• Study shows Transcendental Meditation helps vets with post-traumatic stress disorder
• US: California recommends restrictions for popular pesticide
• Paul Newman's social enterprise now provides clean water to nearly 1 million people

• Transcendental Meditation: A 'timeout' for oneself to reduce emotional stress, increase happiness
• India: The Economic Times - 'Invest in rest'
• 'Silence the Violence' Town Hall, Washington, DC: Impact of Transcendental Meditation to prevent, curb rise of violence in America - Watch replay

• US: People without caregivers end up stranded in hospitals
• US: Farm animals may soon get new features through gene editing
• US: Next generation of biotech food heading for grocery stores

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Positive Trends
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Study shows Transcendental Meditation helps vets with post-traumatic stress disorder
18 November 2018 - Transcendental Meditation worked as well as traditional therapy for military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder in a small experiment sponsored by the Department of Defense. The study was published Thursday (15 November) in the journal Lancet Psychiatry. When researchers accounted for other factors, meditation was better than the classes and equally effective as exposure therapy. The type taught to vets in the study was Transcendental Meditation, or TM, which involves thinking of a mantra or sound to settle the mind. TM was developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. (more)

US: California recommends restrictions for popular pesticide
18 November 2018 - California regulators recommended new restrictions Thursday (15 November) on a widely used pesticide blamed for harming the brains of babies. The Department of Pesticide Regulation issued temporary guidelines for chlorpyrifos that include banning it from crop dusting, discontinuing its use on most crops, and increasing perimeters around where it's applied. (more)

Paul Newman's social enterprise now provides clean water to nearly 1 million people
17 November 2018 - Nearly 4.5 billion people around the globe will live without access to safe water by 2030 under current spending levels and conditions, according to the United Nations. The Safe Water Network was founded in 2006 by the late actor and philanthropist Paul Newman, along with a group of prominent civic and business leaders to address this significant global challenge. (more)

US: How a Broward nonprofit boosted its revenues and created jobs -- and did a lot of good
17 November 2018 - For a peek into what's possible in the world of social enterprise for the greater good, check out what the 63-year-old Arc Broward is doing. The nonprofit organization that supports individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities began building social enterprises 16 years ago and now has three: Arc Tech, Arc Culinary, and Arc Educates. (more)

Branson backs $3 million cooling challenge
12 November 2018 - British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson is backing a new $3 million initiative to find a more efficient residential cooling technology. 'Air conditioning needs to become acceptable to all. It should not be a luxury as it is today,' Sir Richard Branson said at the competition's launch. 'If we carry on using the same outdated air conditioning technology the temperature of the planet will rise by 0.5 degrees by air conditioning use alone.' (more)

Ideas on organic agriculture from around the globe sought, shared at UW-Madison Harvest of Ideas forum
12 November 2018 - For Kate VandenBosch, dean of UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, holding an event like the Harvest of Ideas comes back to the Wisconsin Idea, which signifies a general principle that education should extend beyond the classroom. The October 31 event, a forum that brought together people from around the globe to explore organic agriculture and how the University of Wisconsin can best contribute to the advancement of organic agriculture, also served as a venue to share ideas and create more cooperative solutions world-wide. (more)

Pennsylvania ranks 2nd in US in organic production
12 November 2018 - 'Pennsylvania has grown phenomenally in organic sales, doubling from 2015 to 2016 alone, and we are now second in the nation in organic production,' Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said. 'We are not a leader by accident, but because of public and private investment in taking a strategic approach to industry growth. These funds support that forward-thinking innovation by those seeking to grow and sustain their businesses, respond to consumer trends, and diversify their operations.' (more)

US: New York eyes plan to be first state to ban flavored e-cigarettes
9 November 2018 - New York state is taking steps to ban the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes in the hopes of curbing a sharp rise in the use of vaping products by young people, the Cuomo administration said Friday (9 November). New York state health officials began tracking e-cigarette use in New York in 2014. Since then, use by high school youths increased from 10.5 percent to 27.4 percent in 2018, the health department said. (more)

