ORIGINAL PAPERS
THE JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE
Volume 10, Number 1, 2004, pp. 103–112
© Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
DEAN RADIN, Ph.D.,1 RYAN TAFT, B.S.,2 and GARRET YOUNT, Ph.D.2
ABSTRACT
Objective: To explore effects of healing intention and intentional space conditioning on the growth of cultured
human brain cells and the distribution of truly random events.
Design: The experiment took place inside an electromagnetically and acoustically shielded chamber over a
period of 3 days. On each day randomly selected flasks of human astrocytes in culture were exposed to healing
treatments; an equal number of unexposed flasks served as controls. Intentional healing and space-conditioning
meditations were repeatedly held inside the chamber over the course of the experiment to see if this activity
would cumulatively enhance the efficacy of healing treatments. To monitor the environment for
negentropic effects possibly associated with healing intention, three truly random number generators were operated
continuously throughout the duration of the experiment.
Outcome measures: For the cell cultures, the outcome measure was the difference in mean colonies formed
under healing intention versus control conditions, and the change in these differences over the 3-day experiment.
For the random number generators, the outcome measure was the variance in the distribution of random
numbers generated, compared to chance expectation.
Results: There was no overall difference in growth between treated and control cells. A treatment by day
interaction indicated that treated cells grew more than control cells as the experiment progressed (p 5 0.02).
The three random number generators deviated from chance expectation on the morning of the third day of the
experiment (combined peak associated with p 5 0.00009).
Conclusions: Results were consistent with the postulate that healing intention, applied repeatedly in a given
location, may alter or condition that site so as to enhance the growth of treated cell cultures compared to untreated
controls. Repeated intentions also appear to be associated with a general increase in negentropy or statistical
order.