Two Indian scientists are wielding sophisticated
mathematics to dissect and analyse the traditional meditation chanting sound
"Om". The Om
team has published six monographs in academic journals. These plumb certain
acoustic subtleties of Om, which these
researchers say is "the divine sound".
Om has many variations. In a study published in the
International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, the researchers
explain: "It may be very fast, several cycles per second. Or it may be
slower, several seconds for each cycling of [the] Om
mantra. Or it might become extremely slow, with the mmmmmm sound continuing in
the mind for much longer periods but still pulsing at that slow rate. It is
somewhat like one of these vibrations:
OMmmOMmmOMmm...
OMmmmmOMmmmmOMmmmm...
OMmmmmmmmOMmmmmmmmOMmm.
The important technical fact is that no matter what
form of Om one chants at whatever speed, there
is always a basic Omness to it.
Ladhake is the principal at Sipna's College of Engineering
and Technology in Amravati,
India. Gurjar
is an assistant professor in that institution's department of electronics and telecommunication.
Both specialise in electronic signal processing. They now sub-specialise in
analysing the one very special signal.
In the introductory paper, Gurjar and Ladhake explain
(in case there is someone unaware of the basics): "Om
is a spiritual mantra, outstanding to fetch peace and calm. The entire
psychological pressure and worldly thoughts are taken away by the chanting of Om mantra."
No one has explained the biophysical processes that
underlie this fetching of calm and taking away of thoughts. Gurjar and
Ladhake's time-frequency analysis is a tiny step along that hitherto
little-taken branch of the path of enlightenment.
They apply a mathematical tool called wavelet
transforms to a digital recording of a person chanting "Om".
Even people with no mathematical background can appreciate, on some level, one
of the blue-on-white graphs included in the monograph. This graph, the authors
say, "depicts the chanting of 'Om' by a
normal person after some days of chanting". The image looks like a pile of
nearly identical, slightly lopsided pancakes held together with a skewer, the
whole stack lying sideways on a table. To behold it is to see, if nothing else,
repetition.
At the end, Gurjar and Ladhake say: "Our
attentiveness and our concentration are pilfered from us by the proceedings
take place around us in the world in recent times ... By this analysis we could
conclude steadiness in the mind is achieved by chanting Om, hence proves the
mind is calm and peace to the human subject."
Much as people chant the sound "Om"
over and over again, Gurjar and Ladhake repeat much of the same analysis in
their other five studies, managing each time to chip away at some slightly
different mathematico-acoustical fine point.
Thanks to Martin Gardiner for bringing the Om team to my attention.
Marc Abrahams is editor of the bimonthly Annals of
Improbable Research and organiser of the
Ig Nobel prize.
Marc Abrahams is editor of the bimonthly Annals of Improbable Research and organiser of the Ig Nobel prize.
Marc Abrahams heads an organization which awards these Ig-Nobel prizes to lampoon the worst kind of research. He must have selected this paper in order to award it the next Ig-Nobel prize. See the previous winners of this prize
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ig_Nobel_Prize_winners
I don't think the journal "International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security" in which the paper was published has any credibility. It charges $400 for paper acceptance. http://ijcsns.org/03_submission/03_submission_01.htm
Thanks Auroman for warning us about such ‘researches’ and their publications. I never ‘believed’ in these occupations. Long ago, when I was in the Bhabha Atomic, there was a proposal to detect radiations coming from the body of a yogi while he was meditating. We had sensitive radiation detectors and people thought it a good research project to pursue. I vetoed it down, by maintaining that these belong to an altogether different category of study where the tools and instruments of observation and cognition are of another character. Such researches look so fake! The other day I’d posted a comment about learned doctors studying a yogi who does not take food at all. The sooner we understand the futility of these approaches the better it will be for the genuine pursuit of science itself. But my surprise here was, why the simple yogi really agreed for research being conducted on him. People mix up things—and land themselves into a mess. Let me reproduce the here the Dawn-report.
An 83-year-old Indian holy man, Prahlad Jani, says he has spent seven decades without food or water and this has astounded a team of military doctors who studied him during a two-week observation period.
He was in a hospital for a fortnight under constant surveillance from a team of 30 medics equipped with cameras and closed circuit television.
During the period, he neither ate nor drank and did not go to the toilet.
“We still do not know how he survives,” neurologist Sudhir Shah told reporters after the end of the experiment. “It is still a mystery what kind of phenomenon this is.”
Jani has since returned to his village near Ambaji in northern Gujarat where he will resume his routine of yoga and meditation. He says that he was blessed by a goddess at a young age, which gave him special powers.
During the 15-day observation, which ended on Thursday, the doctors took scans of Jani's organs, brain, and blood vessels, as well as doing tests on his heart, lungs and memory capacity.
“The reports were all in the pre-determined safety range through the observation period,” Shah told reporters at a press conference last week.
Other results from DNA analysis, molecular biological studies and tests on his hormones, enzymes, energy metabolism and genes will take months to come through.
“If Jani does not derive energy from food and water, he must be doing that from energy sources around him, sunlight being one,” said Shah.
“As medical practitioners we cannot shut our eyes to possibilities, to a source of energy other than calories.”
Another entertaining collection of foolish research papers goes by the acronym NCBI ROFL. NCBI=National Center for Biotech Info and ROFL=Rolling on floor laughing.
[1] Detection of predefecatory rectosigmoid wave activity for prevention of fecal soiling in infants.
“Identification of an electrophysiologic sign before defecation can prevent fecal soiling in infants. To identify such a sign, the contractile activity of sigmoid colon was recorded percutaneously in 48 healthy infants. The recorder was equipped with a digital clock synchronized to the recorder so as to set off an alarm upon significantly increased electromyographic activity of sigmoid colon.
[2] Effects of a whole-body spandex garment on rectal temperature and oxygen consumption in healthy dogs.
“OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a full-body spandex garment would alter rectal temperatures of healthy dogs at rest in cool and warm environments… …PROCEDURES: Each dog was evaluated at a low (20 degrees to 25 degrees C [68 degrees to 77 degrees F]) or high (30 degrees to 35 degrees C [86 degrees to 95 degrees F]) ambient temperature while wearing or not wearing a commercially available whole-body spandex garment designed for dogs
[3] Eating behavior and obesity at Chinese buffets.
“The aim of this study was to investigate whether the eating behaviors of people at all-you-can-eat Chinese buffets differs depending upon their body mass. The resulting findings could confirm or disconfirm previous laboratory research that has been criticized for being artificial. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Trained observers recorded the height, weight, sex, age, and behavior of 213 patrons at Chinese all-you-can-eat restaurants. Various seating, serving, and eating behaviors were then compared across BMI levels
