• June 5, 1819:   John Couch Adams was born, an English astronomer who co-discovered Neptune—the eighth and most distant major planet from the Sun in our solar system. Adams predicted the existence and position of Neptune using only mathematics.

Some frontier scientists likewise study astrology, a field that explores the hypothesis that the positions and movements of the stars and planets at the time of a person’s birth can influence their personality, behavior, and life events. The Journal of Scientific Exploration’s Winter 2022 issue contains an article by Kenneth McRitchie on how astrological research has evolved through three stages—single-factor, multi-factor, and whole-chart testing—each with its own limitations, and how recent advances in machine-based analysis have produced stronger, more objective results. Read the details at: https://doi.org/10.31275/20222641 

• June 24, 1947:   Pilot Kenneth Arnold has his legendary UFO sighting. The modern UFO era began when Arnold reported seeing “flying saucers” near Mount Rainier, Washington state, USA. This event kicked off the U.S. UFO craze and catalyzed a global subculture—and field of inquiry—on anomalous aerial phenomena.

For example, the Journal of Scientific Exploration’s Spring 2024 issue contains a study by Daniel Stubbings and colleagues. They found that while certain personality traits, like openness and agreeableness, were slightly more common in people who reported seeing UFOs/UAPs, personality alone does not explain most sightings. It also showed that public reports closely resemble military accounts and that many sightings go unreported due to stigma and lack of reporting options. Read more at: https://doi.org/10.31275/20243153

As the summer season approaches, many of us feel the natural urge to step back, take a breath, and momentarily unplug from the intensity of our research and other academic responsibilities. But for those of us drawn to the edges of known science—the dreamers, the skeptics, the question-askers—vacation rarely means disengagement. It simply means a change of venue or context. So, what should a frontier scientist do on their “summer vacation”?

Explore outside the lab—and off the map. Visit a place that evokes mystery. This might mean traveling to an ancient archaeological site, stargazing in a certified dark-sky reserve, or standing on a windswept hill where UFOs were once reported. Sometimes, inspiration lies not in data, but in atmosphere.

Read widely—and weirdly. Summer is the perfect time to catch up on that stack of books that fall outside your normal discipline. Pick up something from ethnobotany, Eastern metaphysics, aviation anomalies, or the philosophy of mind. Let your curiosity roam. Cross-pollination often yields the most fruitful ideas.

Reconnect—with nature and with questions. Go camping. Swim under the stars. Hike without a destination. Let your mind wander. Some of the greatest scientific insights have emerged not under fluorescent lights, but on long, aimless walks. Wonder begins in silence.

Tinker with the improbable. Build a DIY apparatus for a pet experiment. Join an informal working group. Sketch a wild hypothesis. Summer gives us a license to play—and playfulness with ideas and actions is where paradigm shifts begin.

And most importantly: rest, reflect, and renew your sense of purpose. Frontier science is not just intellectually demanding—it’s often socially and emotionally taxing. Take time to recharge, so that when the fall comes and the questions and craziness of academia return, you’ll meet them with fresh eyes and a resilient heart.

Whatever your summer holds, may it include transformative insights and a touch of the unknown.

Warmly,

James Houran, Ph.D.

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

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“Demonic Possession:” SSE’s July 16th Webinar

Please join us on July 16th (11:00am—1:00pm Central time) for a captivating talk exploring the latest research on demonic (or diabolical) possession by an actual Vatican-affiliated scientist. This is a sinister topic where consciousness studies and cultural anthropology intersect with the unexplained.

Are diabolical possessions real, or do they stem from altered brain states, deep-seated beliefs, or something beyond science?

This presentation examines cutting-edge case studies, neurological insights, and historical accounts, challenging what we think we know about the mind, the supernatural, and the power of belief. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, this session might leave you questioning your own assumptions about the nature or limits of reality.

Register now! https://scientificexploration.org/2025-Demonic-Possession-Webinar 

SSE’s 2025 Annual Conference: Call for Papers

This year’s online event—“Exploring the Unexplained”—will be an amazing frontier science experience, with five invited speakers and many empirical and conceptual presentations across five program tracks:

• Unexplained aerial, oceanic, and terrestrial phenomena (aerial)
• Unexplained consciousness, intelligence, and nous phenomena (consciousness)
• Unexplained dynamics, energy, and kinetics phenomena (energy)
• Unexplained health, medical, and veterinary medical phenomena (health)
• Unexplained phenomena of sociological dynamics (social)

Conference registration will follow soon, but there’s still time to submit an abstract. Please consider joining the program.

Submit your abstract before June 30th, 2025 

Wanted! Enthusiastic Reviewers for JSE

The Journal of Scientific Exploration (JSE) invites researchers, scholars, and practitioners with open yet critical minds to join our valued community of peer reviewers. We publish rigorously vetted research that pushes the boundaries of science—exploring topics often overlooked or marginalized by mainstream discourse.

If you have expertise in the physical, biomedical, or social sciences, and a commitment to balanced, constructive evaluation, we welcome your participation. Help to shape the future of scientific inquiry and engage with bold, innovative work at the frontier of knowledge. JSE especially seeks experts in UFO/UAP related phenomena, new physics and energy science, citizen science approaches, and issues in biofields and healing.

To volunteer, SSE members can simply login into the online journal system (OJS) and add your areas of expertise directly to your existing profile (https://journalofscientificexploration.org/index.php/jse/index). Just go to the dedicated place for users to put reviewing interests.

