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https://www.newscientist.com/article/2498986-ancient-wisdom-meets-quantum-reality-and-fundamental-consciousness/

Today in our Women in Science and Philosophy series: Maria Mikhailovna Manasseina, Foundational Voice in Sleep Science

Maria Mikhailovna Manasseina (1843–1903), a Russian neuroscientist and physician, was one of the first women in Europe to graduate in medicine. She became a pioneering figure in sleep science, producing research that laid the groundwork for how we understand sleep and its relationship to brain function today.

Through rigorous experimentation, Manasseina demonstrated that sleep is more vital for survival than food, showing its crucial role in maintaining health and mental function. Her discovery that sleep represents an active state of the brain—rather than simple rest—was well ahead of its time, anticipating what would later be confirmed with the invention of electroencephalography.

In 1889, she published the first comprehensive scientific handbook on sleep, which served as a key reference across Europe for decades. Her work helped shift the scientific view of sleep from passive to active, opening new ways of thinking about altered states of awareness and brain activity.

Maria Manasseina’s contributions continue to influence modern neuroscience and psychology, offering lasting insights into the role of sleep and its connection to dreams, consciousness, and mental health.

Prof. Anil Seth explores the fascinating connection between cognitive neuroscience and Buddhism, revealing how recognising the impermanence of our experiences and self opens up the space for change.

This quote is from a Mind & Life podcast "How Our Minds Predict Our Reality ".

What is consciousness, and in what ways can first-person and third-person approaches contribute to its understanding?

In this interactive online course, leading scientists and contemplatives invite you to explore awareness through reflection, research, and lived experience.

🌍 8 modules | 🎥 25+ video lessons | 🧘 Guided meditations

👉 Start your journey within today: https://sciwizlive.com/exploring-consciousness-course/



Jamyang Buddhist Centre, Yangten Rinpoche Dharma Center

Exploring Consciousness | Online Courses Learn about our Exploring Consciousness through our online course. Which includes video lessons, quizzes, and a meditation workshop.

🧑‍🔬 Today in our Women in Science and Philosophy series: Mahzarin Banaji, Leading Pioneer in Understanding the Unconscious Mind

👩‍🔬 Distinguished Academic Career

Dr. Mahzarin R. Banaji, born in 1956 in Secunderabad, India, is an esteemed cognitive psychologist and a prominent figure in implicit cognition. She earned her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University and has held prestigious academic positions at Yale University and Harvard University. She currently serves as the Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics in the Department of Psychology at Harvard.

🧠 Groundbreaking Research on Implicit Bias

Dr. Banaji is widely celebrated for her research on implicit cognition—the mental processes and biases that operate without conscious awareness. She co-developed the influential Implicit Association Test (IAT), a groundbreaking tool revealing hidden biases that shape human interactions and decisions across various aspects of life.

📚 Significant Contributions and Impact

Through her research, Dr. Banaji has shed light on how unconscious biases influence decisions in areas such as education, healthcare, and employment. Her work draws attention to the critical need to recognize and address these biases to build more equitable and inclusive societies.

🏅 Awards and Recognition

Dr. Banaji’s influential work has led to her election to respected organisations such as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. Her research has shaped the field of psychology and continues to inform important developments in social policy.

🌟 Inspiring Future Generations

Dr. Banaji’s dedication to revealing hidden aspects of human cognition continues to inspire new generations of scientists, psychologists, and philosophers committed to advancing equality and understanding in society.



Picture attribution: Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

🧠 🔎 One powerful method is binocular rivalry. When each eye sees a different image, we don’t perceive both. Instead, our experience flips between them. This allows scientists to observe what changes in the brain when awareness shifts, even though the stimulus stays the same.

The Global Workspace Theory suggests that when something enters awareness, it is “broadcast” across brain networks. Awareness, then, is not local but global. Think of the brain as a stadium. Some signals are like whispers in a corner. Others are broadcast on the loudspeaker.

In the Abhidharma tradition, consciousness (viññāṇa) is also not fixed. It is a stream of brief mental events, each arising and passing away based on conditions.

Modern neuroscience points to something similar. Consciousness does not live in one place but appears to emerge from shifting patterns of activity across many regions, changing moment by moment, just like thought.

This research is transforming how we understand consciousness disorders, meditation states, and the sense of self.

📚 Further Reading:
– Consciousness and the Brain – Stanislas Dehaene (2014)
– A Cognitive Theory of Consciousness – Bernard J. Baars (1988)

🌙 What can dreams teach us about consciousness?

Professors Giulio Tononi, Melanie Boly, and Chiara Cirelli, leading voices in neuroscience, explore this question in their collaborative paper “Consciousness and Sleep.”

💭 They write: “Dreams show us what consciousness is like in the near absence of metacognition and cognitive control. Not only are dreaming experiences similar in content to those we have when we are in control, but they can be just as vivid and 'realistic’.”

Their work invites us to consider dreaming not as a break from consciousness, but as a unique window into it; one where the brain continues to generate rich experiences even without full awareness or control. What does this say about the nature of the mind and its ability to construct reality in different states?

📖 Source: "Consciousness and Sleep", written by Prof. Giulio Tononi, Prof. Melanie Boly, and Prof. Chiara Cirelli. Available on ScienceDirect: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627324002721

"It is not appropriate to believe something simply because one's teacher has taught it. Even with regard to what he taught, the Buddha says, we must test its validity for ourselves through experimentation and the use of reason".
– HHDL, Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddist Classics

Prof. Brian Cox

🧑‍🔬 Today in our Women in Science and Philosophy series: Mamie Phipps Clark, Exploring Dreams, Identity, and Racial Consciousness

👩🏾‍🎓 Early Life and Career
Mamie Phipps Clark (1917–1983) was an influential African American psychologist whose research significantly advanced the understanding of racial identity, self-perception, and cognitive development. Alongside her husband, Kenneth Clark, she founded the Northside Center for Child Development in Harlem, providing psychological services to underserved communities.

🧠 Research on Identity and Dreams
Clark was among the first to examine how racial awareness shapes self-perception and identity, notably examining how these psychological states influence dreams and subconscious experiences. Her research shed important light on how racial identity shapes a person's internal world, including their dreams and deeper psychological states.

📚 Contributions and Legacy
Mamie Phipps Clark’s research, particularly her studies on children's self-perception and racial identity, played a pivotal role in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, influencing views on racial segregation in education. Her work continues to inform discussions around identity, dreams, and racial consciousness today.

💡 Philosophy on Dreams and Perceptions
She famously stated, "Understanding dreams and perceptions is essential in addressing deeper issues of identity and self-awareness," highlighting the importance of dreams in exploring psychological well-being and racial identity.

🌟 Advocacy and Impact
Clark's commitment to child psychology and social justice has had a lasting impact, helping shape contemporary views on identity, race, and mental health.

🙏

"Find your own way of functioning. My mind is much slower than most of my colleagues’ minds and I discovered that when I was an undergraduate.

I struggled for the first year and a half as an undergraduate at Caltech... but I developed my own ways of learning things. Keeping records of what I was learning, working things out in my own way, and notebooks and so forth, that enabled me to achieve despite having a slow working mind.

So I advise students, find your own way, and experiment in mastering material and your own directions that you can be successful in and everybody is different. We can all succeed in different ways."

- Kip Thorne, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2017 for the detection of gravitational waves. Wishing him a happy birthday today.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/3UINztT