RENAISSANCE OF PARAPSYCHOLOGY. ESOTERA 28:300-301.

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• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00787R000500030004-2
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• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 23, 2000
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: April 1, 1977
• Content Type: PAPER

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RENAISSANCE OF PARAPSYCHOLOGY
Esotera 28;300-301, April 77
/Trticle by Scott Hill, biophysicist and parapsychologist,
7openhagen7
Investigations in the frontier areas of modern natural
science were the focus of a Congress held in October 1976
in Alma-Ata, the capital ofthe Kazakh Soviet Republic. Only
three guests from the West were permitted to participate.
One of them was Esotera staffer Scott Hill. Parapsychology
was not taken up at the conference. The author obtained
information on the subject more or less unofficially, only
at the fringes and after the completion of the meeting.
/Text7 Does parapsychology actually exist in the USSR? This
7ie1-ci is officially outside the realm of traditional psycholo-
gy and it is therefore not mentioned in psychological litera-
ture. Nor is there any Institute of Parapsychology in the
Soviet Union. However, in the most recent edition of the
Soviet Encyclopedia, Volume 19/1974, there is the following
very interesting definition under "P": The domain-_ of para-
psychological research is based on 1. forms of sensory per-
ception occurring via a mode of information transmission that
cannot be explained by the mechanism of known sensory organs;
2. corresponding forms of action of living substance on phy-
sical phenomena, which occur outside the organism without
involvement of muscular force, due to will training, mental
action, etc. This parapsychological relationship also in-
cludes concepts such as ' psychotronic,"bio-information,'
'bio-introscopy', etc." It is interesting that the concept of
psyche does not occur anywhere.
This definition differs in substance from the earlier editions
of the Soviet Encyclopedia which attempted to represent para-
psychology as an outgrowth of decadent western culture. This
is easy to understand if we consider the various philosophies
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that were misconceived by Marxism-Leninism as less materia-
listic ideologies. This led scientific research in psycho-
energy into ideological problems, even though most investi-
gators were not even properly aware of the political impli-
cations of their work. The primary question to be answered
is: Does the existence of the psyche (or soul) contradict
a materialistic philosophy? Is the mind (thinking, feeling,
wishing) identical with a soul? Is one of the two identical
with the brain?
Parapsychology Literature By Political Publishers
According to a story circulated in the Soviet Union, the most
recent Soviet renaissance in parapsychological research stems
from a trip to India made by former Premier Khruschev in the
course of which he observed a number of yogis in scientific
experiments, e.g. in respiratory and metabolic control while
"being buried alive." The story goes that no sooner had he
returned to Moscow he put together a group of experts and
ordered them to investigate these phenomena with an initially
approved research budget of one million rubles.
As good Marxists and therefore materialists did the scien-
tists refuse to acquiesce to this demand? It is unlikely
because Lenin himself was interested in cosmobiology and
matters of the psyche. However, it is clear that many Soviet
scientists first had to make their interest in psychic pheno-
mena conform rationally with scientific Marxism.
In this connection, we reviewed the work of the Russian phy-
siologist Leonid L. Wassiliev who worked as a pioneer at the
Leningrad Brain Research Institute between 1925 and 1965.
He was known to have performed numerous experiments in the area
of "telepathic hypnosis" or "mental suggestion from a distance".
Sovietologists feel it is significant that these experiments
performed in the twenties and thirties were first published
in the sixties, and this by a political publisher in a small
volume entitled "Mysterious Phenomena of the Human Psyche."
A major part of this work was defense of the idea that psychic
research was not contradictory to scientific Marxism.
Bioplasma -- The Explanation For All PSI Mysteries?
Soviet scientists in Kazakhstan have developed a theory on biologi-
cal plasma -- bioplasma -- as the possible link between the
effects of electromagnetic intermediate reactions and the
individual parts of the biological organism. This idea
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stimulated the phantasy of many western authors and entire
books were written on bioplasma and how it can solve all our
problems with regard to unknown intermediate actions and ex-
plain the "PSI mysteries" of psychokinesis and extrasensory
perception. But what is bioplasma? In order to obtain scien-
tific information about this rather occult idea, the author
had to travel 6000 kilometers to Alma-Ata, where the theory
developed in 1967 by engineer V.S. Grieschenko originated.
