" /> In Search Of Heroes Spreads Good News About Everyday, Real-Life Heroes Who Deserve Recognition For Their Good Works: May 2007 Archives

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May 30, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--What are your solutions for some of the problems that are facing society today like racism, child and spousal abuse, violence among young people?" by Ralph Zuranski

Ralph Zuranski: Yes, I think that’s probably true. What are your solutions for some of the problems that are facing society today like racism, child and spousal abuse, violence among young people?

Since you were there and you experienced it first hand? What do you think are some good solutions for those problems?

Stephen Pierce: Well change happens one person at a time. I know people want to change companies. They want to change racial groups. They want to change different things like that, in groups.

But change happens one person at a time, so each person has to be reached where they are. Maybe through some kind of means of mass customization where we understand where each person is individually. Then on a massive level, deliver to them some kind of customized solution that helps them to deal with where it is they are.

Now, for some people that are maybe filled with hate that want it, that love the hate, maybe there’s not much that can be done for them, because people have to want to change.

Now, for those people that are in despair, that are maybe trapped in anger and rage and maybe they beat their spouse or something like that and they know they’re doing it. They know that it’s wrong but they feel as if they’re out of control emotionally.

Maybe there’s some help that could be given to them. But that kind of stuff happens one person at a time. There are a whole lot of issues that we deal with, not just as a U.S. society, but in the world at large from wars and division, economies. It’s just so much.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 29, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--Do you think there is a group of Heroes or many Heroes in our society that aren’t getting the recognition that they deserve?" by Ralph Zuranski

Ralph Zuranski: Do you think there is a group of Heroes or many Heroes in our society that aren’t getting the recognition that they deserve?

Stephen Pierce: Sure and I probably couldn’t give them recognition right now because I probably don’t even know who they are. Most of the time people recognize those who reach some kind of public status. They did something that was worthy of being put into the public’s eye.

But if you count how many people are tracked by the media as “celebrities,” it pales in comparison to the number of people that aren’t tracked. So you would have to think that the number of people who’s lives are impacting other people’s lives, far out number the number of people who maybe are making some kind of impact, maybe on television or in print or something like that.

So I would think that,, yeah there’s a ton. I would probably say for every one person that you know about there’s probably 100 that we don’t.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 26, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--Well, do you experience service to others as a source of joy?" by Ralph Zuranski

Ralph Zuranski: Wow. Well, do you experience service to others as a source of joy?

Stephen Pierce: Do I experience service to others as?

Ralph Zuranski: A source of joy.

Stephen Pierce: Oh absolutely. Absolutely. The fact that this world is filled with people that have needs that want to be filled and the way to allow your personal wealth to be increased, is to find those needs and then to fill those needs.

Then the joy that people get, it’s almost like some people try to start these businesses and stuff, and then they don’t want to do the required work to deliver on the product or services.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 24, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--Why are Heroes so important in the lives of young people?" by Ralph Zuranski

Ralph Zuranski: Why are Heroes so important in the lives of young people?

Stephen Pierce: Well because young people are highly impressionable. Young people are always looking for somebody that’s going to lead them. Because many of them have not found out who they are, what they ultimately want to be. They haven’t really gotten in touch with their own identity.

Their identity becomes highly impacted by the people that they surround themselves with. By the people they hold up as idols if you will or that they hold up as Heroes. I think that having the right Heroes can make a huge difference on where ultimately many young people go.

I think it’s really, really important. For those that have the ability to influence young people, they should make sure that they have access to information and videos and audios from some of the greatest thinkers of old and of today, because that will help to influence their mind and could ultimately redirect them from what could have been a path of negativity and destruction, to a path of positivity and fulfillment as a positive thing.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 22, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--Da’Vinci. Socrates. There are a lot of different people that were great thinkers of old that were absolute geniuses." by Ralph Zuranski

Ralph Zuranski: Leonardo Da’Vinci?

Stephen Pierce: Da’Vinci. Socrates. There are a lot of different people that were great thinkers of old that were absolute geniuses. I love to study and understand the way that they think because their genius was not in their book smart academics but their genius was found in the way that they think.

