Mind Set Daily

Topic covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Vampire Cannibals" Papua New Guinea — a large island nation north of Australia — boasts a fast-growing economy and a rich natural resource base of gold, copper, oil and agricultural products. But deep within the British Commonwealth country's rugged mountains and tropical rain forests, some dark practices still occur. Real Ghouls Haunt Papua New Guinea, and these vampire cannibals want your flesh and blood, just think about it... News Story Link   "Real Life Zombies" To understand the zombie phenomenon and its Haitian roots, an appreciation of the practice of vodoo is needed. A religion based in West Africa, voodoo is still practiced in varying forms throughout the Caribbean, Brazil, the American South and other places with a strong African heritage. Vodoo priests create a white, powdery compound and according to numerous reports the ingredients in this powder allegedly can turn a person into a zombie. Known as zombie powder. News Story Link Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topic covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily Topic Covered Today on Mind Set Daily - October 24, 2013 "Government Program to Control Religious Thought" Is the U.S. Government working on a program to…well…program the way you view religion? A whistleblower who has worked on that program says yes and he wants you to know exactly what has been going on. The Defense Department is said to be using taxpayer dollars to learn how to influence people with religious beliefs in order to control those beliefs. The program is aimed at controlling fundamentalist Muslims and fundamentalist Christians. If we believe that government should have the power to control how the extremist thinks… wouldn’t they have the authority to decide how and what we all think? Just think about it... Find out more by listening to this episode! News Story Link Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topic covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "The Bionic Man" He walks, he talks and he has a beating heart, but he's not human — he's the world's first fully bionic man. Like Frankenstein's monster, cobbled together from a hodgepodge of body parts, the bionic man is a combination of the most advanced human prostheses — from robotic limbs to artificial organs to a blood-pumping circulatory system. The bionic man brings up some ethical and philosophical questions: Does creating something so humanlike threaten notions of what it means to be human? What amount of body enhancement is acceptable? And is it wrong that only some people have access to these life-extending technologies? The access issue is especially troublesome. The preservation of life and quality of life has become basically a technical question and an economic question. Just think about it... Listen to this episode and find out more! News Story Link News Clip Link Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topic covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Using Twitter for Depression Surveillance" The federal government is studying how to use Twitter for surveillance on depressed people. The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) began a study financed by the National Institutes of Health last month that will provide “population level depression monitoring” through the social media site. The researchers will create algorithms to determine if people are depressed through their tweets, which they hope will serve as a basis for monitoring mental illness. The will also engage with depressed individuals on Twitter directly. The researchers hope that in developing these algorithms and resources will provide the bedrock for building social media based surveillance systems. If this story or something else has you feeling depressed, well just tweet about it... Find out more and listen to this episode! News Story Link Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topic covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Cheap Mass-Produced Mind-Reading Device" The Pentagon has called for the development of a small, low-cost device (perhaps as cheap as $30) to measure the voltage fluctuations that occur as neurons fire within the brain. The device would work in conjunction with an app to deliver real-time information on neural activity to a tablet or smartphone. While there are limits to what level of "thinking" such a cap can detect, an accurate, affordable and portable EEG system could open up the door for other applications. After all innovation is all about putting on the proverbial thinking cap. Just think about it... Listen to this episode to find out more! News Story Link Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topic covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Animal Spies Among Us" Today we have unmanned vehicles as small as a hummingbird that can search and spy in war situations, and drones. But during the cold war (1960’s) we did not have technology like that, we had something almost as good. At the I.Q. Zoo at Hot Springs, Arkansas, tourists could watch all kinds of animals perform amazing feats, such as chickens playing baseball, parrots riding bicycles and a variety of other animals performing. What people did not know was that the same people who taught these animals, also worked for the CIA. It is true that animals have been used in military and intelligence since ancient Greece, but not like the cold war of the 60’s. Researchers note that animal intelligence work of this sort today has been rendered largely nonessential by technology. Today, all you have to do is illuminate someone with an infrared laser and pick up the scatter back from that, and you can listen to their conversation without any trouble at all. But that doesn’t mean this kind of research is done or useless. Because when you work with animals you are working with something with millions of years of evolution behind it, just think about it... Listen to this episode to find out more! News Story Link Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topic covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Reboot The Mind" Scientists are set to treat depression and headaches by implanting electrodes into people’s brains which alter the function of brain tissue by using electroconvulsive therapy to “reboot” the mind. Deep Brain Stimulation seems indeed to be an extremely powerful method and it is only natural that researchers and clinicians think about other applications in patients with other disorders who do not respond to treatment by conventional methods. Is this a potential scientific success story or the first step towards a psychopharmacological dictatorship? Just think about it... Find out more by listening to this episode! News Story Link Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topic covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Crime Has A New Face: Twitter" Criminals are taking it from the streets to their tweets, increasingly using Twitter to recruit members, boast about their illegal activities and promote their brand. The list is long — and growing — of those using Twitter and other social media venues for nefarious purposes. So it seems to be the logical next step for criminals to utilize social media for their activities. However at the same it gives police and certain government agencies the reasoning they need to crack down on and monitor all of social media whether you are a criminal or not. With criminals, it's one thing to brag on the street, but now, with social media, they brag and get credibility worldwide. Just think about it... Find out more by listening to this episode! News Story Link Support Mind Set Central Suscribe or donate

