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Sea levels around <keyword id="22501" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="new-zealand" source="Orion">New Zealand</keyword> have increased at a faster rate in recent decades compared with the first half of last century, the country's statistics department <keyword id="12298454" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="stats-nz" source="Orion">Stats NZ</keyword> said on Thursday. According to Stats NZ's recently updated e nvironmental indicator Coastal Sea-level Rise, relative annual sea levels have risen faster over the last 60 years at four coastal monitoring sites throughout New Zealand, reports Xinhua news agency. "Future climate change projections indicate that sea levels will continue to rise. Rising sea levels affect coastal communities, infrastructure, coastal habitats, and biodiversity," Stats NZ environmental and agricultural statistics senior manager <keyword id="14993601" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="michele-lloyd" source="Orion">Michele Lloyd</keyword> said in a statement. Sea levels rose faster over the last 60 years, 1961 to 2020, compared with the previous 60 years, 1901 to 1960, at four main sites with records dating back to the 1890s and 1900s: Auckland, Wellington, <keyword id="6031590" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="lyttleton" source="Orion">Lyttleton</keyword> and <keyword id="208964" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="dunedin" source="Orion">Dunedin</keyword>, <keyword id="32190" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="lloyd" source="Orion">Lloyd</keyword> said. The rate of sea-level rise has doubled in the last 60 years, compared with the mean rate from when records first began through to 1960, she said. Of the locations which have been monitored for over 120 years, Lyttleton near Christchurch showed the highest long-term trend in relative sea-level rise of the four sites at 2.24mm/year (with a margin of error of 0.09mm). Meanwhile, between 1961 and 2020 the largest increase in the rate of annual mean sea-level rise of all the monitoring sites was observed in Wellington, the capital. Climate change is one of the main causes of sea-level rise. As greenhouse gas emissions warm the <keyword id="6359982" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="earth" source="Orion">Earth</keyword>'s atmosphere, heat is absorbed by the ocean. The expansion of seawater as it warms, combined with increased sea volume caused by the melting of glaciers and ice sheets, contribute to sea-level rise, she said. Data for the coastal sea-level rise indicator is provided by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and the Land Information New Zealand (LINZ). The coastal sea-level rise indicator was last updated in 2019. Recommended stories <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="93921808" title="Right solutions can diminish disaster consequences: UN University report" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"><payload><![CDATA[alsosee]]></payload></div><div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="93495845" title="200 major glaciers disappeared in Italy due to climate change, the country&amp;#39;s environmental lobby group reported" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"><payload><![CDATA[alsosee]]></payload></div>

Sea-level rises by a double rate in New Zealand due to climate change

<ul class="summary-list"><li>President-elect <keyword id="99719" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Joe-Biden">Joe Biden</keyword> is now seriously considering a retired US Army general as one of his frontrunners to lead the <keyword id="189750" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Defense-Department">Defense Department</keyword>, according to a Politico report.</li><li>If confirmed, Austin would be the first Black defense secretary in the US.</li></ul>President-elect Joe Biden is now seriously considering a retired US Army general as one of his frontrunners to lead the Defense Department, according to a Politico <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/07/lloyd-austin-biden-secretary-defense-frontrunner-contender-443479">report</a> published Monday.<keyword id="2681567" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Lloyd-Austin">Lloyd Austin</keyword>, a Black four-star general with over four decades in the military, is now one of the leading candidates for Biden's Cabinet, three people told Politico. Austin's name was one of several that was thrown in the mix in recent weeks, including Michele Flournoy, the former undersecretary of defense for policy who was widely believed to be the frontrunner for the top <keyword id="6362444" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="pentagon">Pentagon</keyword> position.If confirmed, Austin would be the first Black defense secretary in the US.Biden's transition team has been considering other factors in addition to experience for their selection, including a candidate's race, unnamed sources said in a previous <a href="https://www.axios.com/biden-defense-secretary-lloyd-austin-1af4a702-aaf2-4e9e-9f5f-3ece6a9ff362.html">Axios</a> report. The former vice president was criticized by some Democrats for not naming qualified candidates of color for his Cabinet picks.Democratic Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina told <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/527608-clyburn-biden-falling-short-on-naming-black-figures-to-top-posts">The Hill</a> in late November that although he heard Black candidates were "given fair consideration," only one Black person had been named to Biden's cabinet. Former diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a Black woman, was selected to be the next United Nations ambassador.Since then, Biden has picked other Black staffers for Cabinet-level positions, including Cecilia Rouse for chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.Austin first served in the Army in 1975 and graduated from West Point. He took on numerous leadership roles, having commanded all of the US's troops in Iraq and helmed US Central Command, the combatant command responsible for all US operations in the Middle East. Austin retired in 2016 and founded the Austin Strategy Group, a consulting service in Washington, D.C.Former Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson, who is also Black, is being considered by Biden for the Pentagon post, Politico reported. Some Democrats, however, reportedly expressed concern over Johnson for his <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/06/24/obama_dhs_sec_jeh_johnson_we_detained_children_it_was_necessary.html">tenure</a> in the Obama administration.Biden on Monday told reporters he would make an announcement on Friday.Austin's potential role faces still faces some challenges from Congress. Critics have long argued that defense secretaries must have had some level of separation from the military, given the political nature of their duties and to avoid any biases based on their prior service.Retired service members are also required to have been separated from the military for at least seven years, a requirement Austin has not fulfilled. Austin would need a waiver from Congress, just like James Mattis, a four-star US Marine Corps general, who served as President Donald Trump's first defense secretary before resigning in 2018.Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, said in 2017 that he would not support a similar waiver to Mattis' in the future."Congress has enacted an exception one time since the creation of the Department of Defense," Reed said, according to <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/breaking-news/2017/01/13/us-congress-passes-waiver-for-mattis-to-lead-pentagon/">Defense News</a>. "And waiving the law should happen no more than once in a generation. Therefore I will not support a waiver for future nominees. Nor will I support any effort to water down or repeal the statute in the future."