Or you can email your name, affiliation information, and 5-7 keywords that describe your interests and expertise to:mailto:community@scientificexploration.org 

Important Reminder… JSE’s Policy and Production Upgrades

As part of our improvement process, formal article production is now being handled by a contracted company. This is a professional step up for JSE, as it breaks up the production of the Journal to additional hands and allows the editorial team to focus on articles and editing.

However, with the addition of an external company for professional production, we have to alter some of our process to account for additional ‘cooks in the kitchen’. Production of a formal journal every three months is a highly technical process which has multiple dozens of steps and involves transfer across multiple software and design platforms. A consistent process ensures that article production is as seamless as possible, and that articles are professionally crafted to the best of everyone’s ability, and to the benefit of the Journal and authors.

To that end, our proofing process has changed to accommodate the above. We wish to kindly emphasize that all of the following processes are processes we need authors to follow. As stated above, there are many stages to converting a manuscript into a finished article, and quality is a risk when authors step outside the system of checks and balances we strive for as a small editorial staff.

For the coming issues, the following process has been put in place:

1. Articles will first be checked for cited article accuracy and APA. Issues with citation or articles will be sent back to the author as part of the copy-editing process and not part of the proof process. Authors can now expect to get an edited manuscript which only addresses editing missing articles or incorrect citations. The manuscript will also ask for details such as author affiliations, ORCID id, preferred email, and correspondence. Authors will be asked to provide these, as well as correct reference issues and return them to the Managing Editor within four days. We note here that as the paper is out of peer-review that additional edits of preference are not allowed.

2. The time for reviewing a proof will be shortened to five days and will represent the only opportunity the author has to make changes to the finished article. In the past, we have occasionally allowed for changes after publication, or additional rounds of proofing for exceedingly complex articles. Now that we are working with a production company to produce the final article, the above is no longer feasible or preferred. Therefore, the author will have only one opportunity to correct issues of fact, or substantive error with their proof. Per the general standard of almost every peer-reviewed journal in the US and GB, once the article is formally published, additional edits will not be allowed. In cases of missed factual error(s), the author will have the opportunity to submit a formal ‘correction’ to the journal.

There are many reasons why transferring production is a promotion towards higher quality of JSE, but as always, it is the collaboration of our author’s with our editorial process that makes any article the best professional presentation of your work. We ask both the community and our authors to be patient with us as we manage this new editorial structure. You can best help by facilitating our new procedure.

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Meet John Chavez—an independent researcher and the founder of DMT Quest (https://dmtquest.org/about/), a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing scientific understanding of endogenous dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a naturally-occurring compound in the human body. DMT Quest is a major sponsor of the upcoming 2026 live SSE Conference (full details to be announced soon).

Through DMT Quest, Chavez works to bridge the gap between rigorous research and public awareness about the potential roles of DMT in human consciousness and perception. He is the author of two books—Questions for the Lion Tamer: Delving into the Mystery that is DMT and Swimming in Electric Endohuasca—which explore the complexities of DMT and its implications for science and spirituality.

Chavez also produced the documentary “DMT Quest,” which highlights pioneering research demonstrating that DMT is produced in the mammalian brain at levels comparable to key neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. Committed to scientific transparency and impact, Chavez ensures that the majority of DMT Quest’s resources directly support research efforts. His work reflects a broader mission to foster informed public engagement with frontier science and to explore the biological basis of extraordinary human experiences.

What inspired you to support SSE 2026 live conference, and how does it align with your broader mission in frontier science?

I’ve been following the SSE content for nearly a decade now and find the edge science topics fascinating. I was a big fan of Bill Bengston the former SSE president and found his delivery of the message refreshing and entertaining. Unfortunately, Bill recently passed but I’m sure that he’d be happy to see frontier science supported and continuing to push forward. I look at SSE as a powerful incubator of exciting ideas and rigorous science that can be developed further at the multi-university level to assist in distributing these ideas to traditional academics.

In your view, what are the most promising areas of frontier science today—and where do you see the greatest need for academic engagement?

I believe that identifying the physiological correlates of “action at a distance” is an important topic of inquiry. The more these correlates start to be uncovered, we will continue to develop more robust data sets to show the public and develop comprehensive research programs from. The majority of modern neuroscientists, biologists, and chemists perceive the brain and body as being the source of consciousness. This model of reality can lead to the perception that life is nothing more than a set of chemical interactions which can compress the imagination of the public.

How do your education campaigns aim to bridge the gap between complex scientific advances and public understanding?

It's important to meet the current paradigm where they are and attempt to create communicative bridges between them and what could be the future of human potential research. Through the development of research and media, we can educate academics and the public regarding the incremental breakthroughs in the space. The body is comprised of many layers of communication including chemical, electrical, photonic, quantum, and much more. Beginning with the established layer and carefully developing narratives that stay within logical frameworks is key optimal communication.

What challenges have you encountered when advocating for support or legitimacy in frontier research, and how have you addressed them?

The impact of the research can be challenging for traditionally minded philanthropists. So what if forms of psi are real? How can they help someone in their everyday life? Integrating high utility application of these fields towards health, and potentially specific insights into the nature of reality are key. Giving them the vision of what could be from the programs developed is important in order to paint the holistic picture.

What advice would you offer to early-career scholars or students interested in contributing to unconventional or high-risk areas of science?

My advice to these early scholars is that you will be entering the land of entrepreneurship rather than traditional academia if you choose to enter these high-risk areas. You will need to learn the art of persuasion, presentation, and pitching in order to garner funding to support your projects. Integrating high utility applications for your research impact points might help in being able to make a communicative bridge in this regard. Sometimes including periphery research that compliments your primary research in order to access wider potential fields of support is beneficial.

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A Farewell Funny

SETI finally received a message from extraterrestrials. It said: “Unsubscribe.”