scientific fact, as well established as any other scientific fact. (Neal Grossman, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, University of Illinois at Chicago)

Addiction to the materialistic paradigm has wreaked immense havoc upon the world over the last few centuries. Many believe it has brought us to the brink of an apocalypse. Chris Carter opens this marvelous book with a statement of concurrence with philosopher David Griffen on the current dire predicament wrought by this addiction, and how it has reached a crucial juncture. Coming to know that our souls do not die with our bodies but they have a much grander role on the stage of eternity, offers a glorious reprieve from this ignominious fate that is the inevitable result of limited materialistic beliefs. This book proceeds through a detailed review of reincarnation, apparitions and messages from the dead. In my opinion, he establishes the existence of the afterlife beyond a reasonable doubt. I congratulate him on such a solid synthesis of the relevant data and arguments, both for and against. (Eben Alexander III, M.D., Director of Research, The Monroe Institute, Faber, VA, author of Proof of)

Those who think they already know the answers dont need to waste their time with this book. For the rest of us, it is a gem. We should drop the pretense that the question of survival is not worthy of the attention of really smart people. It is and always has been the key question of humans throughout history. Thank you, Chris Carter, for shedding light on this, the Greatest Question. (Larry Dossey, MD., author of The Power of Premonitions and Reinventing Medicine)

[Chris Carter] presents something for everyone in a finely researched package that comes to its conclusions in a way that utilizes the scientific method. (Jennifer Hoskins, New Dawn, January 2013)

An intriguing dissection of consciousness and what it means to the history of our lives and world, Science and the Afterlife Experience is a strong addition to metaphysical spirituality collections, recommended. (Midwest Book Review, March 2013)

Carter has seemingly touched all the bases in thoroughly and effectively examining the evidence for life after death. (Michael Tymn s., Fate Magazine, June 2013)

SPIRITUALITY / SCIENCE

When one has read the overwhelming evidence as described in this excellent book, it seems quite impossible not to be convinced that there should be some form of life after death. Highly recommended. --Pim Van Lommel, M.D., cardiologist and author of Consciousness beyond Life

This brilliant book is an antidote to the fear of death and annihilation. It will help any reader find greater meaning, hope, and fulfillment in life. --Larry Dossey, M.D., author of The Power of Premonitions and the New York Times bestseller Healing Words

In this book Chris Carter shows that evidence of life beyond death exists and has been around for millennia, predating any organized religion. Focusing on three key phenomena--reincarnation, apparitions, and communications from the dead--Carter reveals 125 years of documented scientific studies by independent researchers and the British and American Societies for Psychical Research that rule out hoaxes, fraud, and hallucinations and prove these afterlife phenomena are real.

The author examines historic and modern accounts of detailed past-life memories, visits from the deceased, and communications with the dead via medium and automatic writing as well as the scientific methods used to confirm these experiences. He explains how these findings on the afterlife have been ignored and denied because they are incompatible with the prevailing doctrine of materialism. Sharing messages describing the afterlife from the dead themselves, Carter reveals how consciousness exists outside the parameters of biological evolution and emerges through the medium of the brain to use the physical world as a springboard for growth. After death, souls can advance to higher planes of consciousness or manifest once again on Earth. Carters rigorous argument proves--beyond any reasonable doubt--that consciousness not only survives death and continues in the afterlife but also that it precedes birth as well.

CHRIS CARTER received his undergraduate and masters degrees from the University of Oxford. The author of Science and the Near-Death Experience and Science and Psychic Phenomena, he is originally from Canada and currently teaches internationally.

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Science and the Afterlife Experience: Evidence for the ...

On this page: Introduction

This fact sheet provides basic information about aloe veracommon names, what the science says, potential side effects and cautions, and resources for moreinformation.

Aloe veras use can be traced back 6,000 years to early Egypt, where the plant was depicted on stone carvings. Known as the plant of immortality, aloe was presented as a burial gift to deceasedpharaohs.

Historically, aloe was used topically to heal wounds and for various skin conditions, and orally as a laxative. Today, in addition to these uses, aloe is used as a folk or traditional remedy for a variety of conditions, including diabetes, asthma, epilepsy, and osteoarthritis. It is also used topically for osteoarthritis, burns, sunburns, and psoriasis. Aloe vera gel can be found in hundreds of skin products, including lotions and sunblocks. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved aloe vera as a natural foodflavoring.

Aloe leaves contain a clear gel that is often used as a topical ointment. The green part of the leaf that surrounds the gel can be used to produce a juice or a dried substance (called latex) that is taken bymouth.

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Aloe Vera | NCCIH

So this is who I am And this is all I know And I must choose to live For all that I can give The spark that makes the power grow

And I will stand for my dream if I can Symbol of my faith in who I am But you are my only And I must follow on the road, that lies ahead And I won't let my heart control my head But you are my only And we don't say goodbye We don't say goodbye And I know what I've got to be

Immortality I make my journey through eternity I keep the memory of you and me Inside

Fulfill your destiny Is there within the child My storm will never end My fate is on the wind The king of hearts, the joker's wild We don't say goodbye We don't say goodbye I'll make them all remember me

'Cause I have found a dream that must come true Every ounce of me must see it through But you are my only I'm sorry I don't have a role for love to play Hand over my heart I'll find my way I will make them give to me

Immortality There is a vision and a fire in me I keep the memory of you and me, inside And we don't say goodbye We don't say goodbye

With all my love for you And what else we may do We don't say, goodbye

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Celine Dion - Immortality Lyrics | MetroLyrics