Biden is now seriously considering a Black US Army general to lead the US military

<ul class="summary-list"><li>President-elect <keyword id="99719" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Joe-Biden">Joe Biden</keyword> is adding to his list of potential defense secretaries a retired US Army general, according to an Axios report published Friday.</li><li><keyword id="2681567" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Lloyd-Austin">Lloyd Austin</keyword> is a Black four-star general with over four decades in the military.</li><li>If confirmed, Austin would be the first Black <keyword id="145383" type="POSITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="defense-secretary">defense secretary</keyword> in the US.</li></ul>President-elect Joe Biden is adding to his list of potential defense secretaries a retired US Army general, according to an <a href="https://www.axios.com/biden-defense-secretary-lloyd-austin-1af4a702-aaf2-4e9e-9f5f-3ece6a9ff362.html">Axios</a> report published Friday.Biden is reportedly considering Lloyd Austin, a Black four-star general with over four decades in the military. Austin's name is one of several others being floated to lead the Pentagon in the incoming Biden administration. Michele Flournoy, the former undersecretary of defense for policy, is another possible candidate for the job.Biden's team is considering other factors in addition to experience for their selection, including a candidate's race, unnamed sources told Axios. Democratic Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina previously told <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/527608-clyburn-biden-falling-short-on-naming-black-figures-to-top-posts">The Hill</a> that although he heard Black candidates were "given fair consideration," only one Black person had been named to Biden's cabinet so far.Former diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a Black woman, was selected to be the next United Nations ambassador."I want to see where the process leads to, what it produces," Clyburn told The Hill. "But so far it's not good."If confirmed, Austin would be the first Black defense secretary in the US.Austin first served in the Army in 1975 and graduated from West Point. He took on numerous leadership roles, having commanded all of the US's troops in Iraq and helming US Central Command, the combatant command responsible for all US operations in the Middle East. Austin retired in 2016 and founded the <a href="https://austinstrategygroup.com/">Austin Strategy Group</a>, a consulting service in Washington, D.C. Although many past defense secretaries have served in the military, those who rose to the rank of general have been rare. The last to do so was James Mattis, a four-star US Marine Corps general, who served as President Donald Trump's first defense secretary before resigning in 2018. Critics have long argued that defense secretaries must have had some level of separation from the military, given the political nature of their duties and to avoid any biases based on their prior service.Biden's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Biden reportedly considering a retired four-star general to lead US military, would be first Black defense secretary if confirmed

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The US and UK have said they want to ensure that <keyword id="11894337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="russia" source="Orion">Russia</keyword> is never able to take aggressive actions again.</li><li>But as long as the <keyword id="11911313" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="eu" source="Orion">EU</keyword> continues to rely on Russian energy, it's providing funding that Russia could use for more military campaigns like the <keyword id="11985141" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ukraine" source="Orion">Ukraine</keyword> war.</li></ul>Top officials in the US and UK have signaled that the broader goal of the West's support for Ukraine is to see Russia defeated so decisively that it's unable to invade other neighbors in the future, but that may well be unattainable despite their stiff Russia sanctions and arms support to Ukraine. "Now is not the time to be complacent. There should be no talk of ceasefires or appeasing Putin. We need to make sure that Ukraine wins, that Russia withdraws, and that we never see this type of Russian aggression again," British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/foreign-secretary-press-statement-in-prague-27-may">said Friday</a>.These comments echoed remarks from US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin following a trip to Kyiv in April. "We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can't do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine," Austin told reporters at the time. But as long as Russia continues to be a major supplier of <keyword id="11955852" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="gas" source="Orion">gas</keyword> and <keyword id="11896879" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="oil" source="Orion">oil</keyword> to the EU, it will effectively have a chokehold over much of the region, and a revenue source to fuel future military campaigns. Even if Ukraine wins the war and regains its territory, Russia's influence over Europe's long-term energy supply grants Moscow significant leverage and power. Russia exported much less crude in April, for instance, but the rising prices — triggered in part by its invasion of Ukraine — resulted in $28 billion in energy export revenue. The Kremlin has also discounted its energy relative to other countries' exports, solidifying its existing trade relationships with India and China. With Russia's brutal war grinding on, commentators and Ukrainian leaders are arguing the EU must to do much more and sooner to break its reliance on Russian energy.Ukraine's top diplomat, Dymtro Kuleba, in April <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCWorld/status/1512068880692260865?s=20&amp;t=O0lP3XX3uuShSkD5Or5ayw">said</a> that as long as the West "continues buying Russian gas and oil" then it's "supporting Russia's war machine." The US and its allies have slapped unprecedented sanctions on Russia over the war. But Kuleba has warned that the West's ongoing Russian energy purchases limits the impact of these economic penalties. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a virtual address to the World Economic Forum in Davos last week pushed for "maximum" sanctions on Russia, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/23/zelenskyy-urges-maximum-sanctions-on-russia-in-davos-talk">including an oil embargo.</a> "We urgently need to move away from our dependence on Russian fossil fuels," Valdis Dombrovskis, European vice president and commissioner for trade for the European Commission, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/25/russia-ukraine-live-updates-.html">told CNBC</a> last week."We are in somewhat of a paradoxical situation where we are providing massive support to Ukraine with one hand and then we provide financing to Putin to continue its war with another hand. So this clearly needs to stop," Dombrovskis said in separate comments during a trade panel at the World Economic Forum, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/world-economic-forum-covid-health-climate-and-environment-4e86deb58f290192e7eca1577be1ca15">per the Associated Press.