News

For Immediate Release:	Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Mind Science Foundation to Host Director of Baylor College of Medicine's "Initiative on Neuroscience and Law", Dr. David Eagleman San Antonio, Texas, May 12, 2008 - The Mind Science Foundation invites you to join us for a lecture by Baylor College of Medicine's "Initiative on Neuroscience and Law", Dr. David Eagleman, on Monday, May 26, 2008. During the evening lecture, he will discuss how exciting new discoveries in neuroscience will navigate the way we make laws, punish criminals, and develop rehabilitation. For instance: How should juries assess responsibility, given that modern neuroscience tells us that most behaviors are driven by systems of the brain that we cannot control? Dr. Eagleman is the founder and director of Baylor College of Medicine's Initiative on Neuroscience and Law, which brings together a unique collaboration of neurobiologists, legal scholars, ethicists, medical humanists, and policy makers, with the goal of running experiments that will result in modern, evidence-based policy. Emerging questions at the interface of law and neuroscience include: Is it a legitimate defense to claim that a brain tumor 'made you do it'? Do the brains of minors have the same decision-making and impulse control as adult brains – and how does that change punishment? Can novel technologies such as brain imaging be leveraged for rehabilitation? And many other far-reaching ethical legal questions. David M. Eagleman earned his undergraduate degree in British and American Literature at Rice University and Oxford University, then obtained a Ph.D. in Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine. He was a postdoctoral fellow at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, working with Terrence Sejnowski. He is also participating on the Illuminating Genius: Unlocking Creativity panel at the upcoming World Science Festival in New York City with artists Anna Deavere Smith, Bill T. Jones and neuroscientists V.S. Ramachandran and Nancy Andreasen. For more information on Dr. Eagleman and the Mind Science lecture, please visit: www.mindscience.org/events. Monday, May 26, 2008 Reception: 5:30 - 6:30 pm Lecture: 6:30 - 7:30 pm Q&A: 7:30 - 8:00 pm Pearl Stables at The Historic Pearl Brewery 312 Pearl Parkway, Bldg #2 San Antonio, Texas 78215 Admission: General Admission: $15.00 Seniors (60+) & Students/Military with ID: $5.00 Mind Science Foundation Members: FREE Tickets and Foundation memberships are available at www.mindscience.org or at (210) 821-6094. Tickets will also be available the evening of the lecture. CONTINUING EDUCATION IS AVAILABLE for: ATTORNEYS: The State Bar of Texas has approved this lecture for 1.5 hours of CLE (Continuing Legal Education) credit. PSYCHOLOGISTS, LPC'S AND SOCIAL WORKERS: Program approved for 1.5 hours continuing education credit by the Mind Science Foundation (MSF). Continuing education hours provided by MSF are designed to meet the CE requirements for psychologists, licensed psychological associates, licensed professional counselors and licensed marriage and family therapists in the State of Texas. Program is approved for 0.15 CEI for social workers by MSF, Sponsor #CS3834, Texas State Board of Social Work Examiners. EDUCATORS: Program designed to meet the criteria of 1.5 CPE for teachers, school counselors, and other educational administrators. Mind Science Foundation Sponsor #501136. For additional information please contact Jen Martinez at (210) 821-6094 or visit www.mindscience.org. ABOUT MIND SCIENCE FOUNDATION - The Mind Science Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) private operating foundation established by visionary philanthropist Thomas Baker Slick in 1958 to fund leading-edge scientific research and education focused on the mind, brain, and human consciousness. For more information on the Foundation please visit www.mindscience.org or call (210) 821-6094.
For Immediate Release:	Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Mind Science Foundation to Host Award-winning New York Times Science Writer, Sandra Blakeslee San Antonio, Texas, March 5, 2008 - The Mind Science Foundation of San Antonio is hosting award-winning New York Times science writer, Sandra Blakeslee, at the Pearl Stable auditorium in San Antonio on Monday evening, March 24th to deliver a lecture on her recent book, "The Body Has a Mind of Its Own," -- voted one of the top five science books of 2007. For more information on Sandra Blakeslee, her new book and the Mind Science lecture, please visit: www.mindscience.org/events. "Sandra joins us at a time when bio-medical, nutrition, mental health, and wellness initiatives are critical to improving San Antonio's future. Hosting her in our city will provide important scientific information to our local community in order to improve our everyday lives and continue to create relationships that position our city as a center for next-generation mind and brain research," says Joseph Dial, the Foundation's Executive Director. Sandra Blakeslee co-authored with her son, Matthew Blakeslee, "The Body Has a Mind of Its Own" published last fall by Random House. The book has received widespread praise for emphasizing the mind-body connection. For reviews of the book and more information, please visit: www.thebodyhasamindofitsown.com. A longtime science journalist for the New York Times, she is also the recipient of many awards, including a prestigious Templeton Journalism Fellowship and has studied science and religion at Cambridge University in England. During her lecture, Sandra will explain the ingenious and largely unconscious ways that the brain builds maps of the body and the sensations from the body that lead to human emotions, health and disease. Body maps point to new treatments for anorexia, phantom limbs, musician's cramp and the dreaded golfer's yips. They reveal how children learn, why we respond to certain types of sports, dance, music and art, and why media and video game violence can be harmful.
For Immediate Release	Tuesday, August 21, 2007
NEW YORK TIMES features MSF-funded ASSC Conference and Magic of Consciousness Symposium Read the article at the New York Times web site: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/science/21magic.html?pagewanted=all
For Immediate Release:	Friday, April 27, 2007
Learn more at www.comascience.org   The Mind Science Foundation (MSF) is pleased to announce that the May 2007 issue of Scientific American, features a lead article by Steven Laureys, MD, PhD based on his MSF-funded research: "Eyes Open, Brain Shut". Dr. Laureys has received two "Tom Slick Research Awards in Consciousness" from the Mind Science Foundation. The May issue of Scientific American features groundbreaking research by MSF-Awardee, Steven Laureys, MD, PhD -- with credit to the "Mind Science Foundation" in the acknowledgements section. Dr. Laureys' research was first featured last year in the prestigious journal Science and subsequently covered by the Wall Street Journal and CNN. This study, jointly conducted by Dr. Laureys and Dr. Adrian Owen of Cambridge, focused on the ability of a woman, who appeared to be in a vegetative state, to respond to commands to imagine walking around her house and to imagine playing tennis - and to discern between the two commands. The woman's fMRI scans in both of these tasks matched those of healthy volunteers; while all other vegetative patients had no signs of consciousness during the tasks. This groundbreaking research (cover title: "Brains beyond Coma: Mysteries of the vegetative state") represents an important step forward in developing a more accurate diagnostic tool, using modern brain imaging techniques, to determine the level of consciousness in patients who are in a coma or persistent vegetative state. Dr. Laureys' research technique involves brain imaging of cognitive processes using Positron Emission Tomography (PET). He uses PET to study consciousness impairment in severely brain damaged patients (coma, vegetative state, minimally conscious state, locked-in syndrome); also during sleep and in the hypnotic state. Dr. Laureys was the editor of a seminal text in this area of neurological research, "The Boundaries of Consciousness" (Elsevier - 2005), which was based on the MSF-sponsored symposium "Coma and Impaired States of Consciousness" held in Antwerp in 2004. The Antwerp symposium was attended by many of the leading researchers and clinicians in the field, including: Joe Giancino, Nico Schiff, Adrian Owen, Steven Laureys, Brian Jennett, Joseph Fins, Jim Bernat, Bernie Baars, Adam Zeman, Andrea Kubler, Pierre Fiset, Jean-Michel Guerit and Marcus Raichle.
