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ISCNI Flash 6/16/1996


  
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      ISCNI*Flash -- Vol. 2, No. 7, Part 1 -- June 16, 1996
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 ISCNI*Flash is the twice-monthly electronic newsletter of ISCNI, The
 Institute for the Study of Contact with Non-human Intelligence.
 
 ISCNI*Flash is a subscription newsletter. Newcomers to the Flash may receive
 two issues free before subscribing. CNI researchers, educators and
 organization representatives may qualify for a complimentary subscription.
 Paid members of ISCNI at America Online receive the Flash at no extra charge.
 For more information on how to get the Flash, please see the notice at the
 end of part two.
 
 The subject matter of the ISCNI*Flash is inherently controversial, and the
 views and opinions reported herein are not necessarily those of ISCNI or its
 staff.
 
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 Welcome to the ISCNI*Flash. This edition is in two parts. If you don't
 receive both parts, please email ISCNIFlash@aol.com and request the missing
 part. Highlights in this edition are:
 
 PART ONE
    o RESEARCHERS CARPENTER, FRIEDMAN, MACK GO TO BRAZIL,
       FIND GOOD EVIDENCE FOR CLAIM OF "CAPTURED ALIENS"
    o UFOs SIGHTED IN MANY PARTS OF AUSTRALIA
       Flap Continues; Witnesses Report Saucer-Shaped Craft
    o NEW-FOUND SOLAR SYSTEM HAS FEATURES LIKE EARTH'S
       Could Help Confirm Theory That Planets Are Common
    o NBC'S NEW "DARK SKIES" EXPLORES GOV'T-UFO SECRECY
       Yet Another Bleak Vision of Impending Alien Invasion
 PART TWO
    o NASA ROBOT TRIES HAND AT BRAIN SURGERY
       Robot Surgeon Could Be Standard On Long Space Flights
    o PSYCHICS NOW GREATLY OUTNUMBER PRIESTS IN FRANCE
       Psychiatry Also in Decline as Faith in Paranormal Soars
    o WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF...?
       Some Experts Voice Concern About UFO Revelations
    o STUDY FINDS NO PROOF OF FALSE MEMORY CLAIMS
       Could Have Implications For Abduction Research
    o CHINA OPENS MUSEUM DEDICATED TO CHINESE "BIGFOOT"
 
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 RESEARCHERS CARPENTER, FRIEDMAN, MACK GO TO BRAZIL;
 FIND GOOD EVIDENCE FOR CLAIM OF "CAPTURED ALIENS"
 
 by Michael Lindemann
 
 Information keeps coming in to the ISCNI News Center on the rumored capture
 of two or more "alien beings" by military authorities in Brazil. The latest
 article received through internet sources (see below) mentioned that
 well-known American abduction researcher John Carpenter had recently been in
 Brazil to examine the case. Carpenter is also a founding member of the ISCNI
 faculty. I phoned him at his office on June 13 and asked what he had learned.
 
 "In short, it's a damn good case. I'd say it's equal to Roswell," Carpenter
 said.
 
 He had been in Brazil just last week for a conference, returning to his home
 in Springfield, Missouri, on June 11. He told me he was going into a meeting
 when I called and could give only brief answers to my questions, but promised
 to write a detailed report for ISCNI soon.
 
 I told Carpenter I had just received an email press release on the case from
 well-known Brazilian UFO researcher A.J. Gevaerd. "Oh yes, he'll know all
 about it," Carpenter said.
 
 Carpenter, along with Stanton Friedman and British researcher Graham
 Birdsall, attended the Brazilian UFO conference together and were seeking any
 information they could get on the alleged capture of aliens. They learned
 that one of the leading investigators of the case, Vitorio Pacaccini, was at
 the conference and speaks perfect English.
 
 Carpenter, Friedman and Birdsall invited Pacaccini to a private room where
 they interviewed him on videotape for more than an hour. On the strength of
 this interview and the evidence that Pacaccini has amassed, Carpenter says he
 and the other researchers were highly impressed.
 
 Carpenter confirmed that famed abduction researcher Dr. John Mack had been in
 Brazil the previous week. Mack interviewed the three young girls who reported
 seeing one of the "alien beings" later captured by the military.
 
 "Mack told me he would stake his career and his license on those three girls
 being truthful," Carpenter said.
 
 Carpenter dropped some tantalizing hints of bigger elements of the case that
 have not yet been divulged. He says there is strong suspicion that a UFO
 crash-recovery is involved. He also said, "There are [or were] five or six
 beings on the loose."
 
 All published reports so far have mentioned only two beings.
 
 The following text is edited from a press release sent out on June 9 by
 Brazilian researcher A. J. Gevaerd. CNI News thanks James Sutton for
 forwarding this information.
 