</a>The Biden administration rolled out a ban on Russian oil, coal, and natural gas in late March, with the president saying the US "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-us-ban-russian-oil-natural-gas-coal-imports-report-2022-3">will not be subsidizing Putin's war</a>." The UK followed with a plan to phase out oil imports by the end of the year.The EU — which relies on Russia for 40% of its natural gas and 27% of its oil — took a smaller first step, announcing in April it would only immediately ban Russian coal. On Monday, the bloc agreed to ban most Russian oil imports by the end of the year. This came after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has close ties to Putin, stalled the agreement for weeks — citing economic concerns. Hungary's resistance to a complete ban led the EU to agree to a partial embargo that bars sea shipments but exempts pipeline deliveries as Hungary receives, and upon which the Orbán regime <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/world/europe/hungary-russia-oil.html">relies</a>."This immediately covers more than 2/3 of oil imports from Russia, cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine," European Council president Charles Michel <a href="https://twitter.com/eucopresident/status/1531391899218608133" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted on Monday,</a> adding, "Maximum pressure on Russia to end the war."Additionally, Poland and Germany said they would end pipeline imports. "This will effectively cut around 90% of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/vonderleyen/status/1531396163185827843?s=20&amp;t=Z1peVSWixmrg4wR1cZB4jg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweet</a> Monday.But at the end of the day, this is not a total or immediate ban. The EU can't quickly sever its ties to the Kremlin's energy business without <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/more-oil-gas-sanctions-stop-russia-worsen-inflation-economic-pain-2022-4">facing a crisis of skyrocketing prices</a> and dramatically slowed economic growth. Russia, meanwhile, is still raking in plenty of cash with which to power its war effort. Despite a sharp drop in crude output, elevated prices lifted the country's oil and gas revenue to 1.81 trillion rubles ($28 billion) in April, according to the country's <a href="https://t.me/s/minfin">finance ministry</a>. That's up from 1.2 trillion rubles in March.More broadly, the Kremlin expects to bring in $321 billion from its energy business in 2022, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-01/putin-may-collect-321-billion-windfall-if-oil-gas-keep-flowing">Bloomberg</a> reported in April, up more than a third from last year.Much of that business will come from India and China. Both countries have ignored sanctions and continue to snap up Russian oil at a Kremlin-backed discount.Yet the EU remains a major buyer. The group has spent about $58 billion on Russian fossil fuels since the invasion of Ukraine began in late February, according to the <a href="https://crea.shinyapps.io/russia_counter/?tab=methodology">Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air</a>. Germany alone is the second-largest buyer after China and the single largest buyer of Russian gas.It's true the EU has plans to cut itself off from Russian energy. But with prices at historic highs and a full embargo several years away, the bloc has little choice but to continue indirectly funding Putin's invasion.

Russia's energy chokehold over the EU means it will continue to pose a danger, even if it's defeated in Ukraine

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Cinquefrondi, a community in southern <keyword id="21474" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Italy">Italy</keyword>, is selling homes for €1, or about $1.14.</li><li>While the initial price tag is cheap, the buyers will also be responsible for an annual €250 ($284) policy insurance fee until the <keyword id="6363870" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="home">home</keyword> is renovated. </li><li>Cinquefrondi calls itself a "COVID-free village," and hopes that will entice buyers.</li></ul>A tiny town in the toe of Italy's boot wants new residents — and it'll only cost you €1, or about $1.14.Cinquefrondi, located in the southern region of Calabria, is selling homes as the country begins to emerge from lockdown. The town calls itself a "COVID-free village," as the community has reported zero cases of the coronavirus.Mayor Michele Conia calls it "Operation Beauty." "We rise between the refreshing hills and two warm seas, a pristine river runs nearby and the beaches are just 15 minutes away by car. But a whole district of my town lies abandoned, with empty houses that are also unstable and risky," Conia told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/one-euro-homes-cinquefrondi-covid-19/index.html">CNN</a>.It's offering these homes at such a cheap price in an attempt to increase the town's population. Young people have a tendency to relocate to bigger cities in search of jobs, so Cinquefrondi wants to welcome new residents to the village."Finding new owners for the many abandoned houses we have is a key part of the Operation Beauty [mission] that I have launched to recover degraded, lost parts of town," Conia said.There are currently about 12 homes available and about 50 more empty dwellings that could potentially end up on the market."If we receive a huge demand, I can expropriate all other buildings which have been empty for decades and the old owners are nowhere to be found," Conia told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/one-euro-homes-cinquefrondi-covid-19/index.html">CNN</a>.This deal works differently than some previous $1 housing deals across Italy. Other towns have required homeowners to place a down payment when purchasing their home. If they fail to renovate it in three years, they forfeit that money. The only requirement for the deal in Cinquefrondi is that the homeowners pay an annual policy insurance fee of €250 ($284) until work and renovations are completed.They are liable for a fine of €20,000 (about $22,754) if they don't complete the styling in three years. In towns with similar offers, most homeowners complete their work ahead of time, according to CNN. An Insider reporter previously <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-italy-1-dollar-homes-need-a-lot-of-work-2019-8">visited $1 homes in Italy</a>. He traveled to Sambuca, Mussomeli, and Cammarata, where he discovered that the homes often need massive renovations.However, the homes in Cinquefrondi are smaller in size, ranging from 323 square feet to 430 square feet, which might mean less to renovate. "We're just asking for some kind of certainty once a new buyer commits to the project. The policy fee is very low and the cost of a restyle here is within €10,000 to €20,000, or around $11,000 to $23,000, given the dwellings are cozy [and] tiny," Conia told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/one-euro-homes-cinquefrondi-covid-19/index.html">CNN</a>.Interested buyers can email <a href="mailto:protocollo@pec.comune.cinquefrondi.rc.it">protocollo@pec.comune.cinquefrondi.rc.it</a> to discover more about the homes.<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/frank-lloyd-wright-virtual-tours-2020-4">You can virtually visit some of the country's most famous buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/couple-spain-earthship-home-constructed-tires-bottles-photos-2020-5">A couple lives in an off-grid Earthship made out of bottles, tires, and other materials collected from the trash</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-are-sambuca-mussomeli-one-euro-homes-like-2019-9">I stayed in one of Italy's ghost towns that's selling off homes for $1, and I was treated like royalty</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-people-buying-italy-one-euro-homes-2019-8">Meet the Americans, Brits, and Europeans flocking to Italy's rural ghost towns to buy abandoned, dilapidated homes for $1</a></li></ul>