For Immediate Release:	Saturday, April 21, 2007
The Mind Science Foundation (MSF) is pleased to announce that the April 21, 2007 issue of NewScientist, "Mind Your Head", features key comments by Dr. John Murray based on his MSF-funded research. The NewScientist cover article - "Mind-Altering Media" - also cites the MSF website as a resource for further information on the effects of media violence on the mind, especially the minds of children. NewScientist writer Helen Phillips has done an excellent job of capturing the importance of research on the effects of media violence on the mind, especially the minds of children. Helen wrote the cover story - "Mind-Altering Media" - which features key comments by Dr. John P. Murray based on his Mind Science-funded research, as well as a citing the Mind Science Foundation website, with a page on Dr. Murray's research, articles and recent book on TV and Children as a resource for information on the effects of media violence. Helen has also written a powerful editorial - "In denial about on-screen violence". Dr. Murray is a former Mind Science Foundation "Scientist-in-Residence". Dr. Murray conducted a small pilot study funded by MSF, which is believed to be the first brain imaging study of the effects of TV violence on children. The study was conducted in San Antonio, Texas, with Dr. Peter Fox, director of the Research Imaging Center - UTHSCSA; Dr. Paul Ingmunson, a Mind Science Foundation Board member; and Drs. Helen Mayberg and Mario Liotti. You can read about this early study in the scientific journal "Media Psychology". For further information on children and media violence, simply download the FREE MSF-funded guide for parents and teachers by clicking on this link "Children and Television: Using TV Sensibly" and/or purchase the new book edited by Drs. Murray, Pecora and Wartella by clicking on the following link: "Children and Television: Fifty Years of Research" .
For Immediate Release:	Monday, March 5, 2007
San Antonio’s Mind Science Foundation presents:   Susana Martinez-Conde, PhD Director, Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix “Illusion and Reality: At the Boundary of Art and Science” Monday, April 9, 2007 (Rescheduled) Reception: 5:30 - 6:30 pm Lecture: 6:30 - 7:30 pm Q&A: 7:30 - 8:00 pm Pearl Stable at the Historic Pearl Brewery 312 Pearl Parkway, Bldg 2 210-212-9539   Susana Martinez-Conde completed her PhD in Spain, followed by postdoctoral studies in the Harvard Medical School laboratory of Nobel Laureate David Hubel (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1981). Her research focuses on the neurobiology of visual awareness, perception, illusions and art and her work has been published in top academic journals as well as in popular science magazines, such as Scientific American (in press). Susana is a Founding Member and Executive Chair of the Neural Correlate Society, which hosts the Annual “Best Visual Illusion of the Year” contest. "The contest is a celebration of the ingenuity and creativity of the world’s premier visual illusion research community. Visual illusions are those perceptual experiences that do not match physical reality." The San Antonio-based Mind Science Foundation (MSF) sponsored the prize for the “Best Visual Illusion of the Year” in 2006. Susana has given lectures to several arts organizations and museums. She will speak on the intersection of art and science in visual illusions and how artists have developed visual tricks to fool the eyes and entertain the mind. Susana is married to vision researcher Stephen Macknik, also at the Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI), and is the mother of 5-month old Iago. Stephen and Iago will accompany this very busy “science mom” for her first lecture ever in San Antonio. Dr. Martinez-Conde was elected to the Board of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC) in 2005 and will co-chair the 11th Annual Meeting of the ASSC in June 2007. The Mind Science Foundation has been the lead sponsor of the ASSC annual conference for the past two years – at Cal-Tech in 2005 and Oxford in 2006. At both conferences, presentations by MSF’s “Tom Slick Research Awardees” were voted the best presentations of the conference – receiving more “Excellent” ratings than any other presentation. In 2005, Susana chaired the 25th Annual European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), held in her home country of Spain. Prior to assuming her current role as Director of the Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience at BNI, she directed laboratories at University College London, UK.
For Immediate Release:	February 2007
The Mind Science Foundation (MSF) is pleased to announce that the February 2007 issue of WIRED magazine, "What We Don't Know About", features two MSF consciousness awardees: Dr. Christof Koch (Cal-Tech) and Dr. Bernie Baars (Neurosciences Institute). Dr. Koch has received two research awards from MSF for his work on how vision and consciousness are interrelated. Dr. Koch's book "The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach" was published in 2005 with a foreword by his longtime collaborator in the study of consciou sness - Dr. Francis Crick. Dr. Koch also participated in the first MSF "Distinguished Debates in Consciousness" at Oxford University this past summer with Baroness Susan Greenfield (Oxford). Joseph Dial (MSF ED) moderated the debate. Dr. Baars is world-renowned for his Global Workspace theory of consciousness and received initial funding from MSF to develop an academic textbook and CD on the brain and modern consciousness research. This MSF-funded textbook/CD will be published by Elsevier (a leading publisher of neuroscience textbooks) later this year and is titled: "Cognition, Brain and Consciousness". Comments by Dr. Koch and Dr. Baars can be found on page 116 (WIRED Feb. 2007) under the heading: "How Does the Brain Produce Consciousness?"
For Immediate Release:	January 29, 2007
The Mind Science Foundation (MSF) is pleased to announce that the TIME magazine "Special Issue", "The Brain: A User's Guide" , features research funded by MSF! The lead story in the article titled "The Mystery of Consciousness", by Harvard professor Steven Pinker, describes research funded by MSF in which a woman apparently in a vegetative state is asked to imagine walking through her house and playing tennis. Her brain scans show the same results as those of healthy, awake subjects (pp. 60, 61). The "British and Belgian researchers" referred to in the opening sentences of Dr. Pinker's article include Steven Laureys, M.D., Ph.D. (University of Liege), an MSF Research Awardee. The research referred to was co-funded by MSF and featured in September of 2006 in the premier scientific publication in the United States, Science, as well as the Wall Street Journal and CNN. The TIME "Special Issue" on the brain also features comments and work by 4 additional MSF Research Awardees: Dr. V.S. Ramachandran (pp. 77, 110); Dr. Christof Koch (p. 66); Dr. Bernie Baars (p. 65); and Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz (pp. 77, 79).
For Immediate Release:	October 20, 2006
This past June at Oxford University, the Mind Science Foundation sponsored the 10th Anniversary conference of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC-10). Senior U.S. News writer, Jay Tolson, attended the ASSC 10 conference at Oxford University where he interviewed MSF Executive Director Joseph Dial (quoted on page 58/Online at the top of page 2). He also covered MSF's new series of "Distinguished Debates in Consciousness", with leading neuroscientists Christof Koch of Cal-Tech and Susan Greenfield of Oxford (pages 60 and 61/Online page 5). Mr. Tolson has done an excellent job of covering the history and promising future of the rapidly developing field of consciousness research in his cover story: "Science and the Soul" (October 23, 2006) The Mind Science Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) private operating foundation that funds scientific research, international conferences and educational programs focused on a deeper understanding of the brain, mind and human consciousness. In 2003, MSF embarked on a long term funding program with the goal of solving one of the most intriguing questions known to man: how does consciousness arise?

