DARPA has apparently finished figuring out how to do 2-way, noninvasive brain interfacing

 "This program is now complete."

A very dry way to say human society has irrevocably changed. This is the program that is completed:

The envisioned N3 technology breaks through the limitations of existing technology by delivering an integrated device that does not require surgical implantation, but has the precision to read from and write to 16 independent channels within a 16mm3 volume of neural tissue within 50ms. Each channel is capable of specifically interacting with sub-millimeter regions of the brain with a spatial and temporal specificity that rivals existing invasive approaches. Individual devices can be combined to provide the ability to interface to multiple points in the brain at once.

To enable future non-invasive brain-machine interfaces, N3 researchers are working to develop solutions that address challenges such as the physics of scattering and weakening of signals as they pass through skin, skull, and brain tissue, as well as designing algorithms for decoding and encoding neural signals that are represented by other modalities such as light, acoustic, or electro-magnetic energy.

https://www.darpa.mil/research/programs/next-generation-nonsurgical-neurotechnology

Does the technology also work to keep people unaware that it is even being used on them? That would be a common sense use of it if one wants maximal benefit from it, for people hate to be reduced to a manipulated object...especially by a computer.

Volcanic eruptions in Mesoamerica

For those who are familiar with the Book of Mormon, they will recall the dramatic destruction recorded in Chapter 8 of Third Nephi (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/3-ne/8). Based on the calendars kept around the Mediterranean, this destruction should have occurred around 35 AD. The Book of Mormon describes the destruction as including a great storm with sharp lightning bolts, land movements, water rising up and covering buildings, earthquakes, broken-up rocks and roads, whirlwinds that carried people away, and a temporary "vapor of darkness" that prevented lighting fires. These are things that can happen during a violent volcanic eruption. For instance, here is an article on volcanic lightning: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/apr/23/volcanic-lightning-mystery-scientists-breakthrough-carbon-electrical-charge. And here is a webpage--https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanic_ash/ash_particle_size.html--describing how volcanic ash is basically tiny airborne pieces of rock and volcanic glass, not the ash we generally associate with wildfires, and so is capable of smothering small fires. 

I am always curious about physical evidence that matches up with events described in the Book of Mormon. There are two volcanic events that look like they match up with the descriptions in 3 Nephi 8, but they are currently estimated to have occurred 200-400 years too late for the Book of Mormon timeline. One is the huge volcanic eruption of Tierra Blanca Joven (TBJ) Eruption (Ilopango), which dropped a thick layer of ash, displaced people, and destroyed settlements. The second is the submersion of a city under Lake Atitlán in Guatemala by an eruption of the Atitlán volcano. (Another member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint already blogged about this submerged city at https://saintsunscripted.com/faith-and-beliefs/the-restoration-of-christs-church/book-of-mormon-samabaj-evidence-sunken-cities/). 

The issue of timing remains. I wonder whether we are measuring time properly in Central America when we do carbon-14 dating. Here is the timing information I found online for Ilopango:

The massive Tierra Blanca eruption (14C dated 260 ± 114 CE) destroyed early Mayan cities and resulted in the formation of the Ilopango Caldera (Sheets, 1979). AMS radiocarbon dating combined with careful analysis of previous dates provided a weighted age of 1605 ± 20 yrs BP (Dull et al., 2001). This has a 2-sigma calendar age of 408-536 CE, with the probability distribution weighted toward the early part of this range, between 415 and 476 CE. Dull et al. (2001) noted evidence for sudden evacuation of archaeological sites over broad areas after about 400 CE, and Sheets (2004) estimated 30,000 fatalities within the area swept by pyroclastic flows. The 71 km3 airfall tephra volume (Kutterolf et al., 2008) does not include the unknown volume of pyroclastic flows.