 PRESS RELEASE - URGENT
 
 On January 20, military forces captured two extraterrestrial creatures still
 alive in Brazil. The capture occurred in neighboring areas of the city of
 Varginha, State of Minas Gerais, Central Brazil. The fact is to be considered
 one of the most significant ever registered in this country and in the entire
 world. Military authorities are keeping secret all details of the operation,
 but some information has already leaked to the UFO community due to the
 investigative job of Dr. Ubiraja Franco Rodrigues and Vitorio Pacaccini, who
 live nearby and are recognized as serious and dedicated researchers.
 
 On the afternoon of January 20, about 3.30 PM local time, three young girls
 named Liliane, Valquiria and Katia observed a strange creature in a field of
 small bushes a few blocks from where they live. It was Saturday and they were
 coming back from their jobs when, crossing an empty area, their attention was
 attracted by a strange being a few meters away. The [being] was kneeling and
 looked like it was hurt, suffering some sort of pain. No UFO was ever seen.
 The girls observed it for a few minutes and ran away,  afraid that they had
 just encountered the devil....
 
 The three girls were extensively interrogated by above mentioned researchers,
 leaving no doubt whatsoever about what happened. Very simple kids, they
 described the [creature] as being dark brown, with a  small body of 4 to 5
 feet in height, no hair at all, big brown head, small neck. It also seemed to
 have some greasy, dark oil on its skin. A strange odor was noticed by the
 mother of the girls, when she went to the site. The head of the creature had
 two big red eyes, no pupils, very small mouth and nose and three
 protuberances in the head. The girls described such protuberances as horns.
 
 Following the leads, researchers Rodrigues and Paccaccini started making
 inquiries everywhere in the town of Varginha, in order to know if anybody
 else had seen the same creature. They found several other people who  also
 observed the [beings] in the same location and maybe other [beings] in
 different locations. While conducting their own investigations, both
 discovered that different witnesses had seen army trucks and other military
 vehicles and personnel that very morning, a few blocks from the place the
 girls saw the [being].
 
 In trying to find out what the military were doing, Rodrigues and  Pacaccini
 came to meet a few soldiers and sergeants. One of them decided to talk
 secretly about their mission, in a confidential taped interview. This
 Sergeant confirmed that, about 9:00 AM, January 20, the Fire Department of
 Varginha was required to capture a strange animal in the area. When four
 firemen arrived in a truck in the place, they noticed that it was not a
 strange animal at all, and reported the fact to the Army Sergeant School
 Commander in the neighboring city of Tres Coracoes (about 10 miles east of
 Varginha).
 
 An army truck was sent to the place and both forces captured the creature
 using nets and equipment regularly used to capture wild animals. The
 [creature] was placed still alive in a box that was then covered by resistant
 fabric.  The box was placed on top of the truck, the vehicle headed to the
 Army Sergeant School and all personnel involved were ordered not to talk
 about it with anyone else. "It was a secret operation," [they were told by]
 Lieutenant Colonel Wanderley, who commanded the operation.
 
 After [this] unusual confidential report, a few other military decided to
 come forward and speak about the captures as long as their identities were
 totally kept secret. They all confirmed, on taped interviews, that a second
 creature (possibly the same one seen by the girls that afternoon) was
 captured on the night of January 20, by personnel from the Army and the Fire
 Department.
 
 Details of [this] operation are fully known. This creature, identical to the
 first one, was taken to the Regional General Hospital of Varginha that same
 night, stayed there for a few hours and then was transferred to a better
 equipped facility, the Humanitas Hospital.
 
 A few nurses and personnel from Regional General Hospital had confirmed some
 facts and they were all suppressed. Individuals who had contacts with the
 second creature were advised to avoid press and UFO researchers and not to
 talk about it with anyone, not even their families or relations. At the
 Humanities Hospital, the second creature was kept at least for 2 days, and on
 the second night, January 22nd, a huge military operation took place to
 remove the creature, [then] already dead.
 
 Interviews with some of the military who participated in this new operation,
 removing the creature from the Humanitas Hospital, declared that three Army
 trucks were used, each one driven by two different soldiers. It is believed
 that three trucks were used to remove only one body in order to [prevent] the
 soldiers from knowing in which truck it would be transported. The drivers and
 their [escorts] couldn't see the details of the operations, as they  were
 kept outside the hospital area. Military personnel from the Army Internal
 Intelligence (called "S-2" in Brazil and extremely violent and repressive)
 were responsible for getting the corpse from the interior of the  hospital,
 placing it in a box and then in one of the trucks.
 