A 'COVID-free' village in Italy is selling homes for $1

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Richard Drew/APGoldman Sachs logo appears above a trading post at the New York Stock Exchange</div></div></div><ul><li>Jim Johnson, a Goldman board member responsible for approving large pay packages for top executives including CEO Lloyd Blankfein, is moving on from that role. </li><li>Johnson, the former CEO of Fannie Mae, has been a lightning rod for pay criticism at Goldman.</li></ul>A Goldman Sachs board member in charge of approving eye popping pay packages for top executives including CEO Lloyd Blankfein is moving on from those responsibilities. Jim Johnson, the firm's longest serving director and the chairman of the compensation committee, handed his position as chair of the board committee in charge of pay to fellow director Michele Burns on Wednesday during the bank's annual meeting.Johnson, the former CEO of Fannie Mae, has been a lightning rod for pay criticism at Goldman and elsewhere, and has presided over compensation matters that placed Blankfein among the highest paid Wall Street executives in the years leading up to the financial crisis. Blankfein<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-money-top-wall-street-bank-ceos-make-dimon-blankfein-2018-2"> earned $24 million in 2017,</a> up 9% from the year prior. In 2012, proxy firm Glass-Lewis &amp; Co. recommended that shareholders vote against Johnson's reelection after an investor publicly voiced criticism amid concerns that pay wasn't appropriately tied to performance. Two years ago, 33% of the votes cast by Goldman shareholders went against the firm's compensation plan, the most since such votes began in 2009. The rebuke led the firm to reexamine its pay plan and shift Blankfein's stock-based pay to being entirely reliant on the firm's performance from a typical practice of giving him roughly half based on results and half based on tenure. More than 87% of the votes cast this year were in support of Blankfein's pay package for 2017. Burns was the chairman and CEO at Mercer LLC, a human-resources consulting firm until 2011. She joined the Goldman board later that year. Get the latest Goldman Sachs stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/GS-Quote"> here.</a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/stocks-drop-on-10-year-yield-but-earnings-growth-steadies-2018-4">Here's what is keeping stocks from completely crashing with the 10-year above 3%</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Someone new's going to be deciding how much Goldman Sachs' top brass gets paid

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Chris Hondros/Getty Images</div></div></div><ul><li>Goldman Sachs is hoping a brand new technology team will help the trading giant better compete with the fastest traders on Wall Street.</li><li>Raj Mahajan, who joined the firm in 2015, will run the new group alongside Konstantin Shakhnovich and Ezra Nahum. </li><li>The three will report jointly to the chief information officer and the leaders of the securities division. </li><li>Large banks are looking for ways to compete more effectively with the likes of Citadel Securities and Virtu, which have shown an ability to innovate more quickly due to their smaller teams and flatter organizational structure. </li></ul>Goldman Sachs is taking a bold step to improve teamwork in its securities division and better compete with the fastest traders on Wall Street.The investment bank has created an engineering unit within its sales-and-trading division that will now oversee the front-to-back development and management of trading systems, according to a series of internal memos obtained by Business Insider. Raj Mahajan, brought on in early 2015 to overhaul the technology underpinning Goldman's equities trading unit, will be one of three co-heads of the new division. Konstantin Shakhnovich and Ezra Nahum will also share duties.All three will report jointly to Elisha Wiesel, the firm's chief information officer, and the leaders of the securities division, which houses the units trading stocks, commodities, currencies and fixed income securities.The new structure replaces a patchwork of technology teams that didn't always answer to the securities division leaders. And the new team will be in charge of just about every technology function that touches a trade, from the moment it comes into the firm to the final stages of clearing and settling.Integrating the process, front-to-back, under one team means the securities division will own the technology and, in theory, allow it to be more nimble in answering client demands. A common complaint across Wall Street has long been that engineering and control employees who don't interact with clients aren't as attuned or accountable to customer needs as the front-line traders. That's been true at Goldman Sachs as well, according to insiders. That structure has held back Wall Street banks like Goldman as they look for ways to compete more effectively with the likes of Virtu and Citadel Securities, newer market-making entrants that have shown an ability to innovate more quickly due to their smaller teams and flatter organizational structures.Elsewhere on Wall Street, Credit Suisse has taken a similar approach to better position themselves against the fastest traders on Wall Street. Recently, the firm <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/credit-suisse-just-announced-a-major-shakeup-in-its-electronic-trading-business-to-compete-with-virtu-citadel-2018-5">announced it was bringing together high touch, program trading, and electronic trading groups under a single umbrella, led by electronic trading veteran Anthony Abenante.</a>Investors are also judging banks on how fast or cheaply they can execute trades after new European rules forced the separation of trading commissions from research. In the past, many banks could count on trading business in return for valuable research.The reshuffling also addresses one of David Solomon's key concerns. The Goldman Sachs president and presumptive replacement for CEO Lloyd Blankfein has been considering ways to improve internal communication so that the bank can more seamlessly deliver products and services for clients, according to people familiar with his thinking.There's a belief that the divisional structure and existing silos may be preventing Goldman from best serving clients. There's talk internally about considering a different setup than the historical divisional setup, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. Mahajan's elevation also means new jobs for other executives. Michele Docharty, global co-head of synthetic product distribution, will now run global execution services in the Americas, while Liz Martin will handle the global day-to-day responsibilities for electronic market-making from London. Notably, they are among the more senior women in the securities division. Sean Hoover, co-head of global execution services with Mahajan since 2016, will exit the firm. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-people-get-wrong-about-sustainability-2018-6">NYU Stern professor on what many people get wrong about sustainability: It's not just about the environment and it actually leads to better financial performance</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