I think some of the modern day geniuses are Anthony Robbins, are Joel Osteen. It is Mike Murdock. They’re completely different realms but if you look at them and you understand what it is they do and the way they impact people’s lives and how they do it, I think they’re geniuses.

What you do is you look at those people and you can put them up there as Heroes. I do things like borrow genius where I’ll envision conversations. Then myself taking on different things that I consider to be really good strong points about them.

Then looking at how those can be adapted to my life. Then bringing that together with who I am without allowing it to alter my own personality and what it is I’m ultimately to become.

So those are just some of my Heroes. But there are many people because I read so many books. There are people who’ve written books that I wouldn’t be able to recall their name but their book has impacted me in a certain way.

So while there may be a certain group of people specifically, I leave myself open to wisdom, regardless of where it comes from, because wisdom is wisdom.

If it’s something that’s going to be able to lead and guide and direct your path, and help you to move closer to where it is you ultimately want to be, and provide even greater value to those that you’re providing value to, you might as well pay attention to it.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 20, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--What place does prayer have in your life?" by Ralph Zuranski

Ralph Zuranski: What place does prayer have in your life?

Stephen Pierce: I pray all the time. To me prayer becomes like a beacon. In the darkest hours when you can see nothing but you can see a beacon blinking, that’s what you’re going to start to move towards because for you it may be a signal of help. It may be a signal of salvation, restoration or salvation or whatever the case may be.

For me, prayer is like driving on a road that has no streetlights. It’s at night, and it’s absolutely pitch black. Prayer to me is not like turning on the headlights to the car, it’s like bringing out the sun in the middle of the darkest night where you can clearly see.

Even if you can’t see, you know that you’re being guided and you’re being led and you’re being directed. So to me prayer is the chief cornerstone of everything there is that I do.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 19, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--If you think about it there are a lot of people that would love to be in your position. If you have wealth, they would love to be in that position. " by Ralph Zuranski

They’re like, “Do I have to do this? Do I have to do that?” And different things like that. You know, not really.
If you are positioned to even have the opportunity to create wealth, there’s a ton of people in the world that would love to be in that position. So no, you don’t have to, you get to do it. It’s an opportunity to do that.

The opportunity to be able to give service to somebody whether it’s some kind of service where you’re trading hours for dollars, or some kind of package service that’s some kind of physical product or whatever the case may be. It may be a service of recommendation.

The fact that you’re able to do that and be compensated for it, it’s an opportunity that many people would kill for that opportunity. So as far as I’m concerned yes, it’s an honor to be able to service people and then to have them feel enough respect and trust to be willing to compensate us for that, it’s a huge opportunity and we love it.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 18, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--With the same justice that we want to given to us it’s the same justice that we should give to somebody else." by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce: Well of course. With the same justice that we want to given to us it’s the same justice that we should give to somebody else. Whether they did it deliberately, intentionally or they did it accidentally. Understand that people make mistakes.

Some mistakes are bigger than others. Some mistakes can impact us more so than others, but it’s still a mistake. Or maybe it was done deliberately because they don’t like you. In either case do not allow that incident in life to become an emotional chokehold on you that it prevents you from functioning to your maximum capacity and optimum levels because you’re harboring this un-forgiveness.

It’s best to just let it go. Plus, un-forgiveness is really spiritually and physically unhealthy. People actually get sick from harboring too much un-forgiveness. So it’s best to just let it go.

Otherwise regardless of how many days you move forward into your future, you’re going to always be trapped to a part of your past because you’re bringing this un-forgiveness with you.

When you allow yourself to forgive people, bam, that instant that you just clear yourself of it and you allow yourself to be forgiven you don’t have to carry that moment with you into your future. You can just let it go.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 17, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--How important is it to forgive the people that upset, offend and oppose you?" by Ralph Zuranski

Ralph Zuranski: How important is it to forgive the people that upset, offend and oppose you?

Stephen Pierce: How important is it to?

Ralph Zuranski: For forgiveness.