Can Plasma Exist In An Organism?
Before we consider the theory of bioplasma more closely, we
must briefly review what science knows about plasma. Plasma
is the "fourth stEte of matter," beyond liquid, solid and gas.
In accordance with its high inner energy, the individual atoms
ionized and formed ionic gas or a high temperature plasma.
(In the process, the electrons were hurled away from their
nuclei at high temperatures and the plasma contains the same
number of positive and negative particles.)
Soviet scientists know a lot about this type of plasma, e.g.
that it can be stored and concentrated in a magnetic field.
The temperature of several million degrees is so high that
any conventional container would evaporate. This type of
plasma could not exist in the human body with its temperature
of 37?C, or could it?
If there are electrons in a solid (solid-state electronics),
within semi-conductor elements at room temperature, physicists
speak of an "electron gas" and also of gases made up of "holes,"
(the absence of an electron), protons and the combination of
a hole and an electron, or "exiton" (pair formation).
The density of "electron-hole plasma" in a semi-conductor
changes depending on the temperature. Heating causes an
increase in the number of free electrons and holes from
1013 electrons/sq cm to 1022 electrons/sq cm. Various os-
cillations can occur in plasma of this type according to So-
viet scientists and intensified oscillations in the plasma can
approach the waves of visible light or UV light. Unlike the
case with solid matter, each electron or hole does not belong
only to one atom; rather it has broken out of the crystal
lattice of the solid matter and it is manifest as a part of
the "ensemble" or the totality of the solid plasmatic struc-
ture.
In 1967, Nobel prize winner St. Georgi pointed out the im-
portant part played by delocalized electrons in the biolo-
gical process. He actually stimulated experimental investi-
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gations on the semi-conductor properties of biological mole-
cules such as white blood corpuscles, DNA, RNA and protein
compounds. As we mentioned in the previous issue (Esotera,
3/77), the German investigator Dr F. Popp believes that the
DNA helix can function as a bio-laser and emit coherent (uni-
direction) radiation. The so-called Pi-electrons allegedly
play a major part here since their binding to the nucleus is
weaker than that of other electrons.
Storage in Cell Membranes
According to the view of Soviet scientists, in order to fulfill
their cellular respiratory functions, mitochondria (small cellu-
lar organs) must undergo a chain of respiratory reactions. Each
of these reactions includes electron transfer and plays an im-
portant part in energy conver4on for the entire organism. It
is estimated that there are 10'5 mitochondria in the human body
which make up about one percent of the body weight. By way of
energy conversion, they produce energy reserves in the cell, e.g.
from the energy that is liberated during biological oxidation.
According to the opinion of the Polish investigator S. Monczarski,
electron plasma found in mitochondria displays a greater ionic
density than the ionosphere.
Soviet researchers have also focused on the cell membrane as
a special object to study in terms of a possible reservoir.
They have prompted the view that "electron-hole-exiton plasma"
might be stored there. Scientists L.A. Pirozyan and V.N. Aris-
tarhov have demonstrated the existence of the semi-conductor
property in membranes, and of course membranes play an enormously
important part in the biological process.
Plasma is formed by the ionization process and the formation of
localized charged particles. The reverse reaction process of
course also takes places There is the reciprocal action of
particles and their reversal to lower energy stages in which
they are bound to the atomic nucleus. Both processes are ac-
companied by emission or absorption of quantities of radiation.
As previously mentioned in earlier chapters, the bioluminescence
of tissues and cells is an area of intensive research in the
Soviet Union. There are many electron exchange reactions during
which numerous cells luminesce in the visible portion of the
spectrum, as demonstrated in studies by Dr V.N. Tarusov, Pro-
fessor of Biophysics at Moscow State University. He emphasizes
that these are very weak light rays and difficult to detect, even
when light-sensitive detectors are used (cf. Esttera 1 and 3/77,
comments on the Gurvich effect).
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The Luminescence of the Beating Heart
In an experiment at the Leningrad State University supervised
by Dr L. Wassiliev, a newly removed frog heart was connected to
an electrical apparatus in such a manner that it continued beat-
ing, stimulated by the current impulses. Light from the heart
was recorded by a UV-light sensitive photo-detector. A high
level of light emission was registered when the heart beat was
strongest. As the heart beat declined, even though electrical
stimulation was maintained at a constant level, the UV light
quantity decreased and disappeared entirely when the heart
stopped beating. Two Australian investigators carried out the
same experiment with a giant yeast culture. The scientists
artificially produced processes such as "dying" and "birth"
by addition of nutrient medium.