 All three trucks then were taken to a military facility in Campinas, State of
 Sao Paulo, about 200 miles from Varginha, in the middle of the night. There,
 the corpse was removed to the University of Campinas, one of the best
 institutions in the country. It is believed -- and we already have detailed
 information to be soon released -- that the body was autopsied by Dr. Badan
 Palhares, world-acclaimed as one of the best professionals in that area alive
 (he was the one who autopsied German Nazi Mengele, about ten years ago).
 Palhares, as well as any other authority involved, denied he was involved in
 any such operations.
 
 UFO researchers from all over the country have been helping Rodrigues and
 Pacaccini, in order to discover each and every detail of the capture of the
 two [beings]. Media in Brazil has never been so active, and a great majority
 of the population believes that the case is real and that the military and
 civil authorities involved are keeping the facts secret. Many strange facts
 are happening simultaneously, such as [imprisonment] of soldiers, Sergeants
 being transferred at short notice etc. The phones of many UFO  researchers
 involved in the case are confirmed to be tapped and a few threats have been
 made anonymously.
 
 Every day new pieces of this fantastic puzzle are being received by
 researchers in many cities, and more and more military personnel have agreed
 to talk. In a matter of weeks, all information will be fully disclosed by the
 UFO researchers involved.
 
 Meanwhile, the region where Varginha is located, in the South of State of
 Minas Gerais, is subject to one of the biggest UFO waves ever registered, the
 huge UFOs in close range observations, landings and contact.
 
 A.J. GEVAERD, Editor & Director
 BRAZILIAN UFO MAGAZINE & BRAZILIAN CENTER for FLYING SAUCER RESEARCH
 
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 UFOs SIGHTED IN MANY PARTS OF AUSTRALIA
 Flap Continues; Witnesses Report Saucer-Shaped Craft
 
 [ISCNI*Flash thanks John Stepkowski (legion@werple.net.au) for forwarding
 this report from the Sunday Herald-Sun, Melbourne, Australia, dated May 26,
 1996]
 
 Residents in three states reported seeing UFOs on Friday night [May 24].
 
 The Adelaide-based director of the Australian International UFO Association,
 Colin Norris, said colored lights seen over Adelaide could not have been the
 space shuttle Endeavour.
 
 The senior operator of the National UFO Hotline, Ross Dowe, told ABC radio
 [on May 25] that calls about lights in the sky had also been received from
 people in Horsham, Wangaratta and Penrith near Sydney.
 
 An eyewitness, Kathy Dickmann, 47, and her family watched three lights in the
 sky for 20 minutes at 9pm in the Adelaide foothills.
 
 "We thought it was a plane or helicopter at first, but they were moving like
 you wouldn't expect anything we know of to move," Mrs. Dickmann said.  "Then
 we pulled over and just watched as the lights just hovered, flashing on and
 off about every second or so for about 20 minutes."
 
 Mr. Norris said other callers described a white ball the size of a full moon
 which hovered and then sank to the horizon over several minutes.
 
 Norris and Dowe said six other sightings had been reported around Australia
 in the past week.
 
 [The following update is from UFO ROUNDUP, Volume 1, Number 17, dated June 9.
 ISCNI*Flash thanks Roundup editor Masinaigan for sharing this information.]
 
 On Tuesday, June 4, the Examiner, a newspaper in suburban Melbourne,
 Australia, published an update on the continuing UFO flap in that country.
  According to the Examiner, UFOs were seen last week in Narre Warren and
 Packenham, Victoria [southeastern Australia], and in Emerald and Cockatoo,
 Queensland [northeastern Australia].
  
 >From Monday, May 26, to Wednesday, May 28, UFOs were seen repeatedly in the
 Emerald and Cockatoo areas.  According to Ross Dowe of Australia's National
 UFO Hotline, "Some people had seen it three nights in a row.  They were a bit
 put out because they don't believe in UFOs."
 
 Asked what the objects could be, Dowe told the Examiner: "I have no idea."
 
 On Monday night, May 26, a brightly-glowing saucer, red in color, appeared
 over Packenham.  The police in nearby Narre Warren sent a cruiser to
 investigate.
 
 The following night, Tuesday, May 27, the UFO visited Narre Warren, prompting
 a flurry of phone calls to police headquarters.  Eleven people on Lantana
 Drive watched the UFO fly south from the Dandenong range, east of Melbourne.
  One resident, Dianne Walkerton, brought out her camcorder and shot nine
 minutes of video footage, showing the glowing, yellowish-orange saucer flying
 east.  As the UFO passed over nearby Packenham, it was seen by eight people
 in a milk bar.  According to the Examiner, "All were adamant that it was not
 a helicopter.  Rough estimates were that the object was 300 feet above
 ground.  It made no sound but was generally described as disc-shaped with
 three bright yellow-orange lights in triangular formation, flying below the
 low cloud."
 
 At 11:40 p.m. on Wednesday, May 29, Ms. Walkerton and her neighbors again saw
 the saucer.  According to Barbara Schyler of the UFO Encounter and Support
 Line, the residents watched the object for 10 or 15 minutes before it
 vanished over the eastern horizon.
 