Stephen Pierce: Lack of forgiveness only hurts you. I believe that when you hold un-forgiveness in your heart you may feel as if you’re hurting them but ultimately two things. One, you’re hurting yourself. Two, they’re having emotional control over you. I don’t believe too many people want to walk around feeling bottled up and feeling the pain of harboring un-forgiveness.

But we do it because we feel as if we have to hold onto this, because what they did to us was just so wrong that you just cannot forgive them. Well you know what? We can have this huge amount of emotional intensity about something somebody did. But get over it.

Don’t allow that one moment in time to destroy, distract and derail your life as you continue to hold and harbor this un-forgiveness. Just let it go, and allow yourself to be clear and let every channel within your life to just flow with love and forgiveness. When we do something wrong, don’t we want people to forgive us?

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 16, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--And because to get through this these quick emotional impulses and responses to different things..." by Ralph Zuranski

And because to get through this these quick emotional impulses and responses to different things, whether you feel them emotionally or they drop into your mind mentally like some kind of doubts just start to seep into your mind or some kind of emotional tension that you may feel from a fear that just appeared, that’s fine.

I don’t really believe in fighting that. I just believe in just you know what? It is what it is but you do not have to allow yourself to grip that and embrace it and then make it a part of you.

When that thought of doubt comes you don’t have to capture that thought and then sit there and let it become a seed planted in your mind that uproots into your heart and your emotions and your nervous system, where ultimately that one quick thought of doubt which you could have just let go, you allow to build a nest in your life.

Now it’s holding you back from becoming what you ultimately want to become. It’s the same thing with your fears. Understand that yes, you’re going to be afraid of certain things and fear has its role.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 15, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--How are you able to overcome your doubts and fears?" by Ralph Zuranski

Ralph Zuranski: How are you able to overcome your doubts and fears?

Stephen Pierce: I pretty much accept the fears and I accept the doubts. I forgot somebody that said it but they said that you can’t stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop it from it from building a nest on it.

What that means is, regardless of how confident you are, regardless of how driven you are and how deeply ingrained the beliefs are that you can accomplish something, you’re going to still have your moments of doubt and you’re going to still have your fears.

That’s because it’s natural and you’re natural and you’re human. I think that’s an organic part of our emotional system. You can have every reason in the world to be 100% confident and not have a single doubt. But you’re going to have your points in time where you’re going to have these doubts that come. You’re going to have these fears that come.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 14, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--The guy that caught the interception has run it back for a touchdown. " by Ralph Zuranski

The guy that caught the interception has run it back for a touchdown. You don’t want that to happen in your life, you know what I mean? So understand what the road looks like to getting there.

What all these other options are, what the other alternatives are, and what are the possibilities on the plus side and on the minus side? Look at everything.

It’s like I was talking about earlier. Look at your strengths and weaknesses and also look at the opportunities and the threats. Everything that you can possibly see in your spiritual or your physical peripheral vision. See everything, anticipate, predict and design your future and understand that all these different things are possible to happen.

I’m not going to focus on the negative. But if something happens it’s not going to take me by surprise and I’m just going to roll with it, because I know what the path looks like to get to where I want to go.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 11, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--But you accept the fact that you’re going to have discomfort to get where it is you want to go." by Ralph Zuranski

But you accept the fact that you’re going to have discomfort to get where it is you want to go. It’s not that you like it but that you accept that this is part of the process.

Again, like we were talking about earlier, knowing where you want to ultimately go is only part of the equation. What does the road look like to get there? You have to understand what it looks like to get there so when you start to run up against these different things, it’s not this strange occurrence or experience.

But it’s like, “You know what? I was expecting that to happen so bam let’s do it.”

It’s like if you’re a quarterback in a football game. Yeah, you know who the mark is, you know who the receiver is, you’re going to throw to him, but you know what? If somebody picks off that ball, you knew that that was a possibility so you instantly have the player there. You know what you do? You shift the defense immediately.

