Alex Pietrowski, Staff Writer
Waking Times

Last year, the results of a German study on insect populations foretold of a massive global die-off in many inspect species. Now, scientists are sounding the alarm again following a new study, and warning that we are “on course for ecological Armageddon.”

“Insects make up about two-thirds of all life on Earth [but] there has been some kind of horrific decline… We appear to be making vast tracts of land inhospitable to most forms of life, and are currently on course for ecological Armageddon. If we lose the insects then everything is going to collapse.” ~Professor Dave Goulson of Sussex University, UK

by Alanna Ketler, Collective Evolution

If you are anything like me, you may have thought to yourself over the years, Man, I really wish I would have learned another language in high school, or wondered, Why didn’t my mother put me in guitar lessons? Now I’ll never be able to learn how to play. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, right?

Wrong!

This common misconception couldn’t be further from the truth, and older minds are still very much capable of learning and mastering new skills.

Emerging studies in psychology and neuroscience are now proving this very fact. They are also showing that continuing to learn and experience new things may actually help you to maintain good mental health and cognitive functioning as you age. It’s time to reconsider any previously held beliefs that we are simply incapable of learning new things after a certain age.

by Amanda Monteiro, Collective Evolution

European research from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Germany suggests that city dwellers who live near nature experience positive effects on their brains compared to their purely urban counterparts, especially on the amygdala, the brain’s integrative center for emotions, emotional behaviour, and motivation. When we think of stress or fear responses, we should be thinking of the amygdala.

This research should come as no surprise, since the physiological and psychological benefits of nature are well documented. In our article “How Walking In Nature Changes The Brain,” we explored the study led by Gregory Bratman, which suggested that being in nature can potentially change our brains and positively impact our health:

JoAnne Bassett, Contributor
Waking Times

For millennia people from around the world have been using a powerful technique called lucid dreaming. A lucid dream is a dream during which the dreamer is aware of dreaming. During this type of dream, the dreamer may be able to exert some degree of control over the dream characters, narrative, and environment. In Eastern traditions, cultivating the dreamer’s ability to be aware that he or she is dreaming is central to both the Tibetan Buddhist practice of dream yoga and the ancient Indian Hindu practice of Yoga Nidra. Now science is catching up to prove the powers of lucid dreaming.

There is a group of plants known as “Oneirogens” (from the Greek oneirosmeaning “dream” and genmeaning “creating”), which produce and also enhance dream-like states of consciousness. These herbs and roots have been used for thousands of years for prophetic divination through dreams, out-of-body experiences, and to consciously awaken you during dream states.