The genetics of psychic ability

Jacobsen's book

There have been a number of instances where researchers have pointed out that individuals who encounter UAP at close range, go on to suffer negative medical consequences. Indeed, Christopher 'Kit' Canfield Green in the US, has long been interested in examining such individuals. On some occasions he has involved Dr Garry Nolan in such work.

On page 399 of US journalist Annie Jacobsen's 2017 book "Phenomena" there is an interesting quote by Dr Garry Nolan, which I failed to fully appreciate when I first read the book.

Recently, upon re-reading it, I pondered the quote from Nolan which said he is:

 "...also mapping (DNA and immune systems) of people and their families who claim to be remote viewers or have anomalous perception."

So, I have now taken the time for a closer look at what is behind this statement.

The Institute of Noetic Sciences

I found that apart from Green and Nolan, there are others who are also interested in the genetics of psychic ability. One such entity is the Institute of Noetic Sciences. They have a research project in progress titled "Genetics of Psychic Ability." On their website they include some information about the project. The principal investigator is Dean Radin, PhD. The "Research focus" is shown as "Can we access information not limited by space and time?" The "Research question" is "Does biology (in this case genetics) play a role in psychic perceptions?" The "Project summary" is "DNA sampled from vetted psychics and age, gender and raced matched controls are being analyzed to evaluate any gene or gene network differences."

Funding

The project is being funded by a grant from the BIAL Foundation which was established in 1994 by Laboratory BIAL and the Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities, whose mission is to "Foster the scientific study of the human being from both the physical and spiritual perspectives."

Grant number 257/14 investigators are Dean Radin, Garrett Yount and Garry Nolan. The estimated duration of the project was July 2015 to April 2018.

The grant notes read:

"Background. It is commonly believed that psychic abilities , like many mental and physical attributes, runs in families. This suggests the presence of a hereditary component. Using a genomic technique known as Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) which analyzes constellations of genetic networks to find correlations with human health, personality traits, talents etc, this project is exploring if psychic ability had a discernible genetic component.

Aims. The objective of this study is to see if psychic ability correlated with specific sets of genes or genetic networks.

Methods. We screened 3,152 psychic individuals using two online surveys to locate people who claimed psi ability in themselves and their family members, to rule out exclusions (eg psychotic or delusional tendencies), and to collect measures of relevance tom psychic ability (eg absorption,sensitivity, empathy). We then selected a sub sample of thee volunteers to be interviewed and to take additional online screening tests of psi ability. Then, using a case-control study design, 13 individuals were finally selected as "psychic cases" and 10 age and gender matched individuals with no claim of psychic ability were selected as controls.

DNA was collected from these 23 participants, and their DNA is being whole-genome sequenced and mapped using advanced BINA algorithms. Genetic network analyzes between these two groups will reveal if there are genes or networks of genes that can discriminate between the psychic and control cases.

Results. Genomic sequencing is presently underway. GWAS and possibly other forms of genetic analysis will be conducted after the sequence is complete.

Conclusions. The project is taking longer than we originally expected to complete, primarily due to the time it took us to sift through the psychic candidates and vet the final selections and matched controls, and also to the complexities involved in genomic sequencing and analysis. GWAS is a state-of-the-art technique that requires time and expertise to complete, so we are dependent on our geneticist collaborators to finish that portion of the study."

Online survey

I managed to locate one of the two online surveys, which seemed to be the first one mentioned in the grant notes. It asked individuals their demographics, then moved onto ask about specific abilities they might have. The list was:

Animal communication; aura reading; automatic writing; astral projection; channeling; psychophony; clairvoyance; clairaudience; clairsentience; clairscent; clairgustance; clairempathy; claircognizance; emotional hearing; geomancy; levitation; lucid dreaming; mediumship; nature empathy; physical healing; precognition; psychic surgery; psychokinesis; psychometry; pyrokinesis; remote viewing; retrocognition and telepathy.

Questions were then asked about the family; followed by questions about a variety of known psychic and delusional tendencies.

There were no questions, about UAP,  in the online survey I looked at.

Delay

As at 21 September 2019, the project is uncompleted. It will be interesting to see what conclusions are drawn from the project, when it is finally finished; and the possible relationship for individuals who have close encounters with UAP.