You shift the defense immediately and then you run your defensive plays to get back on offense. But if you were just sitting there and had absolutely no idea that that was possible, the whole team is just sitting there in shock, just stunned or paralyzed. Nobody’s moving.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 10, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--What are you willing to trade off to get to where it is you want to go? " by Ralph Zuranski

What are you willing to trade off to get to where it is you want to go? You just can’t have it both ways. If you want to sit back and relax and kick back with your umbrella martinis, or whatever, on the beach but you don’t have any money, what sense does that make? If you want to be able to kick back, go fishing all day, okay, fine.

But push yourself to the point where you will not only appreciate that, but you deserve that because of the value that you provided to a lot of people. To do that, it’s going to take some time and it’s going to be uncomfortable, but that’s okay.

I kind of see it like if you’re doing something that seems to be way too easy maybe you’re doing something wrong. If you’re doing something and you start to come up against some difficulties, it’s not the rule but I’d be willing to say maybe you’re doing something right.

I don’t always want to be right when I’m doing something. I don’t want things to always be easy. I don’t feel as if I’ve learned. Now I’m not saying like bring on the heat. Nobody likes it because it makes you feel uncomfortable.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 09, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--How important is it to believe your dreams will become reality?" by Ralph Zuranski

Ralph Zuranski: How important is it to believe your dreams will become reality?

Stephen Pierce: If you don’t believe in your dreams then you’re not going to be driven. I think your belief system is kind of like the motor in the car. It’s one of the things that are going to drive you to getting to where it is you want to go, because if you don’t have the beliefs to support the fact that you can transfer this dream that you have into reality, then why put in the work? Why put in the time? Why put in the effort? Why put in the tears? Why put in the sweat?

If you don’t really fully believe that this is going to happen, that there’s going to be an ultimate payoff, not just for you, but it’s going to be a payoff for the people that are going to benefit from this value that you’re going to bring, then why even go forward and do anything?

So I think belief is an absolute given. I think one thing you can do to intensify your belief, is to take some time to sit back and visualize with a great deal of intensity, view experiencing what it is you want to achieve in the here and now. Not in the later sense of, “Well it’s going to happen some day.”

But allow yourself to experience it today because the mind can’t distinguish something that was actually experienced with something that was virtually experienced.

I think it’s a great idea to take that time to experience it in your body right now, and your emotions. Just enjoy the moment. There’s something that’s really compelling about doing that.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 08, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--I think having the right attitude and engaging in the right processes is important." by Ralph Zuranski

I think having the right attitude and engaging in the right processes as far as visualization, understanding what your beliefs are, being congruent as far as what you believe with your actions and everything else, I believe that can help accelerate you getting there. But, you’re going to still have tests.

It’s interesting. The tests become much easier to deal with and understand the tests when you’re in the right frame of mind. I think that right frame of mind can be stimulated by being optimistic consistently and understanding that you are here for a greater cause.

Anybody who is trying to prevent you from getting to where you ultimately want to be, that’s going to help impact and change other people’s lives, may have disqualified themselves for a relationship.

There is a quote from one of my mentors, Mike Murdock that says, “People are like currents. Relationships are like currents. They’re taking you towards the pit or they’re taking you towards the palace.”

You have to kind of evaluate your relationships and understand the relationships that you have. Where are they moving you towards? The people in your life, are they making deposits or are they making withdrawals? Who are the people who are just sucking the life out of you and not contributing anything back?

You have to make some hard decisions at times to understand the relationships you need to cut back or completely cut off for the sake of the vision, for the sake of the mission, and for the sake of the greater cause and the reason and purpose that you’re here for and the things that you ultimately want to achieve and contribute to life.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 07, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--I don’t know all the science behind it, the spiritual laws behind it or anything like that." by Ralph Zuranski

I don’t know all the science behind it, the spiritual laws behind it or anything like that. What I’m saying is it’s something that’s been proven to work and it’s something that makes you feel absolutely amazing after you’ve done it just once.

Then it just compounds and it compacts as you start to do it over and over and over and over again. The way it just stacks up and the intensity that you feel as far as the belief that you can actually do it.