There's been a big shakeup at Goldman Sachs, and it shows how Wall Street's playing catch-up with high-speed traders

Ker Robertson / Staff / Getty ImagesStocks climbed on Thursday afternoon after spending the morning little changed.All three major indices ticked up into the green to varying degrees.Stocks saw their biggest declines in eight months on Wednesday following <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-obstruction-of-justice-comey-memo-2017-5">a report</a> that President Donald Trump in February asked James Comey, the FBI director whom he fired last week, to drop an investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.First up, the scoreboard:<ul><li>Dow: 20,696.01, +89.08, (+0.43%)</li><li>S&amp;P 500: 2,370.27, +13.31, (0.56%)</li><li>Nasdaq: 6,066.80, +54.33, (0.90%)</li><li>US 10-year yield: 2.226%, +0.010</li><li>WTI crude: $49.33, +0.27, (+0.55%)</li></ul>1. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/steven-mnuchin-elizabeth-warren-glass-steagall-wall-street-banks-2017-5">The Trump administration just handed Wall Street some great news</a>. During his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee, the Treasury Secretary said the Trump administration did not support the separation of investment banks and commercial banks.2. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-launches-nafta-renegotiation-efforts-what-is-nafta-2017-5">The Trump administration formally launches NAFTA renegotiations</a>. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said via a letter to US lawmakers that he triggered a 90-day consultation period with Congress and the American public that would allow talks to begin after August 16.3. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-dollar-index-may-18-2017-2017-5">The US dollar has officially given up all its post-election gains</a>. The greenback climbed to a 13-year high after US President Donald Trump won the election in early November, but the index has been slowly giving up those gains over the past few months.4. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/temer-bribery-scandal-brazil-markets-2017-5">Brazilian markets got rocked</a> after local newspaper O Globo reported that a recording existed of President Michel Temer approving a payment intended to make jailed former house speaker Eduardo Cunha remain silent in the country's biggest-ever graft investigation. Some analysts argue the latest allegations could lead to concerns about Brazil's overall economic agenda.5. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-earnings-q1-2017-2017-5">Walmart beats on earnings as online sales surge</a>. America's largest brick-and-mortar retailer said gross merchandise volume in its e-commerce unit - the value of everything sold online - jumped by 69% compared with the same period last year.6. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-stock-price-too-high-elon-musk-2017-5">Elon Musk admits that Tesla's stock is out of control</a>. "I do believe this market cap is higher than we have any right to deserve," he said in an <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-factory-workers-detail-grueling-conditions-fremont-2017-5">interview with The Guardian</a>, pointing out his company produces just 1% of GM's total output. "We're a money losing company."7. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/incyte-stock-is-up-after-asco-cancer-data-2017-5">A $25 billion biotech's stock jumped after releasing promising data on its new cancer drugs</a>. Incyte was up by as much as 8% on Thursday morning.8. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/initial-jobless-claims-may-18-2017-5">Initial jobless claims unexpectedly dropped</a>. Claims, which count the number of people who applied for unemployment insurance for the first time, fell by 4,000 to 232,000.ADDITIONALLY:<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-household-debt-rises-to-post-recession-high-in-q1-2017-2017-5">Americans have more debt than ever before - here's what it looks like</a>.<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/theres-one-big-reason-the-stock-market-is-becoming-trump-proof-2017-5">There's one big reason the stock market is becoming Trump-proof</a>.<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/amazon-stock-price-hurdles-to-entering-pharmaceuticals-business-2017-5-1002026445-1002026445">Amazon has several hurdles to jump before it can enter pharmaceuticals</a>.<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/lloyd-blankfein-shares-2-bits-of-advice-2017-5">Lloyd Blankfein was given 2 bits of advice when he became a partner at Goldman, and they sum up the company culture</a>.<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-and-tencent-dispute-over-in-app-payments-2017-5">The opening shots have been fired in the battle between Apple and China's most valuable company</a>.<h3>More from Elena Holodny:</h3><ul><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-launches-nafta-renegotiation-efforts-what-is-nafta-2017-5" rel="nofollow">The Trump administration formally launched NAFTA renegotiations - here's what you need to know</a></li><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/temer-bribery-scandal-brazil-markets-2017-5" rel="nofollow">Brazilian markets are getting rocked amid another growing political scandal</a></li><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/initial-jobless-claims-may-18-2017-5" rel="nofollow">Initial jobless claims unexpectedly drop</a></li><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-dollar-index-may-18-2017-2017-5" rel="nofollow">The US dollar has officially given up all its post-election gains</a></li><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-dollar-back-to-near-pre-election-levels-2017-5" rel="nofollow">The dollar has erased nearly all its post-election gains</a></li></ul> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-make-kfcs-original-fried-chicken-food-recipe-kitchen-cook-book-2017-5">Colonel Sanders' nephew revealed the family's secret recipe - here's how to make KFC's 'original' fried chicken</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

STOCKS CLIMB: Here's what you need to know

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div>Getty</div>On Sunday, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association voted on the year's best in film and television. 
While Ben Affleck was snubbed for a director nod at the Oscars, he got a double dose of vindication when he and the film scored victories for Best Director and Best Picture, Drama. "I don't care what the award is," he said while accepting the directing statue. He then thanked his wife, actress Jennifer Garner, for "sitting through this."
Lena Dunham, Daniel Day-Lewis, and "Les Misérables" also won big, while Sofia Vergara and "The Newsroom" came up short.