For Immediate Release:	June 19, 2006
For Immediate Release: June 19, 2006 Mind Science Foundation, San Antonio, Texas Consciousness: The Most Important Question in Science? What is the most important question in science today? "When Science magazine chose to list consciousness as one of its '25 big questions', it was a strong signal that consciousness research is rapidly moving from taboo to vogue", says Mind Science Foundation Executive Director, Joseph Dial. "People are increasingly curious about the brain and how their own mind works." This week venerable Oxford University will be the site of a gathering of famed neuroscientists, psychologists, philosophers, physicists and computer scientists seeking to answer the question posed by Science (July 1, 2005): what is the biological basis of consciousness? The Mind Science Foundation is the lead underwriting sponsor of this international conference, the ASSC 10; which is organized by the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness. This is the 10th Anniversary conference of the ASSC. The question of how consciousness is generated has plagued the great minds of humanity for centuries without an answer. In ancient Greece Plato pondered it, as the 19th century drew to a close William James reflected introspectively on it, as the 20th century became the 21st Francis Crick tried to chase it down in the visual system. Crick's status as a Nobel Laureate, for discovering the DNA double-helix, brought consciousness research some modicum of respectability.   On Thursday evening, June 22nd, in the Lecture Theatre of the Dept of Pharmacology at Oxford, Crick's longtime collaborator in pursuing a solution to the enigma of conscious experience, Christof Koch from Cal-Tech, will debate Baroness Susan Greenfield, a professor of neuropharmacology, member of Parliament and the first female to direct the Royal Institution of Great Britain.         SUSAN GREENFIELD   CHRISTOF KOCH Neuroscientist Susan Greenfield obtained her first degree at St Hilda's College, Oxford and subsequently obtained her PhD in the University Department of Pharmacology. Greenfield held post-doctoral fellowships at Oxford, the College de France, Paris and New York University Medical Center. She is currently Professor of Pharmacology at Oxford University and Director of the Royal Institution. As a consequence of working in both biochemical and electrophysiological environments she has developed a novel imaging technique for investigating consciousness via the action of neuronal assemblies in the brain.   Christof Koch received a PhD in nonlinear information processing from the Max Planck Institute in Germany. Koch was a post-doctoral fellow at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the Brain and Cognitive Science department at MIT in. He currently holds the position of Lois and Victor Troendle Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Biology at the California Institute of Technology. He has been active since the early 1990s in the promotion of consciousness as a scientifically tractable problem, and has been particularly influential in arguing that consciousness can now be approached using the modern tools of neurobiology. His primary collaborator in this endeavor was the late Francis Crick, and together the team coined the term “neural correlates of consciousness”.       For more information on Dr. Greenfield's approach to consciousness research, read A Neuroscientific Approach to Consciousness (Progress in Brain Research, 2005)   For more information on Dr. Koch's approach to consciousness research, read A Framework for Consciousness (Nature, 2003)       The Mind Science Foundation is sponsoring this debate, which is the first in its new series of "Distinguished Debates in Consciousness". Executive Director, Joseph Dial, will moderate the debate. On the morning of Sunday, June 25th, four researchers who have received grants from the Mind Science Foundation will present their research at the Tom Slick Symposium, named for the visionary Texas philanthropist who originally funded the Foundation. The researchers' work focuses on various aspects of consciousness and unconscious processing, including the processing of fear. "Consciousness is perhaps the most personal of all the sciences. You are after all born with centuries of accumulated human DNA, which you can do little to change. But recent research suggests that you can significantly modify your consciousness during your own lifetime in ways that are unique to you," says Dial. The Foundation will also sponsor a series of VIP events during the ASSC 10 conference, which runs from Friday June 23rd to Monday June 26th. For further information on the Mind Science Foundation events during the ASSC 10 and a full schedule of ASSC 10 presentations, go to: ASSC 10 Featured Events. The Mind Science Foundation (MSF) is a 501 (c) (3) private operating foundation dedicated to solving one of the major questions of science by funding leading edge scientific research and educational programs focused on the mind, brain and human consciousness. MSF is the only private foundation in the world funding credible scientific research focused specifically on solving the biological question of consciousness. Contact: Adrianna Mateos Information & Operations Manager Mind Science Foundation 117 West El Prado Drive San Antonio, TX 78212 p.(210) 821-6094 f. (210) 821-6199 amateos@mindscience.org
For Immediate Release:	April 5, 2006
Jay Giedd, MD Chief of Brain Imaging, Child Psychiatry Branch National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Washington, DC “Secrets of the Teen Brain” Monday, April 17, 2006 Reception & Book signing: 5:30 - 6:30 pm Lecture: 6:30 - 7:30 pm Q&A: 7:30 - 8:00 pm Laurie Auditorium, Trinity University 715 Stadium Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78212 Dr. Jay Giedd was featured in Time Magazine’s May 10, 2004 cover article, Secrets of the Teen Brain. Dr. Jay Giedd is a practicing child and adolescent psychiatrist and chief of Brain Imaging in the Child Psychiatry Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. His primary research interests have focused on the biological basis of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral disorders in children and adolescents. His magnetic resonance imaging studies have shed new light on brain development in healthy and neuropsychiatrically impaired youth. Jay Giedd received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of North Dakota. He completed his training with three years of residency in psychiatry at the Menninger School of Psychiatry in Topeka, Kansas and two years of residency in child and adolescent psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center. He joined the Child Psychiatry Branch of NIMH in 1991 as a senior staff fellow. He is board certified in general, child and adolescent, and geriatric psychiatry. Dr. Giedd has authored over 100 scientific publications and has been a frequent lecturer at national and international professional meetings. He has received numerous honors including the National Institute of Health Fellows Award for Research Excellence, A.E.Bennett Award Commendation, and the Max Hamilton Memorial Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Psychopharmacology from the Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum. General Admission: $15.00 Seniors (60+) & Students with ID: $5.00 Mind Science Foundation Members: FREE
For Immediate Release:	February 24, 2006
San Antonio’s Mind Science Foundation presents:   Roger Bingham, PhD - Salk Institute for Biological Studies   “Origin of Minds and Emotions”   Monday, March 20, 2006 Reception & Book signing: 5:30 - 6:30 pm Lecture: 6:30 - 7:30 pm Q&A: 7:30 - 8:00 pm Laurie Auditorium, Trinity University 715 Stadium Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78212 Scientist and award-winning filmmaker, Roger Bingham, PhD, is co-author of the provocative book "The Origin of Minds: Evolution, Uniqueness, and the New Science of the Self", which offers a revolutionary view of how our minds and emotions define our identity and sense of self. Bingham was the Creator and Executive Producer of "The Frontiers of the Mind" PBS series. His last PBS series was the critically acclaimed "The Human Quest". He has won the American Psychological Association Award for Excellence in Television and seven Los Angeles EMMY Awards.  Roger Bingham is a member of the research faculty at the Center for Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego, where he focuses on theoretical evolutionary neuroscience.  He is also as a member of the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory at the Salk Institute, La Jolla.  He is the co-author of The Origin of Minds: Evolution, Uniqueness, and the New Science of the Self (Harmony Books, December 2002) that describes a new evolutionary model of the mind.    Bingham’s last PBS series was the critically acclaimed The Human Quest.  Los Angeles Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Howard Rosenberg wrote that Bingham “…makes his case vibrantly, creatively and with the verbal and visual eloquence of someone acutely attuned to television’s potential to synthesize intricate concepts and simplify them even for science illiterates...How rare that the airwaves are used so productively.” Lynne Elber of the Associated Press described it as “…a poetic ride...a love letter to the exhilarating process of unraveling the world’s mysteries through research.”   His many honors for communication of science include the National Magazine Award, seven Los Angeles Emmy awards, the American Psychological Association Award for Excellence in Television, and the Writer’s Guild of America award for Outstanding Documentary Script.  Bingham may be the only member of the Society for Neuroscience who is also a member of the Directors’ Guild of America (DGA) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).
For Immediate Release:	October 3, 2005
Temple Grandin, PhD, Colorado State University “Thinking in Pictures” Monday, October 10, 2005 Reception & Book signing: 6 - 7 pm Lecture: 7 - 8 pm/ Q&A: 8 – 8:30 pm Scottish Rite Auditorium 308 Avenue E, San Antonio Texas   “Thinking in Pictures” - Temple Grandin, PhD Colorado State University Dr. Grandin, who is autistic herself, has used her unique view of the world to design 50% of the cattle handling facilities in the US in a more humane fashion and has developed several videos that help families with autistic children. She is the bestselling author of Thinking in Pictures: and Other Reports from My Life with Autism (1996) and Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior (2005). Dr. Grandin has appeared on numerous radio and TV shows discussing her seminal work with animals and her hopeful insights into autism. She has been called "one of the most celebrated - and effective - animal advocates on the planet". "Through a unique set of circumstances, Temple Grandin was born with the ability to live in the animal world, completely understanding their environment. ...Animals in Translation is a must-read. I found it impossible to put down."       —Monty Roberts, author of The Man Who Listens to Horses "…Grandin delivers a report from the country of autism. Writing from the dual perspectives of a scientist and an autistic person, she tells us how that country is experienced by its inhabitants and how she managed to breach the boundaries to function in the outside world."       —Thinking in Pictures and Other Reports from My Life with Autism