 On Thursday night, May 30, police received six calls from the Warren Wood
 estate (housing development) in Narre Warren."  Residents claimed to have
 seen "a brightly-lit large object flying low and fast in the direction (east)
 of Packenham at around 7:30 p.m."
 
 At 1:10 a.m. on Friday, May 31, a saucer was reported hovering over
 Cranbourne Road near Narre Warren.
 
 As an historical note, Australia had one of the earliest UFO sightings
 reported this century.  In February 1927, two brothers riding herd on cattle
 near Fernvale, New South Wales, saw a glowing, domed, disc-shaped UFO fly
 slowly overhead, lighting up the entire valley.  It landed a few miles ahead
 of them.  Checking the site the next day, the men found a circle of scorched
 grass.
 
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 * * ABDUCTION RESEARCH PAPERS, VIDEO NOW AVAILABLE * *
        From Leading Abduction Researcher & Hypnotherapist
                              John S. Carpenter, MSW
 
 John Carpenter writes a popular column for every issue of the MUFON UFO
 JOURNAL and has done ground-breaking research on multiple-witness abduction
 cases. Now you can obtain his research papers, articles, MUFON journal
 columns, investigative suggestions, hypnotic techniques, and even a VHS
 videotape of his two-hour professional workshop -- a wealth of material,
 ideas, and thought-provoking writings from one of America's leading abduction
 researchers -- all at very low cost. For a free list of available titles,
 send your request by email to StarmanJC@aol.com, or write to John Carpenter,
 4033 South Belvedere, Springfield, MO 65807.
 
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 NEW-FOUND SOLAR SYSTEM HAS FEATURES LIKE EARTH'S
 Could Help Confirm Theory That Planets Are Common
 
 [ISCNI*Flash thanks Paul Anderson for sending this article, which appeared on
 June 12 in the Vancouver Sun.]
 
 MADISON, Wis. -- Astronomers report they have discovered a solar system far
 closer to our sun than any of the previous half-dozen planet discoveries.
 
 Moreover, the new planetary system has features strikingly similar to our
 own.
 
 Evidence presented Tuesday (June 11) at the American Astronomical Society
 meeting in Madison suggests that the fourth nearest star to our sun has a
 Jupiter-sized companion orbiting at about the distance of Saturn -- and
 possibly a second, smaller companion at the distance of the asteroid belt.
 
 If confirmed, the new planet -- just more than eight light-years from Earth
 -- adds another piece of evidence confirming centuries of speculation that
 planets are common and that astronomers don't have to look much beyond their
 own back yards to find them.
 
 Some of these, astronomers hope, might harbor the potential for life.
 
 "It's the beginning of a whole new field," said George Gatewood of the
 Allegheny Observatory in Pittsburgh, who discovered the planet orbiting a
 fast-moving star called Lelande 21185. "We've just lifted up the corners of
 the first page of the book."
 
 After decades of false hopes and dashed promises, astronomers have discovered
 a string of oddball planetary systems since the fall of 1995.
 
 However, up until now, all have had bizarre features. One planet orbited its
 parent star in just four days; others were much larger than Jupiter -- the
 giant of our solar system -- and orbited much faster (and therefore much
 closer) to their suns. The closest of the previously discovered planets is at
 least 40 light-years away.
 
 Gatewood's planetary system, in contrast, looks much more like our own. The
 planet weighs in with Jupiter's mass and appears to circle its star at a
 similar distance.
 
 Both possible planets also orbit in the same pancake-flat plane favored by
 Earth's planetary companions.
 
 Prospects for life are dim, however, because all large planets previously
 discovered are mostly gas, lacking any terra firma. In addition, the star
 Lelande 21185 is too faint to generate enough heat to support life.
 
 The Pittsburgh observatory had been keeping track of Lelande 21185 for more
 than six decades with a telescope that is small by modern standards. By
 plotting the star's course through the heavens, they were able to discern a
 small wobble in its motion.
 
 Only recently, however, did the telescope get new optics that allowed
 Gatewood to see the star with ten times the previous precision. "That's what
 gave us the nerve to announce this," he said.
 
 Gatewood has a reputation for careful observing. Charles Beichman, an
 astronomer at the California Institute of Technology, vouched for Gatewood's
 caution. "He's a very careful worker."
 
 Others were more cautious. "It's an interesting report that requires
 confirmation," said Stephen Maran of the American Astronomical Society. "This
 is one where many astronomers are being particularly careful."
 
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 *  *  GET WEEKLY "MEDIA WATCH"  AT THE ISCNI WEB SITE *  *
 
 ISCNI's exclusive weekly viewer's guide, covering all aspects of CNI fact and
 fiction, is posted every Friday at ISCNI's Web site, https://www.iscni.com, on
 the "What's New" page. MEDIA WATCH covers the week from Saturday to Friday.
 Take it! It's free!
 