US: This Houston urban organic farm honors veterans with jobs
9 November 2018 - When Gracie and Bob Cavnar launched the Recipe for Success Foundation in 2005, their main goals were to battle childhood obesity by changing the way children understand, appreciate, and eat their food, and to provide the community with healthier diets. But rather than sitting on their laurels, the couple became inspired to do even more. ...To further their important mission, Hope Farms instated a grant-supported program to train U.S. military veterans to become new urban farmers. Hope Farms integrates farming, education, and community engagement on seven beautiful acres where they use organic methods to grow a wide variety of crops. (more)

Cooled by the Sun: Spokane engineers produce solar-powered refrigeration system
8 November 2018 - A Moses Lake, Washington-based applied solar company with a team of engineers based here has invented a mobile refrigeration system that runs entirely on solar power. The system has a variety of potential applications, Johnston says [Andy Johnston, president and principal at Johnston Engineering PLLC], such as transportation or storage of perishable goods . . . in mobile pop-up hospitals, and in cooling shelters for agricultural workers. (more)

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Success of Maharishi's Programmes
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Transcendental Meditation: A 'timeout' for oneself to reduce emotional stress, increase happiness
12 November 2018 - Neither suppressing emotions nor 'telling someone off' really helps in handling emotional stress - and both create negative effects for oneself and others, says health writer Linda Egenes. She describes a completely different solution: Transcendental Meditation, which 'releases the tensions that may have built up during the day, including the emotional stressors'. Over time 'you can feel your baseline for stress changing - you're just not as reactive as you were before.' Research has shown that TM reduces stress hormones and anxiety, and increases neurochemicals associated with happiness and fulfilment. She quotes Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Founder of the Transcendental Meditation programme: 'Fill the mind with that great happiness which knows no end, let the mind be saturated with absolute bliss, and then the undertaking of any action, whatever it may be, will be performed in all joyfulness.' (more)

India: The Economic Times - 'Invest in rest'
7 November 2018 - 'Keeping the brain well rested and, thus, alive, creative, and capable is imperative to maintain the growing pace of multifaceted progress in human life,' writes Aditi Shrivastava in The Economic Times (India). ' ''The human brain is the best blessing of the Creator,'' Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Founder of the Transcendental Meditation programme, once said in a lecture.' Ms Shrivastava goes on to explain, 'There is scientific evidence to prove that the rest that we get in 20 minutes of Transcendental Meditation is even deeper than deep sleep. TM is a simple and effective meditation technique to calm the mind by giving it rest, gain mental peace, harmonise brain function and get it ready for more action.' (more)

'Silence the Violence' Town Hall, Washington, DC: Impact of Transcendental Meditation to prevent, curb rise of violence in America - Watch replay
2 November 2018 - 'Silence the Violence', a compelling Town Hall meeting webcast live from Washington, D.C., last month, is now available for online replay. Leading doctors, researchers, educators and community leaders discussed the impact of the evidence-based Transcendental Meditation technique for preventing and curbing the rise of violence in America today. The event was livestreamed from the Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC) Theater in Southeast Washington. The event also highlighted the work of the David Lynch Foundation's Center for Health and Wellness - including The Meditation Center (TMC) at THEARC. (more)

Why Transcendental Meditation is better than a power nap
28 October 2018 - 'What do you do to re-charge during the day? Many women have asked if the TM technique is any different than taking time out for a nap,' writes Janet Hoffman, executive director of TM for Women Professionals in the USA. 'Transcendental Meditation, unique among meditation programmes for its simplicity, effortlessness, and scientifically validated benefits, increases brain orderliness, enhances brain functioning, and increases intelligence, focus and creativity - all this while providing exceptionally deep rest to the body that reduces stress and fatigue. . . . Though the body gets rest in a nap, the mind can't enjoy the experience - in Transcendental Meditation, though profoundly resting, the mind enjoys awareness of inner calm, collectedness, clarity and charm.' (more)

Medical students learn meditation to counter stress, promote physician wellness: Catholic Health World reports
24 October 2018 - The Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University in Chicago, USA, is believed to be the first major medical school in the country to offer Transcendental Meditation, or TM, as an elective course. Since 2014, the class has been offered to help medical students manage stress. Dr Gregory Gruener, vice dean for education and a neurology professor at Stritch, counts the TM training as a success. 'A significant chunk of the students, about a third of each class, sign up for it, and almost 300 have enrolled since it started. . . . You have to embrace wellness and you have to find the time to take control of your own life,' Dr Gruener said. 'Once you begin TM, that gets easier.' (more)