For Immediate Release:	September 16, 2005
Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D. – TIME Magazine “Hero of Medicine” “Exuberance” Monday, September 19, 2005 Reception & Book signing: 6-7 pm Lecture:7- 8 pm Scottish Rite Auditorium 308 Avenue E, San Antonio Texas “Exuberance” - Kay Redfield Jamison, PhD Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Dr. Jamison was named a TIME magazine “Hero of Medicine” for her work with manic-depressive and bi-polar disorders. She has appeared on numerous national TV and radio programs. She is a psychologist and Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.  An internationally recognized expert on mood disorders, her writing has been widely praised for increasing public awareness of how depression and bipolar illness affect individuals and their families. Dr. Jamison herself has suffered from bipolar disorder. Her bestselling books, An Unquiet Mind, Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide, Touched By Fire: The Artistic Temperament and Manic Depressive Disorder and her latest book Exuberance: The Passion for Life, offer compelling insights from her personal experience and distinguished scientific expertise. She has been Executive Producer and writer on TV shows and concerts, including the PBS specials: “To Paint the Stars: The Life and Mind of Vincent Van Gogh”, which premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC; and “Moods and Music”, which won a 1992 National Institute of Mental Health Media Award.
For Immediate Release:	May 5, 2005
The Mind Science Foundation of San Antonio presents “Dreaming as Delirium” by J. Allan Hobson, M.D. The Mind Science Foundation will bring J. Allan Hobson, MD, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and world-renowned sleep and dream researcher, to San Antonio for a lecture titled: “Dreaming as Delirium”. The lecture will be held on Monday May 16th at St. Mary’s Hall in the Coates-Seeligson Theatre. Wine reception and book signing from 6-7 pm. Lecture from 7-8 pm. Question and answer period from 8-8:30PM. Dr. Hobson is the recipient of a 2004 Mind Science Foundation “Tom Slick Research Award in Consciousness”. His four decades of research have led him to focus on the relative loss of what researchers refer to as: “executive thinking” and “decision making function” during sleep and dreaming. In the waking state, the human brain is generally more capable of holding together abstract, goal-oriented concepts than it is in dream states. Understanding how executive thinking becomes disabled during dreaming helps researchers better understand the mind’s executive thinking function and its ability to perceive and achieve goals during the waking state. Dr Hobson most recently published “13 Dreams Freud Never Had”. His books have been consistent bestsellers and he is the author of  “The Dreaming Drugstore”, “The Chemistry of Conscious States”, “The Dreaming Brain”, “Consciousness,” “Sleep”, “Out of its Mind: Psychiatry in Crisis” (with Jonathan Leonard) and “Dreaming as Delirium”. He was the invited Lecturer at the Dipartimento di Psicologia, Universita di Bologna’s 900th Anniversary Celebration, 1988. He is also a Special Fellow of the National Institute of Mental Health.
For Immediate Release:	June 17, 2005