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 NBC'S NEW "DARK SKIES" EXPLORES GOVERNMENT-UFO SECRECY
 Yet Another Bleak Vision of Impending Alien Invasion
 
 "Dark Skies," premiering this fall on the NBC network in Saturday evening
 prime time (8-9 p.m. ET), is the latest entry in a growing field of programs
 that paint a picture of alien invasion. Unlike such programs as "Babylon 5"
 or "Space: Above and Beyond," where the action is far from earth and clearly
 imaginary, the scenario of "Dark Skies" stays very close to home and mirrors
 the bleakest images of the UFO conspiracy mind-set.
 
 NBC clearly has high ambitions for this show -- they're already hinting at
 episodes all the way out to the turn of the century. According to the
 network's current hype, "Dark Skies" is "an epic science fiction-adventure
 series, combining 40 years of history and a world of speculative fiction into
 its first five seasons... on the way to a final showdown between humans and
 aliens on the eve of the millennium, a struggle the likes of which television
 audiences have never seen."
 
 ISCNI*Flash wants to know: Is someone trying to tell us something? Or is
 alien invasion just the entertainment media's flavor of the month?
 
 In case you're interested, here's some further detail on the plot:
 
 "In 1961, two idealistic college graduates, John Loengard and girlfriend
 Kimberly Sayers, went to Washington to be part of John F. Kennedy's New
 Frontier. They set off to change the world. They never imagined they would
 lead the battle to save it.
 
 "The adventure begins when Loengard studies the Air Force investigation into
 UFOs. He soon stumbles into Project Majestic, the government's ultrasecret
 program to fight a covert invasion of the planet by a mysterious
 extraterrestrial intelligence. Loengard finds himself both a victim and a
 warrior at the front-lines of a secret war that will shape the course of
 human history.
 
 "Hunted by both Project Majestic and the aliens, John and Kimberly go
 underground in a desperate struggle to warn humanity, a fight that will
 ultimately involve them, their children and millions more in a resistance
 movement known as 'Dark Skies.' It's a battle that involves them with many of
 the historical events of the late 20th century, including John F. Kennedy's
 assassination, the New York blackout of 1965 and the destruction of the Space
 Shuttle Challenger."
 
  
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           *   *   CONTINUED in Vol. 2, No. 7, Part 2   *   *
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 Except as otherwise noted, the entire text of ISCNI*Flash is copyright 1996
 by ISCNI, Inc. As a condition of receiving the ISCNI*Flash, all recipients
 agree not to post the ISCNI*Flash on any Newsgroup, Web site, BBS or similar
 electronic location, nor redistribute the Flash by any electronic means,
 except for the express purpose of encouraging others to subscribe, or unless
 with prior permission of ISCNI. In general, ISCNI will approve the electronic
 posting or redistribution of single articles or short excerpts from the
 Flash, provided credit is given to the author and the ISCNI*Flash in every
 instance. Hard copy (paper) reproduction and redistribution of the Flash, in
 whole or part, for educational purposes is permitted.
 
 ==================================================================
 
 From: ISCNIFlash@aol.com
 Date: Sun, 16 Jun 1996 16:23:23 -0400
 Subject: ISCNI*Flash -- Vol. 2, No. 7, Part 2 -- June 16, 1996
 To: 
 
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      ISCNI*Flash -- Vol. 2, No. 7, Part 2 -- June 16, 1996
 ==+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++==
 
 This is part two of the two-part ISCNI*Flash, the electronic newsletter of
 ISCNI, the Institute for the Study of Contact with Non-human Intelligence. If
 you did not receive part one of this edition, please send email to:
 ISCNIFlash@aol.com
 
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 NASA ROBOT TRIES HAND AT BRAIN SURGERY
 Robot Surgeon Could Be Standard On Long Space Flights
 
 NASA, May 31 -- A simple robot that can "learn" the physical characteristics
 of the brain soon may give surgeons finer control of surgical instruments
 during delicate brain operations.
 
 In a new procedure being developed at NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain
 View, CA, a robotic probe will "learn" the brain's  characteristics by using
 neural net software, which is the same type of software technology that helps
 focus camcorders.  The probe, equipped with a tiny pressure sensor, will
 enter the brain, gently locating the edges of tumors while preventing damage
 to critical arteries.
 
 "Potentially, the robot will be able to 'feel' brain structures better than
 any human surgeon, making slow, very precise movements  during an operation,"
 said principal investigator Dr. Robert W. Mah of the NeuroEngineering Group
 at Ames.  Brain tumors typically have a different density than normal brain
 tissue. This difference allows neurosurgeons to find the tumor's edge through
 experience.
 