Check out the full list of the winners and nominees at the 2013 Golden Globe awards:
BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
ARGO Warner Bros. Pictures, GK Films, Smokehouse Pictures; Warner Bros. Pictures
DJANGO UNCHAINED The Weinstein Company, Columbia Pictures; The Weinstein Company/Sony Pictures Releasing
LIFE OF PI Fox 2000 Pictures; Twentieth Century Fox
LINCOLN DreamWorks Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox; Touchstone Pictures
ZERO DARK THIRTY Columbia Pictures and Annapurna Pictures; Sony Pictures Releasing
<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div>Sony / Columbia Pictures</div>BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
JESSICA CHASTAIN, "ZERO DARK THIRTY"
MARION COTILLARD, "RUST AND BONE"
HELEN MIRREN, "HITCHCOCK"
NAOMI WATTS, "THE IMPOSSIBLE"
RACHEL WEISZ, "THE DEEP BLUE SEA"
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS, "LINCOLN"
RICHARD GERE, "ARBITRAGE"
JOHN HAWKES, "THE SESSIONS"
JOAQUIN PHOENIX, "THE MASTER"
DENZEL WASHINGTON, "FLIGHT"
BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL Blueprint Pictures/Participant Media; Fox Searchlight Pictures
LES MISERABLES Universal Pictures, A Working Title Films/Cameron Mackintosh Productions; Universal Pictures
MOONRISE KINGDOM Indian Paintbrush; Focus Features
SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN CBS Films; CBS Films
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK The Weinstein Company; The Weinstein Company
<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div>"Silver Linings Playbook"</div>BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
EMILY BLUNT, "SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN"
JUDI DENCH, "THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL"
JENNIFER LAWRENCE, "SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK"
MAGGIE SMITH, "QUARTET"
MERYL STREEP, "HOPE SPRINGS"
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
JACK BLACK, "BERNIE"
BRADLEY COOPER, "SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK"
HUGH JACKMAN, "LES MISERABLES"
EWAN MCGREGOR, "SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN"
BILL MURRAY, "HYDE PARK ON HUDSON"
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
BRAVE Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios; Walt Disney Pictures
FRANKENWEENIE Walt Disney Pictures; Walt Disney Pictures
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Animation; Sony Pictures Releasing
RISE OF THE GUARDIANS DreamWorks Animation LLC; Paramount Pictures
WRECK-IT RALPH Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios; Walt Disney Pictures
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
AMOUR Les Films Du Losange, X Filme Creative Pool, Wega Film; Sony Pictures Classics
A ROYAL AFFAIR (DENMARK) (En kongelig affåre) Zentropa Entertainment; Magnolia Pictures
THE INTOUCHABLES (FRANCE) (Les Intouchables) The WeinstenCompany, Quad Productions, Gaumont, TF1 Films Production, Ten Films, Chaocorp; The Weinstein Company
KON-TIKI (NORWAY/UK/DENMARK) Nordisk Film Production, Recorded Picture Company
RUST AND BONE (FRANCE) (De rouille et d'os) Page 114, Why Not Productions; Sony Pictures Classics
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
AMY ADAMS, "THE MASTER"
SALLY FIELD, "LINCOLN"
ANNE HATHAWAY, "LES MISERABLES"
HELEN HUNT, "THE SESSIONS"
NICOLE KIDMAN, "THE PAPERBOY"
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
ALAN ARKIN, "ARGO"
LEONARDO DICAPRIO, "DJANGO UNCHAINED"
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN, "THE MASTER"
TOMMY LEE JONES, "LINCOLN"
CHRISTOPH WALTZ, "DJANGO UNCHAINED"
BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE
BEN AFFLECK, "ARGO"
KATHRYN BIGELOW, "ZERO DARK THIRTY"
ANG LEE, "LIFE OF PI"
STEVEN SPIELBERG, "LINCOLN"
QUENTIN TARANTINO, "DJANGO UNCHAINED"
BEST SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE
MARK BOAL, "ZERO DARK THIRTY"
TONY KUSHNER, "LINCOLN"
DAVID O.
RUSSELL, "SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK"
QUENTIN TARANTINO, "DJANGO UNCHAINED"
CHRIS TERRIO, "ARGO"
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE
MYCHAEL DANNA, "LIFE OF PI"
ALEXANDRE DESPLAT, "ARGO"
DARIO MARIANELLI, "ANNA KARENINA"
TOM TYKWER, JOHNNY KLIMEK, REINHOLD HEIL, "CLOUD ATLAS"
JOHN WILLIAMS, "LINCOLN"
BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE
"FOR YOU," ACT OF VALOR Music by: Monty Powell, Keith Urban Lyrics by: Monty Powell, Keith Urban
"NOT RUNNING ANYMORE," STAND UP GUYS Music by: Jon Bon Jovi Lyrics by: Jon Bon Jovi
"SAFE &amp; SOUND," THE HUNGER GAMES Music by: Taylor Swift, John Paul White, Joy Williams, T Bone Burnett Lyrics by: Taylor Swift, John Paul White, Joy Williams, T Bone Burnett
"SKYFALL," SKYFALL Music by: Adele, Paul Epworth Lyrics by: Adele, Paul Epworth
"SUDDENLY," LES MISERABLES Music by: Claude-Michel Schonberg Lyrics by: Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg
BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
BREAKING BAD Sony Pictures Television
BOARDWALK EMPIRE HBO Leverage, Closest to the Hole Productions, Sikelia Productions and Cold Front Productions in association with HBO Entertainment
DOWNTON ABBEY: SEASON 2 A Carnival / Masterpiece Co-Production
HOMELAND SHOWTIME Showtime, Teakwood Lane Productions, Cherry Pie Productions, Keshet, Fox 21
THE NEWSROOM HBO Entertainment
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
CONNIE BRITTON, "NASHVILLE"
GLENN CLOSE, "DAMAGES"
CLAIRE DANES, "HOMELAND"
MICHELLE DOCKERY, "DOWNTON ABBEY"
JULIANNA MARGULIES, "THE GOOD WIFE"
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
STEVE BUSCEMI, "BOARDWALK EMPIRE"
BRYAN CRANSTON, "BREAKING BAD"
JEFF DANIELS, "THE NEWSROOM"
JON HAMM, "MAD MEN"
DAMIAN LEWIS, "HOMELAND"
BEST TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
THE BIG BANG THEORY CBS Chuck Lorre Productions, Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television
EPISODES SHOWTIME Showtime, Hat Trick Productions, Crane Klarik Productions
<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div>Getty</div>GIRLS HBO Apatow Productions and I am Jenni Konner Productions in association with HBO Entertainment