Topic covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Remote Controlled Dogs" Trained dogs can do a lot of things – they can locate victims at disaster sites, sniff out drugs or explosives, and subdue criminals. One thing that they can't do in all situations, however, is hear commands made by their handlers. That’s why scientists at Alabama’s Auburn University have created a control system to guide them. The system operates autonomously, guiding dogs to pre-established GPS waypoints – although it could presumably also be used to relay commands sent by a human user in real time. It’s intended for use in situations in which a dog’s handler is unable to physically accompany the animal, or where loud noises make it impossible for the dog to hear verbal commands. For situations in which a dog (or person) is just too big, other recent projects have successfully steered turtles and cockroaches by remote control. Then again perhaps one day this technology could evolve in order to control us, just think about it. Find out more by listening to this episode! News Story and Clip Link

Topic covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "The Pulse Password" Passwords, pin numbers, and credit cards could soon be a thing of the past. Soon, your heart and your body might be used to keep track of just about everything if new technology is able to unlock “pulse passwords”. Our heartbeats are as unique to us as our fingerprints and now they are being used to replace passwords, key cards, and bank cards. Security experts say traditional passwords don’t offer much protection from identity thieves. The new technology could pose considerable roadblocks for hackers because heartbeats cannot be replicated. You’re not going to have a piece of paper in your pocket with your password. You’re going to have it as part of your body. Find out more by listening to this episode! News Story and Clip Link Support Mind Set Central Suscribe or donate

Topic covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "The Internet of Everything" We’re entering a new era of technology. The internet used to be focused on communication and the display of information. Then it became about e-commerce during the early dot-com boom, with the high-profile success of companies like Amazon and eBay. Today, technology is touching every corner of our lives — more than ever before — including the tangible products and services that seemed to have nothing to do with the web or internet culture. The Internet of Everything, after all, is about connecting people, processes, data, and things in startling new ways. But ultimately it is the people dimension that looms the largest. Even when the machines are doing the "talking," it is we who benefit. The whole point of IoE is to transform the ways in which we collaborate and innovate while arming us with unprecedented real-time insights and awareness about our environments, our workplaces, ourselves. It’s hard to predict what services will become technologized next. But it’s a good bet that no matter what you’re going to do next, the internet will have gotten there first. Just think about it... Find out more by listening to this episode! News Story Link News Clip Support Mind Set Central Suscribe or donate

Topic covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Psychology of a Fanboy" None of us want to admit it, but chances are we're all fanboys of something. Whether it's a particular brand of software, gadget, or anything else, we often rally behind companies and ideologies without even realizing it. Whether it's the blind trust in the smart phone, a rallying argument about a politician, or an argument over the next big game console, we like to pick sides and stick to them. We define ourselves into groups in all kinds of ways, but one way is through the stuff we own. Find out more by listening to this episode! News Story Link Support Mind Set Central Suscribe or donate

Topic covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Are We Martians?" Scientists have long debated the idea that life got its start elsewhere in the universe, and then was transported to Earth on meteorites or comets. For years, scientists have been saying that although present-day Mars is an inhospitable place, it was much more habitable billions of years ago. The findings from NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars have added fresh support to such claims. What do you think? Is it more likely that life came to Earth from Mars, or that earthly life is entirely home-grown? Are we all Martians? Just think about it.. Listen to this episode to find out more! News Story Link News Clip Link Support Mind Set Central Suscribe or donate

Topic covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Engineered Humans" There is a current Pentagon plan to create a biological platform inside the human body, using it to deliver new genetic information, and thus changing what the human body is and does. DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is preparing to launch these genetic experiments on humans. DARPA plans to insert a 47th chromosome into human cell lines. That chromosome will serve as a kind of platform that will make subsequent delivery of new genetic information much easier. DARPA will justify these experiments on the basis of improving soldiers’ performance on the battlefield, their general health, their capacity to recover from illness, injury, exhaustion. There’s nothing much at stake here. Only the future of the human species, just think about it... Listen this episode to find out more! News Story Link Support Mind Set Central Suscribe or donate

Topic covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Weather Modification with Lasers" Will lasers be used to create rain where it’s needed and to guide lightning strikes away from danger? There’s been a certain amount of buzz about climate control in recent years. But the debate will get new life when the second Conference on Laser, Weather, and Climate meets at the World Meteorological Organization building in Geneva, Switzerland next month. Experts from around the world are to gather at the World Meteorological Organisation next month to discuss how powerful laser pulses can be used to generate changes in the atmosphere that influence the weather. Find out more by listening to this episode! News Story Link