Italy: Wellness leaders look to evidence-based Transcendental Meditation technique at Global Wellness Summit
20 October 2018 - Bob Roth, David Lynch Foundation CEO, best-selling author, and veteran teacher of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique, was a keynote speaker at the recent 2018 Global Wellness Summit (GWS) in Italy, the world's leading conference on this topic. Citing the 'dangerously escalating crisis of stress-related disorders' including anxiety, depression, and substance abuse, he said, 'We desperately need to include into everyone's tool box more practical, evidence-based approaches' such as TM, that improve mental wellness and behaviour. Susie Ellis, GWS chair and CEO, said, 'There's so much momentum for TM right now because of the rising need for what this tangible skill can accomplish: stress reduction, mental focus, and greater resilience. . . . it's the quickest way to reduce stress that I've ever experienced.' (more)

Why am I so anxious? Dr Norman Rosenthal talks about anxiety in women and how TM helps prevent it
16 October 2018 - World-renowned psychiatrist, researcher, and best-selling author Norman E Rosenthal discusses many factors that contribute to increased anxiety in women. Describing his experience treating anxiety in his own practice, he cites research on the Transcendental Meditation technique showing reduced blood pressure and improvement on other physiological measures demonstrating TM's role in 'buffering your response to stress'. He recommends TM to his patients, including many women who have noted its benefits in promoting 'more clear-headedness . . . . things go easier, they don't hassle as much, and they're not upset as easily or anxious as readily.' (more)

New reference guide summarizes 227 books by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
12 October 2018 - Maharishi University of Management PhD alumnus Lee Fergusson has recently published a book that summarizes each of 227 books by, or attributable to, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi published between 1955 and the present. 'The purpose of this guide is to provide the reader-researcher with information and background material on the published works of Maharishi and to furnish an appropriate context in which this significant body of work can systematically be accessed and comprehended for future scholarly benefit' and for the advancement of Maharishi Vedic Science and Technology, Dr Fergusson said. (more)

How Transcendental Meditation gives me mental clarity like nothing else
9 October 2018 - After Tara Gardner moved from London to Chicago - 'forging a new career as a freelance editor with a bazillion deadlines', and seeking 'a break from the cranial quicksand of daily life' - she tried diets and various meditation techniques, and finally discovered a video of filmmaker David Lynch talking about Transcendental Meditation. After learning TM, she found 'the fog lifting, the clarity coming through, and my thoughts becoming more ordered. The daily juggling act began to feel smoother and more efficient.' (more)

Live on Facebook: 'What Is Consciousness Really?' - Dr Tony Nader, Sunday 7 October
6 October 2018 - How would you answer the question, 'What is consciousness?' Join Tony Nader, MD, PhD, MARR, this Sunday, 7 October, in an interactive Facebook Live event - for an insightful discussion on the origins and structure of human consciousness. Dr. Nader is an MIT- and Harvard-trained neuroscientist, one of the world's great Vedic scholars, and head of the international Transcendental Meditation organizations. He has spent the last 40 years probing the deepest truths of life - both as a world-renowned medical doctor and brain researcher and as an expert in meditation, yoga, and consciousness. The event begins at 9:00 a.m. US Eastern Daylight Time, 3:00 pm Central Europe Time. (more)

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Flops
Short Summaries of Top Stories

US: People without caregivers end up stranded in hospitals
18 November 2018 - Within the bustle and organized chaos of Denver's massive airport, an 80-year-old man with Alzheimer's disease named Jerry Ellingsen was found wandering alone after traveling with his small dog from Fort Myers, Florida. Jerry didn't know where he was or why he was in Denver. Police tried contacting his daughter and wife, neither of whom would pick him up, so officers were forced to call an ambulance that took him to a nearby hospital. A three-month long 9Wants to Know (Denver) investigation is uncovering a growing health care epidemic where hundreds of people like Jerry are abandoned every year at metro-area hospitals. The epidemic is costing hospitals and in some cases, taxpayers, millions of dollars a year. (more)