MODERN FAMILY ABC Levitan-Lloyd Productions in association with Twentieth Century Fox Television
SMASH NBC Universal Television in association with DreamWorks Television
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
ZOOEY DESCHANEL, "THE NEW GIRL"
JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, "VEEP"
LENA DUNHAM, "GIRLS"
TINA FEY, "30 ROCK"
AMY POEHLER, "PARKS &amp; RECREATION"
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
ALEC BALDWIN, "30 ROCK"
DON CHEADLE, "HOUSE OF LIES"
LOUIS C.K., "LOUIE"
MATT LEBLANC, "EPISODES"
JIM PARSONS, " THE BIG BANG THEORY"
BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
GAME CHANGE HBO Playtone and Everyman Pictures in association with HBO Films
THE GIRL HBO A Wall to Wall, Warner Bros Entertainment GmbH, Moonlighting and BBC Production in association with HBO Films
HATFIELDS &amp; MCCOYS Thinkfactory Media in association with History
THE HOUR Kudos Film and Television/BBC America co-production
POLITICAL ANIMALS USA NETWORK Berlanti Productions and Laurence Mark Productions in association with Warner Horizon Television
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
NICOLE KIDMAN, "HEMINGWAY &amp; GELLHORN"
JESSICA LANGE, "AMERICAN HORROR STORY"
SIENNA MILLER, "THE GIRL"
JULIANNE MOORE, "GAME CHANGE"
SIGOURNEY WEAVER, "POLITICAL ANIMALS"
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
KEVIN COSTNER, "HATFIELDS &amp; MCCOYS"
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, "SHERLOCK"
WOODY HARRELSON, "GAME CHANGE"
TOBY JONES, "THE GIRL"
CLIVE OWEN, "HEMINGWAY &amp; GELLHORN"
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
HAYDEN PANETTIERE, "NASHVILLE"
ARCHIE PANJABI, "THE GOOD WIFE"
SARAH PAULSON, "GAME CHANGE"
MAGGIE SMITH, "DOWNTON ABBEY"
SOFIA VERGARA, "MODERN FAMILY"
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
MAX GREENFIELD, "THE NEW GIRL"
ED HARRIS, "GAME CHANGE"
DANNY HUSTON, "MAGIC CITY"
MANDY PATINKIN, "HOMELAND"
ERIC STONESTREET, "MODERN FAMILY"
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<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>In lucid dreaming, every night offers up the ultimate choose-your-own-adventure-a dreamscape confined only by the limits of your imagination and entirely under your control.
The horizon-expanding results are often felt long after you've awoken. Which is why a growing number of LD practitioners aren't just having more fun in bed-they're using their dreams to get ahead.
I'm lost in the woods. It's nighttime. The light of a full moon shows me I'm surrounded by menacing-looking trees, curiously similar to the ones that pelted Dorothy with apples in The Wizard of Oz. Then I spot it, smack in the middle of the forest-a brightly lit office cubicle with a laptop inside. "That's funny," I say to myself. "You don't usually see office cubes in the woods." Suddenly it hits me: The cubicle is my dream sign, a signal to my subconscious that I'm actually asleep, that everything around me is a projection of my imagination. After weeks of practice, of studying ancient Tibetan dream techniques, of wearing a special sleep mask that flashed lights in my eyes in the middle of the night, of ingesting questionable subconsciousness-raising drugs purchased from untrustworthy sources over the Internet, I'm finally doing it. I'm having my first lucid dream.
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This clarity hits me even within my dream state. I'm so thrilled by the revelation, I plop myself down in the cubicle and start typing. Yes, I wrote this story in my sleep.
This is merely one manifestation of the state of being known as lucid dreaming. You're asleep. You're dreaming. But you're aware it's a dream-unconscious but conscious (or is it vice versa?). On the one hand, this is a common enough phenomenon-one study concluded that as many as 70 percent of people experience lucid dreaming at least once in their lifetime. On the other, the ability to have lucid dreams on demand can be a difficult skill to acquire.
A growing army of LD practitioners are training their sleeping brains to take maximum advantage of that lucid state, learning to control it in search of a mind-blowing natural trip. Imagine turning the inside of your head into the ultimate virtual-reality chamber, living out your deepest, most daring fantasies and desires, all without ever leaving your bed. Go ahead, fly to Zanzibar in your underwear. Play guitar like Jimi Hendrix-with Jimi Hendrix. Steer yourself not to a cubicle but to the corner office. Have sex with a supermodel. Or two supermodels. Literally anything you can imagine is possible in a lucid dream, because you have the keys to your subconscious.
Of course, the desire to control one's dreams is as old as dreaming itself, and unlocking the secret to lucid dreaming has long been a goal of philosophers, theologians, and scientists. Aristotle was said to have dabbled in it. Saint Augustine wrote about it. Eighth-century Buddhist monks devoted lifetimes to teaching a form of lucid dreaming known as dream yoga. Your hippie parents might have experimented with it at Esalen in the 1970s. But unlike many other New Age fads, lucid dreaming has a strong scientific foundation. And over the past 30 years, study after study has shown that lucid dreaming can have a profound impact on waking life. Researchers in Canada are using LD as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Sleep scientists in Germany are studying its applications for sports training-to improve both focus and performance in athletes. Closer to home, a doctor at a VA hospital in Los Angeles published a paper in January detailing the case of a patient with a 22-year history of chronic pain who cured himself overnight with a single lucid dream. "I'm no expert on lucid dreams," says Dr. Mauro Zappaterra. "But the man woke up with no pain. He said it was like his brain had shut down and rebooted. A few days later, he walks into the VA pharmacy and actually returns his medication-300 tabs of levorphanol. To me that's pretty convincing evidence."