(https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=343060)

Radiocarbon dating is done by measuring the ratio of radioactive carbon-14 to non-radioactive carbon 12. But, during a large volcanic explosion, a very large amount of old, non-radioactive carbon-12 can be ejected into the air, which I would think would make it problematic to rely on radiocarbon dating for a place as continuously volcanically active as Central America has been and still is.

It seems simplistic to estimate ancient timing based on only one factor or to use multiple factors without being able to take into account whether the factors were variable and/or interdependent over 1500 years ago. Events like supernovas can increase carbon-14 (see https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/supernovas-have-left-bizarre-evidence-on-earth). Maybe some cosmic events increased the amount of carbon-14 in the air over central America 2000 years ago; 3 Nephi Chapter 1 does record a cosmic event at that time that resulted in the western hemisphere experiencing a night that was bright like it had been day, and that then left a lingering "star" for some time afterward.

Tree-ring data, which is often used to calibrate carbon-14 dating, isn't possible in Central America for dates going back more than 400 years; they just don't have trees that old to use.

Someday we'll probably get told that scientists have changed their calculated date windows for large volcanic eruptions in Central America. I recognize that I am biased on this issue by my beliefs. I think there is much in the Book of Mormon that accurately describes the Preclassic culture and geography of central America. And whenever someone brings up a supposed mistake that they think discredits the Book of Mormon as a historical record, there is usually a well-founded apologetic argument as to why it's not actually a mistake.

Experimenting with spinach

I haven't given up on working to identify molecules that make it possible to use up stored fat. Right now I'm looking at some kind of lithium oxalate possibility. I microwave cut baby spinach leaves 30-50 seconds then mix them with some dry cocoa and some beef gelatin powder. The oxalic acid is in the spinach leaves, and the gelatin seems like it should be a source of lithium. The cocoa seems like a source of potassium ions (K+) that could help ionize lithium.

I've eaten cocoa with many an odder thing than spinach.

[Update May 12, 2026: Nothing much from spinach, I fear. I do think that there is something in cocoa that is really important, based on years now of food journaling. 

I'm currently looking at niobium, which when heated with phosphoric acid and sulfate (and so possibly nitrate, too) becomes ionized. My daughter used to see weight loss from a heated snack that included yogurt under baking cocoa, which had phosphoric acid poured on it. 

Because spice grind varieties have made a difference in weight management per my food journals, I'm curious about whether lutetium might be involved, too. It can be removed during grinding without altering the crystal structure of what it was in. I think I'll look at lutetium together with niobium and iodine. Iodine can be high in dairy, and cultured expensive cheeses have resulted in weight loss for me on occasion.]

[Update May 15, 2026: Yesterday I microwaved refrigerated baby spinach leaves with baking cocoa and artificial vanilla extract from Walmart. I heated them together for one minute, then I stirred them together with a generous amount of powdered ginger.

Today, I woke up with so much muscle/cartilage soreness and joint inflammation! It lasted for around half the day and made walking very unpleasant. I feel better now that it is evening. But of course I am curious what caused that reaction! It felt like a form of arthritis.

Spinach is known for its high oxalic acid content, so maybe the ginger and/or cocoa had trace elements that combined to make an oxalate compound even more irritating than calcium oxalate (which several health websites tie to arthritis-like pain/myalgia). 

Or maybe the oxalic acid and a molecule in the ginger did something in the urea cycle. Or maybe it was something else entirely.

One thing is for sure: no more heating up spinach, cocoa, and artificial vanilla extract and combining them with powdered ginger! That was not a pleasant feeling I experienced today! I wonder whether Asians have ever noticed arthritis symptoms being increased by this combination, for they eat a lot of ginger and spinach. But they eat very little cocoa compared to the western hemisphere and Europe. I'll keep my eyes open for research that might explain today's soreness.]

