Derren Brown's Blog, page 51

BBC Horizon – The Secret You

With the help of a hammer-wielding scientist, Jennifer Aniston and a general anaesthetic, Professor Marcus du Sautoy goes in search of answers to one of science's greatest mysteries: how do we know who we are? While the thoughts that make us feel as though we know ourselves are easy to experience, they are notoriously difficult to explain. So, in order to find out where they come from, Marcus subjects himself to a series of probing experiments.

He learns at what age our self-awareness emerges and whether other species share this trait. Next, he has his mind scrambled by a cutting-edge experiment in anaesthesia. Having survived that ordeal, Marcus is given an out-of-body experience in a bid to locate his true self. And in Hollywood, he learns how celebrities are helping scientists understand the microscopic activities of our brain. Finally, he takes part in a mind-reading experiment that both helps explain and radically alters his understanding of who he is.

Also available shortly on BBC iPlayer

Enigma On TV Tonight! – 9.35pm CH4

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Thursday 06 January

9:35pm – 11:10pm

Channel 4

This is his latest theatre show, recorded at the New Wimbledon Theatre in London in 2010.

Enigma is another jaw-dropping, show-stopping theatrical event that leaves the live audience and viewers in awe of Derren's incredible abilities to control minds and manipulate thoughts. Derren is at his funniest and finest in this stunning theatrical event, which brought him more rave reviews up and down the country and "sees him climb to artistic heights rarely, if ever, achieved by any other legends of the magical arts" (Time Out). Filmed live in front of a sold-out crowd at the New Wimbledon Theatre, the show was nominated for an Olivier Award in 2010.

Enigma is also available to pre-order on DVD at Amazon (Released on January 17, 2011)

60 Minutes documentary on Superior Autobiographical Memory

There has been a discovery in the field of memory recently, so new you won't find it in any textbook. It's so hard to fathom, there are some who remain unconvinced.

For the moment, the scientists studying it are simply calling it "superior autobiographical memory." And unless you happen to know one of the handful of people discovered so far who have it, get ready to be amazed.

Louise Owen is 37 years old and a professional violinist living in New York City. But she has another gift too, one that is far more rare.

When correspondent Lesley Stahl mentioned a date, Jan. 2, 1990, Owen told her, "Right now, I'm remembering the jogging class that I started that morning."

To see the rest of this documentary click here.

Crematorium considers dissolving bodies

"Cambridge City Crematorium have proposed a set of gruesome after-death arrangements – which they claim are more environmentally-friendly than traditional funerals.

Bosses have called for a 21st century "commercial approach" towards handling death and asked Cambridge City Council to let them use futuristic technologies. Plans include using liquid nitrogen to chill a body to -196C, in a process called "promession" or "cyromation", when it is so brittle it can be fragmented and cleaned. The body is then freeze-dried to remove moisture and the dust is used as environmentally-friendly compost or buried in a biodegradable casket.

Crematorium chiefs also want to place bodies in silk bags and submerge them in a 160C alkaline solution – which would dissolve them in around three hours. The grisly procedure, called "resomation", dissolves all the organs and bones and leaves behind a green-brown liquid and white dust. The liquid can be disposed in a number of different ways, including being flushed into the sewerage system.

Bereavement services manager Tracy Lawrence said the "greener" alternatives emit less pollution than traditional cremation. She said: "The plans proposes improvements to the quality and value of services to customers and envisages a modern, forward-looking service delivering good value and offering improved returns to future investment." The move is intended to tackle a lack of burial space and environmental concerns as 573lbs of carbon dioxide are released by each cremated corpse. Six states in America have passed legislation to allow resomation and the Scottish company Resomation Ltd says it is in talks to allow the process in the UK."

Read more at The Telegraph

Atheists a dying breed as nature 'favours faithful'

A study of 82 countries has found that those whose inhabitants worship at least once a week have 2.5 children each.

Atheists, watch out. Religious people have evolved to produce more children than non-believers, researchers claim, while societies dominated by non-believers are doomed to die out.