Without the nutrients, a number of older yeast cells exceeded
their life span and died, giving off UV light. Nutrients were
then injected in the yeast, making possible a "rebirth" during
which UV light photons were also discharged.
Soviet scientists assume that this biological plasma contains
a high level of what physicists and chemists refer to as a
low entropy content. They say that this distinguishes bioplasma
from conventional semi-conductor plasma. They believe that this
is a system that is not in a state of thermodynamic equilibrium
but that nevertheless exhibits a high degree of stability. It
is their opinion that the thermal noise in bioplasma is of a
low level, which indicates a particularly well organized con-
dition. They think that the absolute temperature of a compound
of this type may be near zero, even though this is hard to ac-
cept since in physics even negative temperatures are theoreti-
cally possible. However, we would assume that humans have a
temperature of 37 degrees and not absolute zero!
The formation of the bioplasma on the substrate of a uniform
body can give rise to a biofield (as is assumed with certainty
by Soviet investigators) that is anisotropic, i.e. that has
a preferred direction.
Communication Between Cats and Plants
One of the most surprising statements that the author heard
in Alma-Ata and one of the most unusual experiments he witnessed
was the "cat-plant experiment," carried out by the Institute
of Biophysics at the Kazakh State University after the comple-
tion of the official conference. Dr Inyushin and his associates
have not yet published the study on the experiment and admit
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that many more repetitions are necessary before they can give
an official report. For reasons of space, these experiments
that are described for the first time will be taken up in
simplified form. However, they have ramifications that will
probably be widely discussed in the coming years.
In principle, these are a variation of the Backster experi-
ments, which were reported on for the first time in 1968 (cf.
Esotera p 916 ff, 10/1973). The American polygraph (lie de-
tector) specialist believes that he ascertained reactions of
plants to thoughts of human intentions as noted in experiments
that were not entirely undisputed. His measuring apparatus was
the electric lie detector used to ascertain modifications in
the bioelectrical activity of plants. The Soviet scientists
designated their experiments "human-plant," "plant-human" or
"animal-plant" communication and utilized a laser for optical
detection. We feel that this method is superior to those of
Backster and others.
A double-walled metallic chamber was installed in the labora-
tory. This served as a Faraday cage, preventing the penetra-
tion of electromagnetic short-wave radiation and permitting
only the passage of light from the 24 mW helium-neon laser.
During the experiment, all light sources were shut off to pre-
vent the sensitive photomultiplier from responding to foreign
light. In the cage, on a table, there stood a plant which in-
terrupted the laser beam. The other participant in the experi-
ment was outside the cage. This was a house cat squeezed into
a metal box from which only its head protruded. The cat's ears
were fitted with two electrodes connected to an electrical sti-
mulator outside the cage.
Plant Reacts to Cat's meowing
After a stable initial base line had been recorded for the plant
leaf, the cat was placed in the chamber with the plant (but at
some distance from it). At a signal from Inyushin, 50-volt im-
pulses were transmitted in short blasts over the cat's ears,
causing the cat to meow so pitifully that it was even painful
for the author and his Danish colleagues. This dreadful treat-
ment apparently also affected the plant, as indicated by the
light level. The intensity of the polarized laser light trans-
mitted through the plant leaf rose.
Inyushin assured us that this experiment would be repented, using
another plant as a participating element, and a human, if pos-
sible a "healer."
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Picture captionss
P 3021 Electron microscopic picture of a DNA helix, the
carrier of genetic information. The Soviet scientist
Dr F. Popp believes that DNA (desoxyribonucleic acid)
functions as a "biolaser" and emits "bundled" light.
Does it serve for the regulation of biological growth?
P 303s After the completion of the congress, Prof V.M. Inyu-
shin, 35 years (left), director of the Alma-Ata Con-
ference, gave our staff member some information on ex-
periments at the Institute for Biophysics in Alma-Ata
(right) regarding the "Backster effects" He observed
a successful "biocommunication" between a cat and a
plant.
7072
C50:8120
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