(BW)(TX-MIND-SCIENCE-FNDATION) Mind Science Foundation Seeks Answers for Top Question in Science

Health/Medical Writers/Science Editors

SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 17, 2005— Einstein once walked these hallways as did the bongo-drum beating physicist Richard Feynman. Both offered theories that turned the scientific doctrine of their time on its head.

Next week at the famed California Institute of Technology some of the world's leading researchers in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, neurology, artificial intelligence, philosophy and physics will gather to ponder one of the top questions in modern science -- an enigma that has eluded brilliant minds for centuries: how does consciousness arise in human beings?

How does the pulsating gray matter in our brains give rise to the sensorial richness of the world around us and the intricate complexities of our own self-perception?”, says Joseph Dial, Executive Director of the Mind Science Foundation, which is the lead sponsor of this year’s Cal-Tech conference.

In a TV interview last year, best-selling author and string theory physicist, Brian Greene, PhD, gave his opinion of the top three questions in science:

• the origin of the cosmos;
• the origin of life; and
• how consciousness arises.

The first two very familiar questions receive millions of dollars each year in funding from major institutions and government entities for research in a wide variety of fields, including: astronomy, cosmology, particle physics, biology, and genetics.

Funding for the third question, how consciousness arises, is virtually non-existent.

Baroness Susan Greenfield Oxford University Mind Science Foundation Awardee Click to enlarge

In a recent lecture to the Mind Science Foundation, Dr. V.S. Ramachandran, Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at UCSD and one of Newsweek magazine's "top 100 people to watch in the next century," stated, "To my knowledge the Mind Science Foundation is the only group in the world with an awards program funding broad-based international research in the field of consciousness."

Next week in Pasadena this small Foundation will be the first lead sponsor of the annual Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness conference (ASSC 9 at Cal-Tech from June 24-27, 2005). Christof Koch, PhD (Cal-Tech), a well-known researcher in visual processing and consciousness, is one of the principal organizers of the conference. www.mindscience.org/conferences

In 2004, the Mind Science Foundation embarked on a long-term program of funding for broad-based, international research in the field of human consciousness. The Tom Slick Research Awards in Consciousness are made by private invitation. www.mindscience.org/research

The Foundation was established in 1958 by visionary Texas philanthropist Thomas Baker Slick Jr. www.mindscience.org/foundation

"We are still surprised by the lack of funding from major institutions for research focused on answering this critical question. Francis Crick, who was co-discoverer of the DNA double-helix, once called consciousness the greatest unsolved question of biology. Of course, there are scientists from many other fields who feel they can shed some light on the answer as well," says Dial. "We are funding talented individual scientists, while working to raise awareness and increase funding for the field of consciousness research as a whole."

The first morning of the ASSC 9 international conference will open with a Tom Slick Awardee Panel featuring such scientific luminaries as: Fred Gage, Salk Institute; Baroness Susan Greenfield, Oxford University; Christof Koch, Cal-Tech; J. Allan Hobson, Harvard Medical School; and Steven Laureys, University of Liege, Belgium.

Mind Science Foundation Hosts "Artful Brain" Lecture

Featuring V.S. Ramachandran, MD, Ph.D.

The Mind Science Foundation will host Dr. V. S. Ramachandran, named by Newsweek magazine as a member of its exclusive  Century Club, "the one hundred most prominent people to watch in the next century", for his first visit ever to San Antonio. Dr. Ramachandran will speak on the topic of art and the brain ("The Artful Brain") on Monday, November 22, 2004.