You start to get to the point where you’re living your life as if you’ve already achieved it. It doesn’t make it easier but it seems like you accelerate yourself towards where it is you want to go. Some of the things that would have probably been difficult to deal with along the way, become a little bit easier to deal with.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 06, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--You’ve been through a lot in your life. Who helped give you the willpower to change your life for the better?" by Ralph Zuranski

Ralph Zuranski: You’ve been through a lot in your life. Who helped give you the willpower to change your life for the better?

Stephen Pierce: I read my Bible a lot. I’m very spiritually connected. I understand there’s a greater purpose for my life. There’s a greater mission for my life. I love to have fun but I also love to make sure that I’m making a contribution to people and understand what that contribution is.

So I remain entirely driven by my relationship with the Lord. I remain driven by understanding that I’m here for a reason to help contribute to other people and make other people’s lives better. When I see that happen, I become incredibly driven.

Some people give us testimonials and they call and they give us feedback. They benefit from dealing with us, doing business with us. There’s nothing greater than that.

Getting paid for different things is amazing. To be able to be in the position that we’re in, the end result. Because I don’t really believe in being paid for something that the value is not delivered in. People don’t feel as if they got whatever it is they paid for.

I believe that if you’re going to be paid for something, exceed what the expectations are. Define what the expectations are. Then completely exceed them so they become overwhelmed with the amount of value that you gave them that was far above and beyond what it was they expected.

I believe that’s the way to live and that’s one of the things that constantly keeps me driven. Then there’s my wife, you know, family and all those things together, it’s like life is wonderful. You understand what it is you’re here to do and you get locked into that.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 05, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--I don’t think too many people, because of fear, are going to run across a highway of speeding traffic in fear of getting slammed by a car and ultimately possibly dying." by Ralph Zuranski

I don’t think too many people, because of fear, are going to run across a highway of speeding traffic in fear of getting slammed by a car and ultimately possibly dying. So fear has its role. Fear protects us at times but fear can also hold us back from becoming what it is we want to become.

So understand there’s going to be fears that you know you have but do it anyway. That’s the whole thing. I think courage is not about controlling the fear. It’s about understanding the fear and doing what it is you need to do anyway. I don’t think courage is ultimately about being fearless.

I think fearless itself doesn’t mean the person is without fear. I think fearless is that the person understands the fear and they press through it anyway because they know that this is something they absolutely must do to accomplish what it is they want to accomplish.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 04, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--Do you think people need to realize that they’re going to experience discomfort in the pursuit of their dream?" by Ralph Zuranski

Ralph Zuranski: So how important is it? Do you think people need to realize that they’re going to experience discomfort in the pursuit of their dream?

Stephen Pierce: I could barely hear that question. Say that again.

Ralph Zuranski: How important do you think it is for people to realize that they’re going to experience a lot of discomfort in the pursuit of their dreams?

Stephen Pierce: I think it’s important that they understand that it’s kind of like getting in shape. I don’t know too many people that either became body builders or became superior athletes, and they did it within their comfort zone.

You have to get in the gym, you have to sweat, you’ll have some aches and pains, you’ll be tired. I’m not saying that being successful is identical to that kind of workout, but the things that they have that are similar, is that it doesn’t happen sitting on the couch in the comfort zone.

You don’t get in shape, you don’t become a superior athlete sitting on your couch channel surfing. You have to get in the gym. You have to get out there and practice and that may cause some discomfort. It may cause some physical discomfort. It may cause some mental discomfort. It may cause some discomfort just within the realm of time.

You prefer to be doing something else that’s more comfortable and mindless. Like maybe watching TV or something like that, as opposed to doing something that may be more mentally taxing and physically taxing. Like some kind of physical exercise or some kind of mental work that’s required to progress your business, or whatever it is you’re doing towards the objectives that you have. But there are some trade-offs.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 03, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--Allow yourself to be driven and focused on that ." by Ralph Zuranski

Allow yourself to be driven and focused on that and know that if you do not pursue that mission, if you do not adhere to the values that you have in your life, there are going to be a lot of people who are going to suffer because you didn’t accomplish what it is you needed to accomplish so you could touch and affect their lives.

