SSE’s May Babies are in Good Company

●   May 19, 1871: Walter Russell, artist, architect, and philosopher, was born. Russell claimed to have undergone a profound “cosmic illumination” in 1921 that inspired his unconventional ideas about consciousness, energy, and the nature of reality. Throughout his life, he argued that science and spirituality were ultimately inseparable and proposed a universe rooted in light, rhythm, and mind. He also designed a striking spiral-shaped periodic table in 1926, reflecting his belief that the cosmos operated according to hidden harmonic principles.

Readers interested in the deeper structure of reality may also enjoy the Journal of Scientific Exploration’s Spring 2017 issue. Larry Dossey's review of Transcendent Mind: Rethinking the Science of Consciousness explores themes that would have felt quite familiar to Russell. Read more details here.  

●    May 30, 1431: Joan of Arc was martyred. Claiming to receive divine visions and guidance, Joan led French forces to several pivotal victories during the Hundred Years’ War before being captured and tried for heresy. Her story remains one of history’s most enduring intersections of mysticism, visionary experience, religion, and political power. Centuries later, debates surrounding altered states, anomalous experiences, and the nature of revelation continue to echo through fields explored by frontier researchers today.

Readers interested in the relationship between extraordinary states of consciousness and creativity may enjoy Michael Grosso’s JSE essay “Advantages of Being Multiplex” (Vol. 24, No. 2, 2010), which explores Joan of Arc alongside artists, mediums, and mystics through the lens of personality, genius, and “soulmaking.” Find the article here.

Over the past year, the public conversation around unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) has shifted in ways few of us could have predicted. Congressional hearings, whistleblower testimony, and newly declassified materials have pushed UAPs from the margins of public curiosity into the center of national and scientific discourse. Regardless of where one stands on the evidential strength of these disclosures, one fact is unmistakable: the cultural Overton window has moved, and it has moved toward the very territory the Society for Scientific Exploration has occupied for decades.

For SSE, this moment is not a surprise. It is a reminder. Our founders understood that scientific progress often begins in the borderlands—where anomalies accumulate, where established models strain, and where new frameworks are waiting to be born. The current UAP moment is precisely such a borderland. It invites careful scrutiny, methodological rigor, and the kind of interdisciplinary curiosity that has always defined our Society.

But it also invites something else: leadership. As the public conversation accelerates, SSE is uniquely positioned to provide what is most needed now—context, continuity, and conceptual clarity. We can help to distinguish signal from noise, evidence from speculation, and genuine anomalies from the artifacts of instrumentation, perception, or narrative contagion. And we can do so without collapsing into either uncritical enthusiasm or reflexive dismissal.

This is why our upcoming June conference will feature talks that place UAPs in a broader scientific and historical context, alongside work on consciousness, anomalous perception, and frontier physics. The recent disclosures also highlight a deeper theme that runs through SSE’s mission: the importance of intellectual courage. When institutions hesitate, when paradigms wobble, when the public is unsure how to interpret emerging evidence, societies like ours become essential. SSE and its peer-reviewed, gold open access Journal of Scientific Exploration provide a space where unconventional questions can be examined with rigor, where new hypotheses can be tested rather than dismissed, and where scientific curiosity is treated as a virtue rather than a liability.

As spring transforms to summer, I invite each of you to lean into this moment. Engage with the data. Revisit the history. Ask the questions others are reluctant to ask. And above all, continue modeling the thoughtful, evidence‑based exploration that has always set the SSE apart.

Warmly,

James Houran, Ph.D.

Interim-President, SSE
Editor-in-Chief, JSE

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Bial Foundation Announcement

The Bial Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of the  Grants Programme for Scientific Research 2026/2027.  Since 1994, this programme has funded 946 projects involving more than 1,900 researchers from 31 countries in the fields of psychophysiology and parapsychology, with grants of up to €60,000 per project.

Applications are open until August 31, 2026. Learn more and how to apply at https://www.fundacaobial.com/en-GB/grants/grants-programme-scientific-research

SSE’s Summer Webinar July 14

The Patterson–Gimlin Film: The Bigfoot Evidence That Refuses to Go Away

SSE’s “Anomalies 101” Webinar presented by noted expert William “Bill” Munns. The Patterson-Gimlin Film of a bigfoot creature has been analyzed by many people, but what is often missed is that the evidence to analyze is a 16mm film, and the central question is whether the subject figure seen in the film is a human in a fur creature costume or is it real. Thus, the ideal person to analyze it should be an experienced 16mm filmmaker and an experienced special makeup effects artist who has actually made creature fur costumes. Bill Munns is both.