Dr. Ramachandran was included in Newsweek's Century Club for his contributions to the neuroscience of consciousness. In 1999, He gave the Decade of the Brain address at the Society for Neuroscience Silver Jubilee. Laced with wit and humor, his address received a standing ovation from the 6,000 members in attendance.

Dr. Ramachandran is a distinguished physician, scientist and author of over 120 papers on topics such as "blindsight", "synesthesia" and "phantom limb syndrome". PBS and the BBC have produced programs focused on his groundbreaking work and Nova recently aired "Secrets of the Mind", a documentary focused on his Sherlock Holmes style of solving difficult neurology cases.

His popular book "Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind" has been translated into eight languages. His more recent book, "The Emerging Mind", captures the series of distinguished lectures he gave for the BBC and explores the evolutionary and causal relationships between the gift of sight, art and the development of the human mind.

Dr. Ramachandran will sign his books, the "Emerging Mind" and "Phantoms in the Brain", prior to the Mind Science lecture on Monday evening.

Event Co-sponsors include: the San Antonio Museum of Art, the City of San Antonio Office of Cultural Affairs, and the newly-formed Cultural Collaborative.

Mind Science Lecture will be held:

Monday November 22, 2004
Laurie Auditorium, Trinity University Campus.

Doors open/Purchase tickets: 6:00 pm
6:00-7:00 pm Reception and Book Signing
7:00-8:00 pm Lecture
8:00-8:30 Question and Answer

$15.00 General Admission
$  5.00 Students
Free for Mind Science Foundation Members. 

The Mind Science Foundation, a 501(c)(3) operating foundation, was established in 1958 by visionary San Antonio philanthropist Tom Slick to explore the vast potential of the human mind. The Mind Science Foundation is dedicated solving the puzzle of human consciousness by funding leading-edge scientific research and education.

San Antonio Mind Science Foundation Hosts Lecture on "Coincidence Theory and Extraordinary Ways of Knowing"

Monday October 25, 2004
Chapman Auditorium, Trinity University
6:30-7:00 Reception
7:00-8:00 Lecture
8:00-8:30 Q & A

$15.00 General Admission
$5.00 Student
Free for Mind Science Foundation Members

Internationally-renowned psychoanalyst, Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer, Ph.D. will address the importance of the unconscious in mind-body medicine, everyday life, extraordinary knowledge and coincidence. Her work on "Coincidence Theory", with physicist Robert Jahn of Princeton, was featured in the New York Times Magazine's "67 great ideas for 2003".

Dr. Mayer is traveling to San Antonio at the invitation of the Mind Science Foundation to address the intriguing questions raised by occurrences in life that seem to involve more than coincidence.  Joseph Dial, MSF Executive Director, comments: "These anomalous occurrences are sometimes referred to as serendipity, synchronicity, or coincidence. Dr. Mayer has taken a scientific approach to how the unconscious influences our daily lives."

Dr. Mayer has spent over a decade investigating the overlap between the physics of intangible dynamics and anomalous occurrences in the physical world. It is believed that over 50 % of Americans believe in 'anomalous phenomena'.

Dr. Mayer believes that conventional science has much to gain from investigating these little understood phenomena. She is currently working on a model that will meld the realms of anomalous experience and the world of traditional science so that they may benefit from one another's knowledge.

Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer holds an Associate Clinical Professorship at the Department of Psychology at UC Berkeley and the Department of Psychiatry, UC San Francisco and serves on the editorial boards of several distinguished journals in psychoanalysis, psychology and gender issues. Her research draws on current developments in mind-body medicine and cognitive science.

She is currently working on a book titled, "Extraordinary Ways of Knowing: Making Sense of the Inexplicable in Everyday Life" due out in 2005 by Bantam Books, a division of Random House. She is the recipient of a "Tom Slick Research Award in Consciousness 2004" from the Mind Science Foundation.

Dr. Mayer believes that extraordinary knowledge may be a part of the ordinary process of learning in everyday life. But it is a part of human learning that we have yet to fully understand in a scientific fashion. "If we can bridge this gap of understanding we may be able to inhabit our world with a radically more optimistic outlook for the future," says Mayer.

TV Violence and Children Research Yields Dividends

Dr. John Murray Ph.D.

SAN ANTONIO -- Aug. 19, 2004 – Mind Science Foundation (MSF) Executive Director, Joseph Dial, recently received an exciting e-mail from former MSF "Scientist In Residence" Dr. John Murray, Ph.D. (Kansas State University) regarding the next phase of his brain imaging work on "TV Violence and Children."

As a consequence of initial funding from MSF, Dr. Murray will soon expand his research in collaboration with Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital in Boston -- and $500,000 in Federal funding.

In its current issue, "Psychiatric News" states that the 1999 MSF-funded research project is believed to be the first brain imaging (fMRI) research ever to study the effects of TV violence on children.

"This is a prime example of the large dividends that can be generated by taking a chance on small, innovative research projects; as we have done this year with our 2004 Tom Slick Awards," said Dial. "Former Mind Science Executive Director, Catherine Cooke, deserves credit for initiating this important MSF research project," added Dial. Ms. Cooke is currently the CEO of the Mountain Institute in Washington, D.C.

In his e-mail, Dr. Murray thanked the Mind Science Foundation for taking a chance on his early research: "Brainmapping research is expensive, time-consuming and labor-intensive, which is why there are so few imaging studies available on TV violence and children. Our team could not have attempted this groundbreaking research without the strong and consistent support of the Mind Science Foundation. MSF was willing to 'take a chance" on our idea at a time when traditional government research agencies were hesitant to fund this novel approach to studying the effects of TV violence on children."

Dr. Murray commented further, "MSF launched a new and very important line of research. Government programs such as the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health and the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are very interested in the results of our initial study. We enjoyed the strong support of Senator Sam Brownback from Kansas who held Congressional hearings on the issue of brainmapping and TV violence in April 2003, along with bipartisan support from Senator Joe Lieberman.”

