UNCONVENTIONAL SCIENCE CONFAB

Top scientists from around the world gathered at Huntington Beach, California in June to discuss topics not usually covered at scientific conferences. Most members of the Society for Scientific Exploration carried credentials in one or more areas of mainstream science, but the SSE convention was to exchange ideas on subjects far removed from conventional scientific research.

This year's schedule included such questions as: How does one evaluate claims of artificial structures imaged in photographs of Mars? What is the status of claims of generation of excess heat by cold fusion? Can group consciousness psychically influence random electronic generators? What is the evidence for survival in near-death experiences or past life memories? What is the age of the Sphinx? Are some sacred sites related to ancient technology?

The only agreement among participants is that such questions need to be explored competently, and debated factually and unemotionally.

ATLANTIS RISING IN VIRGINIA BEACH?

Entitled, appropriately enough, Atlantis Rising, the July conference of the Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE) in Virginia Beach heard some of today's top research validating the visions of Edgar Cayce.

On hand were Graham Hancock (Fingerprints of the Gods), Robert G. Bauval (The Orion Mystery), Budd Hopkins and John Mack (UFO abduction research) and many others.

BLAVATSKY MAKES SMITHSONIAN

No, you were not hallucinating. That paragon of staid American culture, Smithsonian Magazine, was devoting a somewhat respectful feature article, with plenty of pictures, to 19th century mystic Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and her American patron Henry Steel Olcott. In fact, the May 1995 article, while covering in some depth the controversy surrounding the early days of the Theosophical Society, still managed a reasonably objective presentation.

Notably absent was the tone of strident ridicule which the mainstream press usually reserves for such material. Moreover, author Edward Hower's piece leaves the distinct impression that Blavatsky, Olcott and associates, despite unrelenting attacks from the orthodox establishment of the period, may indeed have deserved a more objective hearing for their many claims of paranormal experience.

Those who see in the public rehabilitation of once unjustly reviled visionaries, the first signs of a more enlightened age may be forgiven, perhaps, for a little exuberance.

PEERS PILLORY UFO ABDUCTION RESEARCHER

John Mack, the tenured Harvard professor of psychiatry who wrote a best-seller about people claiming UFO abduction experiences, is under investiga-tion by his colleagues.

According to the New York Times, a committee at the Harvard Medical school has taken it upon itself to report to the dean criticizing Mack.

The academic community appears to be divided over the report.

Some see it as supporting legitimate scientific inquiry, but others see it as an assault on academic freedom.

TESLA SOCIETY HOST HOT MEET

Alternative energy buffs, modern day alchemists, eccentric inventors and unorthodox science types of every variety converged on Colorado Springs, Colo. in late July for the 1995 Extraordinary Science Conference.

Sponsored by the International Tesla Society, the event at the Sheraton Hotel offered speakers and workshops on a wide range of controversial topics from biomagnetics to ball lightning, from EMF to Cold Fusion. Lecturers included luminaries of the alternative science world such as Mark Hendershot (The Hendershot Motor), Wayne Green, Dr. Hal Huggins, Dr. Walter Rawls and many others.

Devoted to exploring and expanding the suppressed work of revolutionary inventor Nicola Tesla, the Society also seeks to support new research by other scientists in the same far-reaching tradition.