Mind & Consciousness
News on consciousness, the nature of reality, human potential, near-death experiences, quantum theories and philosophical or spiritual interpretations, distinguishing evidence from speculation.
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Virtual Reality Dream Training Raises New Questions About Lucid Awareness
A small controlled study found more reported lucid-like dreams after VR training that combined reality checks, strange dream scenarios and meditation.
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New Consciousness Theory Connects Flow, Synchronicity and the Feeling of Purpose
An October 2026 journal paper proposes that flow, purpose and felt synchronicity may reflect related brain dynamics; the theory remains testable.
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New Study Maps the Shapes and Colors People Recall From Near-Death Experiences
A peer-reviewed study of 50 participants examines the spatial forms and color qualities of near-death memories without claiming evidence of an afterlife.
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Brain Imaging Links Intense Breathwork to Unusual States of Awareness
A small brain-imaging study of experienced breathwork practitioners offers clues about shifts in awareness but cannot validate supernatural interpretations of the experience.
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Even Human-Like AI Still Fails the Consciousness Test in Our Minds
A new Cognition study finds that people sharply separate AI awareness from consciousness, even when artificial and human agents behave in exactly the same…
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Scientists Find Chronic Pain Can Become Entangled With the Brain’s Sense of Self
UC San Diego researchers found that movement-triggered chronic back-pain flares activate the brain’s self network, linking pain to identity and suggesting new mind-body treatment…
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Psilocybin Study Reveals Hidden Order Behind the Feeling of Oneness
A large neuroimaging study finds that psilocybin can reorganize brain activity into context-sensitive patterns linked to unity, self-dissolution and next-day mindset change.
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Scientists Identify a Distinct Neural Signature of “Pure Awareness” During Meditation
A new Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience study identifies distributed EEG patterns associated with reports of pure awareness during Transcendental Meditation.
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Feeling Competent Can Quietly Rewire What Your Attention Values
A new Nature Human Behaviour study shows that feelings of competence can act like rewards, biasing how the brain allocates visual processing resources.
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Breathing, Action and the Sense of Agency: What a New Libet-Style Study Found
A new peer-reviewed study tests whether breathing rhythms shape intentional binding and the sense of agency in a Libet-style task.
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Anesthesia Reveals a Shared Neural Signature Across Six Species
A Nature Neuroscience study finds a conserved, reversible neural signature of anesthesia across six species, raising deeper questions about the biological organization underlying conscious…
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Paradoxical Lucidity: Why Some Dementia Patients Briefly Return
Researchers are studying paradoxical lucidity, brief episodes in which people with severe dementia unexpectedly regain coherent awareness, memory or communication.
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The Human Brain May Have Two Separate Evolutionary Origins
A Stanford-led study suggests the forebrain and hindbrain arise from two distinct progenitor lineages, preserving an evolutionary split more than 550 million years old.
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Brief Mindfulness Meditation May Make Attention More Efficient
A peer-reviewed EEG study finds measurable attention-related changes after 18 days of brief daily mindfulness meditation.
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Advanced Meditation May Push the Brain Toward a Critical State Before Consciousness Switches Off
A neuroscience study of advanced meditation finds measurable shifts in brain criticality around brief cessation events in which ordinary conscious experience temporarily disappears.