“Without MSF and their visionary approach to studying brain and behavior issues, we would not have these breakthroughs in research.”

MSF Board Member, Paul Ingmundson, Ph.D. worked with Dr. Murray on the "TV violence and children" project. The research was conducted at the Research Imaging Center in San Antonio, Texas.

To read the original article: http://pn.psychiatryonline.org ("Current Issue: August 6, 2004") “Clinical & Research News -- Young Brains Don't Distinguish Real From Televised Violence,” Christine Lehmann

The Mind Science Foundation supports scientific research and education focused on the mind/brain and human consciousness. MSF is a 501(c)(3) operating foundation established in 1958 by dynamic philanthropist Tom Slick. Visit: www.mindscience.org.

Clinical & Research News
Young Brains Don't Distinguish Real From Televised Violence
Christine Lehmann

The first small brain-mapping study of young children watching violent scenes from televised movies suggests the brain processes the event as a real threat.

Children are exposed to more acts of violence during their Sunday morning programs than adults are during prime time, say experts on the effect of TV violence on children.

Viewing repeated violent acts on TV often has a negative effect on children's behavior and attitudes. But what happens neurologically when children watch TV violence?

John Murray, Ph.D., a child psychologist at Kansas State University, has studied TV violence in children for about three decades. He is believed to be the first researcher to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in young children to study how their brains react to video clips showing violence. He conducted these studies in the late 1990s.

Murray presented the preliminary findings last month at the Head Start Research Conference in Washington, D.C. Head Start and Early Head Start are federally sponsored child-development programs designed to prepare infants and preschool children from low-income families for school.

"The regions of the brain that were activated suggest that viewing violence is emotionally arousing and engaging, and processed by the brain as a real event," said Murray.

The pilot fMRI study of eight children aged 8 to 13 was conducted at the research imaging center at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. The children, five boys and three girls, had no psychopathology and were from middle- to upper-income families living in San Antonio, said Murray. The study was funded by a grant from the Mind Science Foundation in San Antonio.

The children were shown six three-minute video clips for a total of 18 minutes. Two clips showed violent boxing scenes from the film "Rocky IV," and two clips showed nonviolent educational programming: the Public Broadcasting Service's "Ghostwriter" and a National Geographic special. The last two clips were neutral controls consisting of a white X on a blue screen.

Murray showed a clip of a violent boxing scene in "Rocky IV" at the Head Start conference. The match is under way between Drago, a huge, robot-like Russian boxer, and Apollo, his smaller, weaker American opponent. Apollo is injured by Drago's forceful punches but insists on remaining in the match.

The conference audience was mesmerized by the violent second round. Drago easily knocks the wind out of Apollo, who is barely standing. Drago becomes more violent and repeatedly punches Apollo's face and head. The clip ends with Apollo pronounced dead on the floor.

Right Brain Activated

"When that clip was shown to the children in our pilot study, we saw greater activation in right regions of the brain. We thought this might occur, because two previous studies found the right side of the brain processes negative emotional material, and the left side processes positive emotional material," Murray said.

Significant activation occurred in the right region of the amygdala, the area of the brain that senses danger in the environment and prepares the body for fight or flight, Murray explained.

The right amygdala (Amyg) and posterior cingulate (PC) in eight children watching violent clips had significant activation (bright orange/yellow areas).

The researchers did not see the expected significant activation in the prefrontal cortex in the pilot study. The frontal area is where thought processes such as association and planning take place.

Puzzled by Unusual Finding

The researchers saw pre-motor cortex activation, which they found puzzling. "We knew that children often imitate boxing movements after watching them, which activates the motor cortex," Murray said. "However, the children in our pilot study couldn't physically move inside the fMRI machines. The pre-motor cortex activation suggests they were thinking about moving or perhaps imitating the boxing movements."

Another surprise was the activation in the posterior cingulate, an area in the back of the brain that appears to involve long-term memory storage for significant traumatic events, Murray noted.

Studies of war veterans with severe posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have shown activation in the posterior cingulate when the veterans were asked to recall distressing events and images, Murray said.

"The children in our pilot study were not suffering from PTSD, but they were watching traumatic and dramatic violence. This suggests that the brain processes television violence as an actual threatening event, which is stored in the long-term memory area for quick recall," Murray explained.

The pilot study had several limitations including a small sample size, Murray acknowledged. Next month, he will begin a larger fMRI study at the Center for Media and Child Health in Boston. This is a joint project with Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital in Boston.

The study is funded by a $500,000 grant from the federal Bureau of Maternal and Child Health in the Administration for Children and Families, said Murray.

The plan is to enroll 60 children aged 8 through 12 in the one-time fMRI study, with an equal number of boys and girls. The study design is cross-sectional to facilitate comparisons between children with a history of physical abuse, aggressive behavior, and normal development, Murray said.

"I expect the abused children to show greater activation in the right regions of the amygdala, pre-motor cortex, and posterior cingulate. I expect to see less activation in these regions in the aggressive children, who may be desensitized already to suffering and violence because of life experiences," Murray said.

He should know in the next year or two when the study is completed.

Several reports on the impact of television violence in children are posted online

“Participation in this conference helps fulfill Tom Slick’s vision that scientific innovation can be employed to improve the human condition on a global scale.”
~Joseph Dial, Mind Science Foundation

MSF Director Joseph Dial

Joseph Dial of the San Antonio based Mind Science Foundation is giving the opening remarks at  the Symposium of the 2004 Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness “ASSC 8” Conference in  Antwerp, Belgium beginning Thursday, June 24, 2004.
 
Joseph Dial will highlight the role of San Antonio’s Mind Science Foundation in sponsoring credible consciousness research in his remarks given to leading consciousness researchers from around the globe participating in the conference this week.
 
The Symposium was organized by Steven Laureys, MD, Ph.D. Dr. Laureys is a Mind Science Foundation 2004 “Tom Slick Research Award in Consciousness” recipient. Dr. Laureys also specializes in the study and treatment of patients in coma, vegetative, minimally-conscious, and locked-in syndrome states.
 
