Research Lab. Photo © 2009 Susan Lambert, All rights reserved.
The IONS laboratory is one of a few in the world devoted to studying the relationship between consciousness and the physical world. The lab houses a broad array of instrumentation, ranging from psychophysiological monitors of autonomic and central nervous system activity (e.g., electrocardiogram, heart rate, skin conductance, electrogastrogram, respiration, blood flow, 32 channel EEG), to physical detectors of mind-matter interaction (e.g., random event generators, optical interferometers, magnetometers, speed of light measurements). A fully networked infrastructure allows high speed within-lab and Internet access, and a solid steel, double-walled, electromagnetically shielded room provides ample space for studies requiring energetic or sensory isolation.
IONS’ laboratory is used for many projects, for example the exploration of nonlocal interactions among two or more participants. What are the Noetic Sciences? No•et•ic: From the Greek noēsis / noētikos, meaning inner wisdom, direct knowing, or subjective understanding.sci•ence: Systems of acquiring knowledge that use observation, experimentation, and replication to describe and explain natural phenomena.no•et•ic sci•ences: A multidisciplinary field that brings objective scientific tools and techniques together with subjective inner knowing to study the full range of human experiences.
For centuries, philosophers from Plato forward have used the term noetic to refer to experiences that pioneering psychologist William James (1902) described as: …states of insight into depths of truth unplumbed by the discursive intellect. They are illuminations, revelations, full of significance and importance, all inarticulate though they remain; and as a rule they carry with them a curious sense of authority. It led him to conclude that reality is more complex, subtle, and mysterious than conventional science had led him to believe.