Stay focused and know that life doesn’t roll out the red carpet for anybody. The moment you set your eyes on something, the moment that you decide that you’re going to be fully committed to something, the tests are going to start to roll in.

So you might as well just throw up your guard and play both defense and offense, because that’s the way you’re going to need to be to make it in life.

Don’t think that because you’re committed, because you’re a good person, or because you’re a Christian, or because you read your Bible, because you pray, or because you have discord with people that love you, that life is going to just feed you everything you want with a silver spoon.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 02, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview-As you try to progress and move forward, every reference they make to you is always about something that you used to do, that old person that you are moving away from." by Ralph Zuranski

As you try to progress and move forward, every reference they make to you is always about something that you used to do, that old person that you are moving away from. Or, they just want to kind of keep you trapped into what they consider to be the ideal person that best fits the relationship they want to have with you.

That is fine for them. It is not okay for you. I say it is fine for them because you have to resolve and understand that you cannot control what people think, what people feel, and what other people want from you.

It is like, “Okay, that’s fine for them.”

Allow yourself to just let that go and release any kind of tension or frustration that you may have about what other people think about you because you can’t control it. The worst thing you can do is go through your life trying to adjust yourself to please other people.

There is a quote from Bill Cosby. He said, “I don’t know the secret to success, but I know the way to fail is to try to please everybody.”

The one thing that you don’t want to do is to try to please everybody. Again, understand what your values are. Understand what your mission is in life. Know why you exist in life beyond the fact that your mom and dad brought you into this world.

What is this greater purpose for you in your life other than you want to make money? That is a given. People want to make money. But what is it that you are going to contribute by the way of value to a group of people somewhere, that’s going to allow you to extract this amount of wealth that you’re looking to get?

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."

May 01, 2007

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview--Well, it seems that a person would have to have a tremendous amount of courage to pursue ideas or choose their path in life when everybody around them doesn’t want them to change" by Ralph Zurans

Ralph Zuranski: Well, it seems that a person would have to have a tremendous amount of courage to pursue ideas or choose their path in life when everybody around them doesn’t want them to change. What do you think about that?

Stephen Pierce: Say that again.

Ralph Zuranski: Does it take a tremendous amount of courage to pursue new ideas or a new path in life when all the people around you want you to remain the same so that they don’t have to change?

Stephen Pierce: I think it takes commitment. Commitment to where it is you ultimately want to go and the belief that you can get there. Not allowing your belief system to be attached to other people and know that you are going to have people grind up against you.

Learn something from that. Don’t allow it to discourage you, don’t allow it to derail you from where it is that you ultimately want to go.

They are going to be them. How they feel, what they think and what they do is a reflection on them, it is not a reflection on you. Although, I think at times we can learn a lot about ourselves from the feedback that we get from people.

But if people are trying to keep you trapped into a person that you used to be, maybe you used to be a bad person like I used to be or you used to do things that were wrong and that’s what people are accustomed to. So you’re trying to make this change, they may sneer at you and they may think negatively of you or they may say things that seem to try to keep you trapped in the past.

"Listen to Stephen Pierce's In Seach of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski

Stephen Pierce's Brain University

Zapping sleepers' brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students'
performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%.
The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues, recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and gave them a list of word associations, such as "bird" and "air", to learn late in the evening. Afterwards, researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.

The students' various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born's team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes.

The EEG readings revealed that this current had put students into a deeper state of sleep.

The next morning, the students performed about 8% better on the word memory test than when they underwent the same type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.

Nerve firing

Born believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take place.

Strong brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus.

Some researchers are skeptical of Born's "mimicking deep sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US, says that he and other scientists have shown that brain stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar memory enhancements.

Potential side effects

There is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day help improve memory in patients with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.

"It could be very useful to restore function in people with brain injury," says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.

Healthy people might eventually try using this approach to maximize their brainpower, Herrera says:
"I think every single medical student in the country might want to plug into this type of device at home or in the dorm."

But he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain might have unwanted side effects.

Born also says he would be "a little hesitant" to regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: "In the end we don't know if there are adverse side effects that we just don't recognize at the moment."