 "NASA's Neurosurgical Computational Medicine Testbed is a unique and
 essential element in our goal to improve the safety, accuracy and efficiency
 of neurosurgery," said Dr. Russell J. Andrews of the  Veterans Affairs Palo
 Alto Health Care System and clinical  associate professor of neurosurgery at
 Stanford University. "This collaboration is a good start toward meeting that
 goal."  Mah has worked with Andrews since 1994 to develop the smart robot.
 
 The probes used on the robot are much smaller than standard probes, and
 should further reduce potential brain damage.  During  standard brain
 surgery, the surgeon uses a magnetic resonance image [MRI] to guide placement
 of the probe in the brain.  The physician samples the tumor by inserting a
 biopsy probe through an opening in the skull.
 
 "A probe can be as large as 0.2 inches in diameter," Mah said. "As it enters
 the brain, there may be injury to brain tissue. If an artery is damaged as
 the doctor inserts the probe, the patient could  bleed to death," Mah said.
 
 In contrast, during the robotic neural net procedure, the speed and maximum
 pressure are controlled by a "smart" computer program that continues to learn
 as it gains more experience.  If it hits an artery, the probe will stop
 before it penetrates.  If the computer stops the probe, the surgeon can
 decide what to do next.
 
 "Besides having robotic computer control, we have miniaturized everything.
  Instead of a probe that is almost 0.2 inches in diameter, all we need is a
 probe about one-third that size," Mah said. "That minimizes brain damage,
 too."  A biopsy needle extracts a tissue sample through the probe.
 
 Ames is developing robotic telepresence surgery to deal with medical
 emergencies that may occur during long-duration human space flights.  "On a
 long-duration mission, there likely won't be a medical specialist on board to
 deal with a specific surgical problem," Mah said. "A surgeon on Earth could
 control the surgery by issuing high-level commands, such as 'start surgery'
 or 'take sample' to the robot.  The computerized robot would go as far as it
 could within safe limits.  Then it would wait for the next command from
 Earth."
 
 During early tests, scientists used tofu, a food made from soybeans that has
 a consistency very similar to brain tissue, to model tissue types. "These
 tests were used to teach the neural net software what are normal brain
 tissues and arteries and what are not," Mah said.
 
 The software learns to distinguish tumors from normal brain tissue by
 remembering the pressure signatures or profiles for each kind of tissue, and
 then making a model.  Using traditional computer programming to do the brain
 modeling job is not practical.  "It is very difficult to model the human
 brain.  A human computer programmer would have to mathematically model each
 patient and each kind of tissue,"  Mah added.
 
 A modified form of the brain surgery robot could be used for other kinds of
 surgery. "It could be used in the kinds of surgery that can use 'smart'
 sensors.  Besides pressure sensors, there are sensors that can detect
 temperature, acidity and the amounts of various kinds of chemicals," he said.
 
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 PSYCHICS NOW GREATLY OUTNUMBER PRIESTS IN FRANCE
 Psychiatry Also in Decline as Faith in Paranormal Soars
 
 PARIS - France's self-image as both the home of rational thought and "eldest
 daughter of the Roman Catholic Church" has been severely dented by statistics
 showing the country now contains more psychics and clairvoyants than priests.
 
 The decline of religion and the rise of magic as the millennium approaches
 has prompted a passion for crystal-ball gazing. Last year's tax returns show
 that more than 50,000 people make money from faith-healing, predicting the
 future, astrology or similar practices, while 35,000 are men of the cloth.
 
 About ten million people, almost one-fifth of the French population, have
 consulted a clairvoyant, according to a magazine survey, and the paranormal
 business has an estimated annual turnover in France of more than 1 billion
 francs.
 
 At the same time, the parish priest is becoming rarer. As Brigitte Bardot,
 the former actress said recently in a rant against the Muslim ritual of sheep
 slaughter, "our church bells fall silent due to lack of priests."
 
 The number of psychiatrists has also dropped, to 6,000. "The astonishing
 thing is that the more science progresses, the less it affects obscurantist
 phenomena such as clairvoyance," Gerard Miller, a Paris psychiatrist says.
 
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                  *  * ROSWELL UFO ENCOUNTER '96 *  *
 
 "It Did, They Are" is the theme of Roswell, New Mexico's citywide UFO
 conference/festival/extravaganza, taking place July 4-6. Speakers include
 ISCNI*Flash editor Michael Lindemann, "Gulf Breeze Six" spokesman Vance
 Davis, abductee Melinda Leslie, hypnotherapist Barbara Lamb, long-time
 researchers Clifford Stone and David Perkins, and other special guests. Also
 features tours of Roswell's UFO museums, planetarium shows, art and craft
 displays, much more. For more information, call Deon or Stan Crosby at
 505-622-4742; or send email to iufomrc@lookingglass.com.
 