Why attend:

●    Understand why the film has sparked decades of intense debate and what that reveals about belief, skepticism, and human nature.

●    Learn how professional creature-effects design and vintage filmmaking analysis can be applied to the film itself- the strongest and most effective piece of evidence.

●    Confront evidence in the new documentary “Capturing Bigfoot” that claims the film is a definitive hoax.

Join us as we unpack Bigfoot’s most iconic evidence—and consider what contemporary methods can tell us today.

SSE 2026 Conference — Early Registration and Hotel Discount Deadline Extended to May 28! 

Upcoming MAVERICK Talks: Interactive Virtual Chats about Bold Ideas 

MAVERICK = Monthly Adventures Via Exploration, Revealing Inquiry, Curiosity, and Knowledge. Help us shape the future of scientific exploration—one bold idea at a time!

SSE’s monthly virtual forum, where members can share works-in-progress, spark fresh inquiry, and receive thoughtful feedback from fellow explorers. Whether you're refining a method, testing a hypothesis, or navigating a controversial topic, this is your space to engage, reflect, and grow.

When & Where: Second Sunday of each month (unless a quarterly webinar is scheduled) 1-hour Zoom sessions at: 5 PM ET | 4 PM CT | 3 PM MT | 2 PM PT 

Upcoming talks: 

●    June 14, 2026 (Gregg Korbon, MD)

●    July 12, 2026 (Marcie Dean)

●    August 9, 2026 (Eric "Rick" Leskowitz, MD)

The Explorer Book Club

This month, we’re launching the inaugural Explorer Book Club, a new corner of the newsletter dedicated to the strange, the thought-provoking, and the consciousness-expanding books that keep curious minds up late at night.

Our first featured read is The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel—the classic exploration of paranormal encounters, UFO phenomena, synchronicities, and the unsettling events surrounding Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in the 1960s. Equal parts investigative journalism and Fortean fever dream, the book remains a touchstone in discussions of high strangeness and anomalous experience. Join the discussion on Substack!

Have a recommendation for a future Explorer Book Club selection? We’d love to hear from you. Members are invited to send their favorite fringe science, consciousness, or anomalous studies books to jsemedia@scientificexploration.org for possible inclusion in future newsletters.

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E. Stephens Gain earned an AB in Biology from Princeton, an MA in Developmental and Evolutionary Psychology from UC Santa Barbara, and, more recently, an AA in Film Production specializing in film sound from Santa Barbara City College. As a writer, media producer, and artist, they publish TriforiumTribune, an online zine dedicated to normalizing expanded consciousness. Recent productions include Light Body Human Universal, a book that urges scientists and tech entrepreneurs to use ideas from evolutionary psychology to understand anomalous cognition and frontier science, and Lightworker in the Classroom, instructional materials for K-12 teachers to use subtle-energy techniques for stress management. They also publish Expanded Consciousness 101 on Substack, an introductory reading list for people new to the topic of consciousness exploration.

Please talk about your career journey and what led you to your current work? 

When I was a kid, I read my grandmother’s copy of Fate magazine cover-to-cover every month. I come from a family of church musicians, pastors, lawyers, educators, and scientists, so spirited conversations about deep mysteries were always normal for me.I had a traditional science education, but when I was in grad school, I visited my uncle at the Gerson Clinic in Tijuana, where he was receiving a variety of alternative treatments for cancer. The presence of a budding experimental psychologist piqued the interest of one of the therapists, and he gave me an impromptu lesson on feeling subtle energy with my hands and doing energy healing on my uncle. When I returned to UCSB, I demonstrated what I learned to all my academic colleagues who would listen, and I wanted to study it with the research methods of evolutionary psychology. To me, it was obvious that this was a poorly understood aspect of human intelligence that warranted the analysis of an adaptationist perspective. 

Academic politics are not for me, and I left the formal research environment 25-plus years ago. You could say that I’ve been doing fieldwork in transpersonal anthropology since then, exploring what I now understand to be our non-local intelligence system. I started in Boulder, CO, where I sampled a variety of training programs and events dedicated to inner self-development and healing. With new techniques in my toolbelt, life gave me a number of practice periods where I was obliged to master the meditative and healing modalities I had learned. 

Eventually, in 2011, I started a Facebook group for people who practiced a particular subtle energy technique called Wording that’s taught in the books channeled by Paul Selig. The books are like energetic workbooks with interactive exercises to develop discernment of vibration and a creative vocabulary for practical use. I started the group soon after Paul published his first channeled book, I Am the Word. The group grew with his career, and its dynamics changed as he published more channeled books and social media became more relevant. My experience with the books and the techniques they teach fascinated me. I was also fascinated by the phenomenon of channeling and the experiences and abilities of the people who master these techniques. They reveal aspects of our cognitive psychology that are not adequately explained by the traditional materialist framework.