A study of 82 countries has found that those whose inhabitants worship at least once a week have 2.5 children each, while those who never do so have just 1.7 — below the number needed to replace themselves.

The academic who led the study argues that evolution, credited by atheist biologists such as Richard Dawkins as the process solely responsible for creating humanity, favours the faithful because they are encouraged to breed as a religious duty.

Full Story at RDF

US authorities investigate mystery death of 1,000 birds

Wildlife officials are trying to determine what caused more than 1,000 black birds to die and fall from the sky over an Arkansas town. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said it received reports about the dead birds about 11:30 p.m. the previous night. The birds fell over a 1-mile (2-kilometer) area, and an aerial survey indicated that no other dead birds were found outside of that area.

Commission ornithologist Karen Rowe said the birds showed physical trauma, and she speculated that "the flock could have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail."

The commission said that New Year's Eve revelers shooting off fireworks in the area could have startled the birds from their roost and caused them to die from stress. Officers estimated that over 1,000 birds had fallen out of the sky over the city before midnight. Most of the birds were dead, but some were still alive when officers arrived. The blackbirds fell over a one-mile area in the city.

More at Telegraph

110-year-old man finds 82-year-old willing to be his wife

Ahmad Mohamad Isa, who has 20 grandchildren and 40 great-grandchildren, told Malay-language newspaper Utusan Malaysia earlier this week that he wanted company and a wife to take care of him. The report grabbed the attention of 82-year-old Sanah Ahmad, a widow of 30 years and mother of nine, who said she was willing to do so and had asked her children to contact Ahmad's family to make arrangements.

"It doesn't matter who she is, as long as she can cook for me," Ahmad told the paper Sunday. "It is lonely to live alone and I am afraid to sleep alone. If I have a wife she can take care of me," the centenarian, who has five previous marriages and suffers mild hearing and vision problems, said in an earlier interview.

Four of his wives have died and he divorced the fifth. Mrs Sanah told the paper that she was attracted to Ahmad as he bears a striking resemblance to her late husband and both men shared the same name.

Herald Sun

Armageddon rescheduled for may 2011

Harold Camping lets out a hearty chuckle when he considers the people who believe the world will end in 2012. "That date has not one stitch of biblical authority," Camping says from the Oakland office where he runs Family Radio, an evangelical station that reaches listeners around the world. "It's like a fairy tale." The real date for the end of times, he says, is in 2011.

This is not the first time Camping has made a bold prediction about Judgment Day.

On Sept. 6, 1994, dozens of Camping's believers gathered inside Alameda's Veterans Memorial Building to await the return of Christ, an event Camping had promised for two years. Followers dressed children in their Sunday best and held Bibles open-faced toward heaven.

But the world did not end. Camping allowed that he may have made a mathematical error. He spent the next decade running new calculations, as well as overseeing a media company that has grown significantly in size and reach. "We are now translated into 48 languages and have been transmitting into China on an AM station without getting jammed once," Camping said. "How can that happen without God's mercy?"

Read the full article at SFGate.com

Derren Brown Night – Trailer

For those of you who haven't seen it yet here's the CH4 Trailer.

What is the logic behind niceness, kindness and even self sacrifice?

RadioLab feature "The Good Show", a one hour look in to the psychology of kindness. The standard view of evolution is that living things are shaped by cold-hearted competition. And there is no doubt that today's plants and animals carry the genetic legacy of ancestors who fought fiercely to survive and reproduce.

In this hour, we wonder whether there might also be a logic behind sharing, niceness, kindness … or even, self-sacrifice. Is altruism an aberration, or just an elaborate guise for sneaky self-interest? Do we really live in a selfish, dog-eat-dog world? Or has evolution carved out a hidden code that rewards genuine cooperation?

In this episode, a question that haunted Charles Darwin: if natural selection boils down to survival of the fittest, how do you explain why one creature might stick its neck out for another?

Featuring Richard Dawkins, Robert Axelrod and Carl Zimmer it's free to stream or download.

RadioLab