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 WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF...?
 Some Experts Voice Concern About UFO Revelations
 
 [It's often said that the main reason for UFO secrecy is the government's
 fear of public panic if the reality of UFOs and alien visitation were made
 known. But is this claim true? According to author Colman Jones, it probably
 is -- but there are other concerns as well. For example: who will get the
 huge military advantage of being the first to figure out how UFOs work? Some
 experts say that no project in history would be treated with greater secrecy.
 The following article, which appeared in the latest edition of NOW Magazine,
 is copyrighted 1996 by NOW Communications Inc. and is reprinted here with the
 permission of the author. Thanks to Errol Bruce-Knapp for sending this
 article. Colman Jones maintains a web site at:
 https://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/2587/feature2.html]
 
 by Colman Jones
 
 On January 1, 2000, Bill Clinton enters a Rose Garden press conference,
 accompanied by other world leaders.
 
 Staring straight into the news cameras, the U.S. president solemnly declares,
 "I have an important announcement to make: we now have reason to believe that
 this planet has been visited by extraterrestrial beings who are studying our
 race. Their ultimate intentions are unknown."
 
 What if this unearthly scenario were actually to transpire? How would the
 world's peoples react?
 
 It's a question that some of the world's best minds have long been
 contemplating, and their conclusions may shed light on why governments have
 not been more forthcoming on the subject of UFOs and aliens -- namely, the
 fear of the public reaction that such a blatant declaration would provoke.
 
 For example, according to a 1960 report prepared for NASA by the Brookings
 Institution, a Washington think-tank, discovery of life on other worlds could
 cause the earth's civilization to collapse.
 
 Citing anthropological studies, it noted, "societies sure of their own place
 have disintegrated when confronted by a superior society, and others have
 survived even though changed."
 
 "Clearly, the better we can come to understanding the factors involved in
 responding to such crisis the better prepared we may be."
 
 But at a special 1972 symposium on extraterrestrial intelligence held at
 Boston University, Nobel Prize winner George Wald took a more pessimistic
 view. "I can conceive of no nightmare so terrifying as establishing such
 communication with a so-called superior technology in outer space," he
 testified.
 
 A 1975 report produced by the Library of Congress for the House Committee on
 Science and Technology also warned against automatically assuming that open
 contact with other life forms, if discovered, would benefit humanity. "Since
 we have no knowledge of their nature, we may be aiding in our own doom," it
 said, and went on to speculate about a foreign civilization's possible
 negative views on a lower technological society, seeing it as a threat.
 
 "It's a huge unknown," agrees Michael Michaud, a former U.S. State Department
 career diplomat for 32 years, serving at U.S. embassies all over the world,
 specializing in environment, science and technology. He has written
 extensively on the implications of extraterrestrial contact. In an article
 published in the journal of the American Institute of Aeronautics and
 Astronautics, Michaud noted that discovery of extraterrestrial life by
 military authorities might not necessarily be made available to the public.
 
 Reached at his home in Geneva, Switzerland, the now retired diplomat cites a
 late 1970s incident, in which he was personally involved, in which a
 nuclear-powered Soviet satellite was discovered by the U.S. to be losing its
 orbit, descending towards the earth with a nuclear reactor on board.
 
 Michaud recalls: "This was discussed intensively between ourselves and the
 Soviets, and later with certain other governments, long before any public
 release of the information was made. That affair was classified until it was
 announced publicly after the satellite came down, so it's entirely
 conceivable that a government might handle the [discovery of extraterrestrial
 life] the same way, if it were done only through governmental means."
 
 Michaud has frequently argued that one of the most profound effects would be
 the feeling of common identity that might be generated by contact. Bringing
 his 32 years in diplomacy to bear on this, Michaud says the outside identity
 contrasting with our own might be potentially very useful. "I'm not sure it
 will solve all our squabbles, but it will make them seen a lot less
 important, and there will be larger context in which they will be placed."
 
 Stanton Friedman, considered by many the grand-daddy of ufologists, says
 there are plenty of reasons for a UFO coverup. Interviewed at his home in
 Fredericton, New Brunswick, the 61-year-old nuclear physicist points out that
 military considerations would override all others, especially as concerns the
 technology underlying alien spacecraft: "You want to figure how the damn
 things work. Say you've got wreckage, you set up your secret project. The
 basic rule for security is that you can't tell your friends without telling
 your enemies."
 
 For this reason, Friedman says, military authorities would have a vested
 interest in keeping recovery of alien vehicles under wraps. "What if the
 other guy figures out how they work before you do?"
 