It’s hard to credit COVID for something good, but the pandemic lockdown was the real catalyst for my current work. Filming in Los Angeles came to a standstill, so all my production sound jobs were canceled with no new film shoots in sight. To make good use of my days, I started a website for this group of around 5,000 members to get off Facebook. I recruited writers to help me publish a blog, and, for a year, we experimented with a variety of online workshops using the Wording vocabulary to work with energy and vibration. Our group attracted people from all over the world, all religious and cultural backgrounds, and all stages of self-awareness. It was a crazy time, but everyone was grateful to find validation of their inner experience. I learned a lot, and I became more confident in my role as a mentor.

When the world reopened, I ran into former classmates and colleagues who were interested in my pandemic project. These were scientists, doctors, and engineers working in mainstream professional environments who had no one to talk to about their inner experience and craved the validation I created in my online classes. I also ran into enthusiastic tech entrepreneurs who wanted to pick my brain about their worries about AI. Grad students shopping for research ideas to call their own also found me particularly interesting.

Scientists are clearly my natural audience, so I wrote Light Body Human Universal to share what I know. One of the goals for my book is to direct the application of my ideas toward non-capitalistic ends. I make the case that tech companies should fund public research in consciousness and media influence, and tech developers and policymakers need to understand the adaptive design of our non-local intelligence to ensure that new technology is safe. This is a big challenge that everyone today wants and needs us to overcome.

What do you find most rewarding about your research in frontier science?

I have a diverse background with expertise in a variety of technical fields, practical knowledge from self-development, and experience shepherding a community of consciousness explorers and mentoring people who are expanding their ideas of what’s normal. With my current work, I get to use all the best parts of that education and life experience. An influential mentor once described me as “without functional fixedness,” and I’ve finally found a way to share that in service. It’s invigorating to use long-lost parts of myself, and it feels like everything I did before was preparation for this present moment. Now is an extraordinary time of technological and cultural progress, and mainstream orthodox scientists need baby steps and hand-holding to shift to a new paradigm. 

What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in your career, and how have you overcome them?

I’m hyper aware of the political frameworks associated with intellectual or artistic pursuits. Social organizations create networks for livelihood and security. At their worst, however, they also engender dogma and guru-worship, and established institutions may hide dysfunction or exploitation. As I frame-shift to move among different professional, spiritual, academic, or artistic worlds, I can’t pretend I don’t see the politics required for coalitional success. It’s been a challenge for me to honor my instincts for independent thought.

In the past, I’ve avoided challenging politics by slowing down or starting over somewhere else. Hard lessons about the importance of personal and professional integrity can be too jarring to assimilate, especially for a young or inexperienced person. Working in a supportive role, “below the line” in filmmaking terminology, is another strategy I’ve used to find a sanctuary to protect my personal peace. 

Now, however, I’m expressing strong ideas with a distinctive voice, so I’m careful to protect my independence from other people’s politics and branding. In my writing, I use a limited set of vocabulary from the different fields I’m combining, leaving out words that evoke contrary opinions and tribal attitudes. This ethos is expressed in a motto I wrote for myself in my 20s, “To be evangelical about anything means you only learned once.”

How has being a part of SSE benefited you both professionally and personally?

When I was an undergraduate biology student at Princeton in the 90s, I heard about the probability ball-drop device in the PEAR lab, but a physics major convinced me that it was just a kooky mad scientist in the town of Princeton, not associated with the university. I never fact-checked that belief until 2020, when my pandemic project led me to write about consciousness. 

Needless to say, I was astounded to discover the bonanza of legitimate research conducted by Robert Jahn and Brenda Dunne and that they and their colleagues created a professional society in the 80s to support this pioneering field. I was also surprised to learn that the Founding Committee for the SSE included the psychologist Roger Shepard, whose work influenced the creation and establishment of evolutionary psychology as a new scientific field.

I have not been a member of SEE for very long, but the dedication of its members ignites my imagination for the possibilities of scientific experimentation. Now is the time for this work to get noticed, and I hope to help make that happen. I’m honored to be featured in your newsletter.

What advice would you give to someone just starting in frontier science?

Working in frontier science means giving yourself permission to think independently and be who you are. If you’re truly creating something new, then you’ll have to overcome a feeling like you’re doing something wrong. It helps to remember that the years in everyone’s lives are limited, so use your life with integrity to your own knowing. Also, stop using the word “controversial.” Don’t say what you don’t want.

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A Farewell Funny

Until next time, keep your chakras aligned, your protocols double-blinded, and your cryptids blurry.