US: Farm animals may soon get new features through gene editing
17 November 2018 - Cows that can withstand hotter temperatures. Cows born without pesky horns. Pigs that never reach puberty. A company wants to alter farm animals by adding and subtracting genetic traits in a lab. It sounds like science fiction, but Recombinetics sees opportunity for its technology in the livestock industry. (more)

US: Next generation of biotech food heading for grocery stores
17 November 2018 - The next generation of biotech food is headed for the grocery aisles, and first up may be salad dressings or granola bars made with soybean oil genetically tweaked to be good for your heart. By early next year, the first foods from plants or animals that had their DNA 'edited' are expected to begin selling. It's a different technology than today's controversial 'genetically modified' foods, more like faster breeding that promises to boost nutrition, spur crop growth, and make farm animals hardier and fruits and vegetables last longer. (more)

US: Tally of missing in California's deadliest blaze surpasses 600
15 November 2018 - A search for victims of a catastrophic blaze that reduced a northern California town to ashes intensified on Thursday (15 November), as authorities expanded to 630 the number of those reported missing in the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state history. The Butte County disaster coincided with a flurry of smaller blazes in Southern California ... (more)

Toxin in U.S. corn harvest poses latest headache for farmers
5 November 2018 - North American farmers are finding increased levels of a plant toxin known as vomitoxin in this year's corn harvest, adding insult to injury for growers already suffering as the U.S.-China trade war hurts soybean exports and crop prices. Vomitoxin sickens livestock and can also make humans and pets fall ill, and grain buyers can reject cargoes or fine farmers for shipments that contain it. (more)

US: Psychedelic advocate nears goal of legal ecstasy
1 November 2018 - . . . After 32 years of false starts, setbacks, and regulatory hurdles, [Rick Doblin] has brought MDMA -- the illegal, all-night party drug also known as ecstasy -- to the brink of medical legitimacy. The goal is to win FDA approval by 2021. MDMA would become the first psychedelic drug -- currently in the same ultra-restrictive category as heroin and cocaine -- to make the leap to prescription medicine. (more)

Extreme Category 5 typhoon, the worst U.S. storm since 1935, leaves Northern Mariana Islands devastated
25 October 2018 - Super Typhoon Yutu rampaged through the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands on Thursday (25 October), leaving behind storm damage that residents are calling the worst they have ever experienced. Tied for the strongest storm anywhere in the world this year, Yutu packed sustained winds of 180 mph, and its gigantic eye enveloped much of the island of Saipan and all of Tinian, leaving the Pacific islands 'mangled,' as one local official described it to The Washington Post. (more)

Powerful typhoon hits Northern Mariana islands
25 October 2018 - Rescue teams and heavy equipment were mobilized across the Northern Mariana Islands on Thursday (25 October) after a super typhoon hit U.S. Western Pacific territories overnight, causing blackouts and damage to critical infrastructure. With sustained winds of over 270 km per hour (168 mph) typhoon Yutu . . . had prior to its arrival been described by local authorities as one of the most powerful typhoons to hit the Northern Mariana islands in recent history. It was the second major typhoon to hit the territory after Mangkhut struck in September, bringing strong winds and rains that caused damage in Hong Kong and Macau and triggered landslides that killed dozens in the Philippines. (more)

Roundup for Breakfast, Part 2: In new tests, weed killer found in all kids' cereals sampled
24 October 2018 - Findings released as major scientific study shows eating organic lowers cancer risk. A second round of tests commissioned by the Environmental Working Group found the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup weed killer in every sample of popular oat-based cereal and other oat-based food marketed to children. These test results fly in the face of claims by two companies, Quaker and General Mills, which have said there is no reason for concern. This is because, they say, their products meet the legal standards. (more)

US: Dozens more breakfast foods test positive for trace amounts of weed killer, report says
24 October 2018 - Dozens of common breakfast cereals and snack bars have trace amounts of a controversial herbicide found in the weed killer Roundup, according to a report released today (24 October) by an environmental advocacy group. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that 26 of the 28 products it tested had levels of Roundup's main ingredient, glyphosate, that were 'higher than what EWG scientists consider protective of children's health.' An earlier report found similar results in over thirty oat-based foods. (more)