 Obviously, such a revelation would also pull the rug from under many of our
 most cherished institutions, be they religious, economic, or political. As
 Friedman notes, "The biggest implication here is loss of power to people who
 have it. What would happen is that the younger generation would immediately
 push for a new view of ourselves, instead as Canadians, American, Russians,
 Chinese, etc., but as earthlings.
 
 "That would be splendid, until you realize that there's no government on this
 planet that wants its citizens to owe their primary allegiance to the planet
 instead of that individual government. Nationalism is the only game in town."
 
 ==+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++==
 
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 * Glimpses of Other Realities, Vol 1: Facts and Eyewitnesses
    300 illustrations, 365 pages, large format: $45.00 incl. p/h
 * Strange Harvests 1993 - Video documentary: $35.00 incl. p/h
 * An Alien Harvest - softcover book, 455 pages, large format
    lavishly illustrated: $45.00 incl. p/h
 * Other titles available. Orders and information, call toll-free:
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 STUDY FINDS NO PROOF OF FALSE MEMORY CLAIMS
 Could Have Implications For Abduction Research
 
 [In recent years, a group of psychotherapists has argued that some people who
 vividly recall being victims of incest, childhood molestation or ritual abuse
 are actually victims of "false memory syndrome." The events never happened,
 these experts have argued -- so the real victims become those people who are
 falsely accused of crimes on the basis of these false memories. The
 possibility of "false memory syndrome" has also been applied to people who
 believe they have been abducted by aliens. Now, however, a new study
 indicates that there is probably no such thing as false memory syndrome. The
 following report was written by journalist Alex Constantine.]
 
 by Alex Constantine
 
 At Carlton University [in Ottawa, Canada] a group of graduate researchers
 have concluded a study of the so-called "false memory syndrome," an
 explanation for recovered memories of child abuse promoted by a "foundation"
 of psychologists who appear frequently on talk shows to denounce therapists
 for filling the heads of children with recollections of horrific crimes. The
 False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) was co-founded by Dr. Ralph
 Underwager, the clinical psychologist who once said it was "God's will"
 adults have sex with children and suggested most women who are raped "enjoy
 the experience." Equally peculiar is the FMSF advisory board, a clutch of
 psychologists from leading universities, many with backgrounds in CIA mind
 control experimentation. The researchers at Carlton concluded they could find
 no proof that an insidious pathology, the "confabulation" of memories,
 exists, a charge the FMSF has been making about ritual abuse for years.
 
 The Ottawa Survivors' Study searched for evidence of the false memory
 syndrome in 113 adult women who, as children, reported they'd been sexually
 molested. Four sets of questions concerning symptoms of false memory were
 drawn up. The women were asked about the type of therapy they received,
 problems with personal relationships and patterns of stress. A detailed
 analysis of their responses also sought the presence of pseudomemories, the
 core of false memory theory.
 
 The study was headed by Connie Kristiansen, a professor of psychology at
 Carlton who proposed that the university evaluate the statistical claims of
 the Foundation, which have been widely repeated in the press. The FMSF
 insists that [at least] 25 percent [and possibly] all recovered memories of
 child abuse are completely false, in contrast to the results of the Ottawa
 study.
 
 About half of the subjects remembered abuse. The other half had remembered
 buried memories of abuse as adults. The responses of the two groups were
 analyzed, and only two of the 51 women with recovered memories had symptoms
 that met the false memory criteria, leading the researchers to conclude that
 the syndrome does not exist as defined by the Foundation, and may not exist
 at all.
 
 They advised that false memory syndrome should not be used in the courtroom
 to discredit recovered memories of abuse until the validity of false memory
 theory can be demonstrated.
 
 ==+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++==
 
 CHINA OPENS MUSEUM DEDICATED TO CHINESE "BIGFOOT"
 
 [ISCNI*Flash thanks James Sutton for forwarding this story.]
 
 BEIJING (Reuter) -- China has opened a museum dedicated to the elusive "Big
 Foot" ape-man said to roam the Shennongjia Nature Reserve in central Hubei
 province, the Xinhua news agency said on June 2.
 
 The museum displays samples of reddish hair and plaster models of huge
 footprints collected over the years that are said to prove the existence of
 the creature, which local residents call the "Wild Man," Xinhua said.
 
 Opened last month, the museum also features documents and pictures of various
 scientific and exploratory operations mounted over the years to track down
 the creature.
 
 "All the materials in the museum are genuine," the agency quoted Chen Renlin,
 Chairman of the Shennongjia Cultural Research Society and self-proclaimed
 "Big Foot" expert, as saying.
 
 Since the 1950s, both scientists and amateurs have searched in vain for the
 creature in the Shennongjia valley, as well as for its cousin the Yeti in the
 Himalaya mountains.
 
 ==+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++==
 
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 Editor, ISCNI*Flash
 
 ==+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++==
 
 Except as otherwise noted, the entire text of ISCNI*Flash is copyright 1996
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