The Symposium brings together internationally-renowned scientists and physicians who are focused on the medical, ethical, personal and financial issues related to the care and treatment of patients in altered states of consciousness.

Symposium Schedule/link ASSC: www.ruca.ua.ac.be/assc8/satellite.html
 

FROM: The Mind Science Foundation, San Antonio, Texas

Mind Science Foundation Announces Rare Awards for Scientific Research in Human Consciousness

Under the gaze of MSF founder Tom Slick (shown in portrait), Dr. Abraham Verghese, Director of the Medical Humanities and Ethics Dept. at UTHSCSA, receives Tom Slick Research Award from MSF Executive Director and Board Members (Left to right: Paul Ingmundson, Dr. Verghese, MSF ED - Joseph Dial, MSF Chair - Sandy McNab, MSF Scientific Advisory Committee Chair -Emilio Romero,MD)

SAN ANTONIO-Jan. 29, 2004—A David-size Texas foundation is taking on the Goliath-size question of human consciousness—one of the great unsolved problems of science.

The Mind Science Foundation announced today that it has awarded seven research teams worldwide a 2004 Tom Slick Research Award in Consciousness. Only twenty research teams were considered for this honor. Research in human consciousness can produce findings that will impact how we educate children, create art, stay healthy, or relate to others.

Grants recipients include the head of the Royal Institution of Great Britain; a “TIME 100” scientist; an MD/author of two national bestsellers; and researchers whose work was named by the New York Times among the "67 most exciting new ideas for 2003."

Dr. Bernard Baars of the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, said, “To my knowledge, this is the only foundation in the world awarding grants specifically for consciousness research.” Dr. Baars is a founding member of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness.

MSF Award recipients include Dr. Christof Koch, a leading neurophysicist and head of the Computation and Neural Systems Program at the California Institute of Technology (Cal-Tech), and research associate Melissa Saenz, who is from San Antonio. Dr. Koch is a key collaborator in consciousness research with Sir Francis Crick, the Nobel Prize-winning biologist who identified the double helix DNA.

Other Award recipients announced today by the Mind Science Foundation are:

• Baroness Susan Greenfield, Ph.D., Director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain and member of Parliament, named one of the “50 most inspirational women in the world” (Harpers); and Drs. Toby Collins and Edward Mann - Oxford University, London
• J. Allan Hobson, Ph.D., director of Harvard Medical School's Laboratory of Neurophysiology, and Robert Stickgold, Ph.D., both internationally recognized sleep and dream researchers; and Drs. David Kahn and Edward Schott - Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Boston
• Fred H. Gage, PhD., named as a "TIME 100: The Next Wave Innovator" and winner of the Decade of the Brain Award; and Leigh Humm Leasure, Ph.D., winner of a National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health - Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla
• Abraham Verghese, M.D., MFA, D.Sc. (Hon.), Director of the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics at the University of Texas Health Science Center and author of two national best-sellers, "My Own Country" and "The Tennis Partner;" and Dr. Therese Jones - University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio
• Elizabeth Mayer, Ph.D., Psychology Department UC-Berkeley, affiliated with the International Consciousness Research Lab founded by Brenda Dunne and Dr. Robert Jahn of the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab (PEAR), who have worked to develop aspects of "Coincidence Theory" which was named by the New York Times among the "67 most exciting new ideas for 2003." - University of California-Berkeley and Princeton University (PEAR/ICRL)
• Steven Laureys, M.D., Ph.D., a neurologist and neuroscience researcher with expertise in coma, vegetative, minimally conscious and locked-in syndrome states; and Dr. Pierre Maquet, noted expert in sleep and dream research - Cyclotron Research Center, University of Liege, Belgium

The awards are named after visionary entrepreneur, explorer, philanthropist, and author Tom Slick (1916-1962) (FORTUNE July 1960) whose notable institutional legacies are the Southwest Research Institute (the world's third-largest nonprofit applied research institute) and the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, with a current staff of nearly 400 people.

In 1958, Slick established a smaller organization, the Mind Science Foundation in San Antonio, Texas, expressly to explore the human mind. “I regard the creation of the Mind Science Foundation as the most important undertaking of my life, and I plan to devote most of my time to it. I feel that the human mind has tremendous, unexplored potential and I want to go about the discovery and development of that potential in a scientific way,” said Slick four years before his untimely death.

Award recipient Melissa Saenz, a San Antonio native, is congratulated by MSF Executive Director, Joseph Dial.

"We initiated the Tom Slick Research Awards in Consciousness this year to fulfill his vision of studying the mind as a means for improving the condition of humankind,” says Mind Science Executive Director, Joseph Dial. “Insights into the workings of our minds inform the ways in which we teach our children, make economic decisions, create art, develop computers, deliver healthcare, and implement justice."

Dr. Emilio Romero, M.D., Chair of the Mind Science Foundation's Scientific Advisory Committee and Co-Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the UTHSCSA, notes, "In our invitation to submit, we made it clear that we wanted to encourage collaboration with younger researchers as a means of stimulating interest in the field of consciousness among promising young scientists." The basic criteria for an invitation to submit are publication on the subject of consciousness in a peer-reviewed scientific journal or book.

Regarding future grants, Dial comments, "We will continue to act as an incubator of leading-edge consciousness research with private invitation grants in the $15,000 - $30,000 range. This initial round of funding is the most difficult for researchers to find. It will help them develop crucial pilot data with which they can pursue larger rounds of funding with the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). We are the ‘angel’ round in the funding of consciousness research."

In 2003, the Mind Science Foundation (MSF) co-sponsored a seminal MIT conference with the Dalai Lama and leading Western scientists, “Investigating the Mind”; a lecture by UN Ambassador of Peace, Dr. Jane Goodall; a workshop on “Community Healing” focused on racial prejudice with Dr. Mahzarin Banaji (Harvard) and Dr. Rico Ainslie (UT-Austin); and a lecture on “TV Violence and Children” with Dr. John Murray (Kansas State).

MSF is a 501(c)(3) private operating foundation dedicated to supporting scientific research and education focused on human consciousnes