[Update June 1 & 2, 2026: Sometimes I am surprised that I haven't given up yet on trying to figure out ways to use stored fat without turning to the latest peptides or energy drinks. Basically, I have to eat, so I might as well try to figure out what is good for me. I can't explain why so many people around me casually consume quantities of unknown chemicals at a time when it recently came out that the FDA hadn't been testing new food additives for a decade. I can be a very trusting...even gullible...person, but I don't trust untested food additives.

Anyway, I might have a new direction to investigate as to something that works for weight loss. First, I microwave dry dill weed on baking cocoa (over a mixture of roasted banana leaf ash, silicon dioxide in "beer salt," and just-grated-with-a-microplaner cinnamon bark, and perhaps alum) in a mug for 60 seconds. Then after it cools for a minute or two, I may or may not stir in a little distilled white vinegar with a plastic spoon. I eat a bit of it, then I definitely stir in 1-2 teaspoons of my broccoli/cacao nib/gelatin smoothie that I drink at lunch and dinner already. I eat the rest, sometimes with a little raw green cabbage on the side.

I'm curious also as to whether some kinds of cellulose, such as is found in cotton, bark, or maybe cacao nibs, might be important. "Cellulose" is such a catch-all term that I could investigate in that direction for some time.]

[Update June 7, 2026: All my investigations with microwaving cocoa are basically going nowhere. At least I enjoy them, for I like the taste of cocoa powder.

As I reviewed the past few months, I have noticed that intake of a specific multi-ingredient glucosamine chondroitin supplement has correlated with moving down off weight plateaus. It makes me think that some supplement companies might have been including weight loss molecules (like this recently-announced one: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/06/260603015541.htm, "This new diabetes pill burns fat without the downsides of Ozempic," June 3, 2026, Karolinska Institutet) in their products without publicizing it. It kind of feels like a "shell game", what with super-food supplements coming and going over the years, almost as fast as teenager fashions!

On a more serious note, obesity has been a source of suffering and death to so many people. I hope full transparency about the health effects of what we put in our bodies is mandated by law soon.]

[Update June 12, 2026: I don't know if I've blogged about lithium before, but I think that it might be possible to make a negative ion (anion) of lithium. Look at its closeness to hydrogen on the periodic chart; hydrogen can make either an H+ or an H-ion, and due to lithium's similar size and electron shells, it looks like lithium should be able to make either a Li+ or a Li- ion. But due to how nearly every element, when heated with lithium, causes lithium to lose electrons and become Li+, Li- ions should be much harder to find in nature, occurring mostly where something has been heated then chilled or frozen (because chilling is the reverse of heating). Where in all the various processed foods do Li- ions occur? Do they contribute to weight loss or maintenance? If so, do they do it in conjunction with lipids, proteins, starches, etc.? 

I think if I heat cream of tartar (which is potassium and tartaric acid) with a little powdered beef gelatin (a source of lithium) and then let it cool down, I will create some Li- anions. Then I can see what happens when I add them to cocoa, cabbage, or various oils. The silence in all the chemistry materials I've read about whether lithium anions exist makes me think they could be being kept a secret for some reason by textbook publishers. Everything I have learned about the atom makes me think that Li- anions can be created during industrial food/supplement processing. With all the attention given to hydrogenated oils, why has there never been any public mention of lithiated oils? Elements in the same column of the periodic chart exhibit similar behavior.

Because cabbage, celery, and cocoa--good sources of nitrates and other nitrogen compounds--keep popping up as helpful, I wonder whether some sort of lithium-nitrogen compound can alter lipids in a desirable way. Perhaps I can use nitronium (NO2+) in conjunction with Li- anions to alter lipids into a form that promotes unlocking and use of stored fat. 

There is a 2022 study finding that lithium contributed to a "beiging" effect on white fat cells in lab mice: Geromella MS et al. "Low-dose lithium supplementation promotes adipose tissue browning and sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase uncoupling in muscle." J Biol Chem. 2022 Nov;298(11):102568. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2022.102568. Epub 2022 Oct 7. PMID: 36209826; https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9664358/]