Outside the scientific realm, lucid dreams serve as an idea lab for creative types: Actors and admen, inventors and game designers, fine artists, musicians, and filmmakers-like Michel Gondry and Guillermo del Toro-have practiced lucid dreaming. As the buzz about LD builds, it's gotten to the point where you can't stay up late drinking in the bar at the Chateau Marmont without overhearing a group of English indie musicians on their way home from Coachella going on and on about having lucid dreams in the desert or a starlet and a former professional athlete nearby gushing that LD is "better than TM."
There are now scores of lucid-dreaming websites offering online courses and dozens of LD-training apps on iTunes (one of which was downloaded more than 500,000 times in its first six weeks) promising to prepare your mind for dream flight. There are weeklong workshops in Hawaii, seminars in the Hamptons, and-the obligatory indicator of an incubating trend-TEDxTalks. And why not? Who wouldn't want to be "the producer, writer, director, and star of your dreams," as the promotional copy for one lucid-dreaming meet-up in New York City promised.
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"Yeah, it is becoming trendy," acknowledges Charlie Morley, a 30-year-old British lucid-dream teacher and the author of Dreams of Awakening: Lucid Dreams and Mindfulness of Dream &amp; Sleep (previously he was a rapper in a Buddhist hip-hop group). "But it's not just hipsters doing it. It's all sorts of people, because there's no equipment to buy, no club to join, no money you have to spend. Anybody can do it."
However, not everyone has the same aptitude for lucid dreaming. There are those who pick it up instantly-Morley taught himself at 16, with no training-zooming to the moon on their first trip, while lucidity-challenged dreamers plod along for months before achieving liftoff. The reasons elude scientists, though a recent-and perhaps unsurprising-study at MacEwan University in Canada discovered that gamers are more likely to experience lucid dreams than non-gamers ("Virtual reality is virtual reality," explains one of the researchers). Also, those who tend to remember their dreams seem to have an easier time mastering LD than those who wake with no memory of them. But another recent study, this one at Goethe University in Germany, holds out hope for even the hardest cases: Sleep researchers there found that a mild electric current delivered to the frontal lobe for 30 seconds during REM sleep triggered lucidity 77 percent of the time. Can it be long before wearable LD brain shockers start appearing alongside Google Glass and Oculus Rift?
The more people experiment with lucid dreaming, the more distinct manifestations of it we will find, yet there is a certain universality, too-almost all lucid dreamers have the impulse to do the same thing. They fly. "Oh, man, being able to fly," Morley says, smiling broadly at the memory. "Flying is amazing. The feeling of floating above the earth, free from gravity-it's so liberating. I used to go to bed early on Saturday nights just so I could fly in my dreams. I got stuck doing that for two years. All I did was fly around and go to orgies."
You'd think it would be addictive, but sooner or later boredom sets in. "After you've flown for the thousandth time, you start looking for other, less superficial applications," says Tim Post, the 30-year-old founder of the LD website Snoozon.com, who taught himself to lucid-dream after being inspired by The Matrix. "You start trying to bridge your lucid-dream experience with your waking life. You start asking, 'How can I learn from this? How can I use it to be a better person, or get ahead at work, or rehearse for a sporting event?' Eventually, you look for practical applications."
You don't have to look far. Like that case of the VA patient who cured his pain with a single lucid dream (involving beautiful musical tones and strands of giant DNA made out of cookie dough-hey, whatever works). It can be useful for coping with nightmares, overcoming shyness, or dealing with bereavement, and it can be helpful for practicing for a big presentation, pumping up one's confidence, or solving creative problems (Paul McCartney famously puzzled out the troublesome melody of "Yesterday" in a lucid dream). In many ways, LD is the perfect self-help trend for our super-busy, technology-obsessed times. Not only is it just the right mix of ancient Eastern philosophy and cutting-edge brain science, but it also lets you get twice as much done in a day by turning your sleep hours into a night shift.
Exactly how lucid dreaming works in the brain is still something of a mystery. Research shows that lucid dreaming stimulates the mind in the same ways as waking life. If you sing during a lucid dream, for example, the right hemisphere lights up, just as it would if you were awake. If you do math, the left hemisphere becomes active. And the effects reverberate through your body even after you wake up. It can, for instance, improve motor skills. Sleep researchers at Heidelberg University proved that practicing a task in a lucid dream-tossing a coin into a cup-makes the dreamer significantly better at it during waking hours. They're currently experimenting with more complex tasks, like running and jumping, to see if eventually athletes might be able to train in their sleep.
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But the real power of lucid dreaming, according to those who've mastered it, is how it alters your perception of, well, pretty much everything.
"When I'm flying in a dream, what's moving?" asks Robert Waggoner, the author of Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self and a popular speaker on the lucid-dream lecture circuit. "What's the nature of space in a lucid dream? It's just a mental construct. Early lucid dreamers, the Buddhists who practiced dream yoga, they wouldn't even bother to fly to the mountain in their dreams. They'd just pull the mountain to them."
"It does tend to blur the lines between reality and dream life," agrees Sean Kelly, a 27-year-old longtime lucid dreamer from California who studied perception and cognitive science at the University of California, Berkeley, and now splits his time between Thailand and India, studying yoga and consciousness. "Not to the point where you can't function. It's not like, 'Oh my God, I can't cook this egg because I don't know if it's real.' But when you start to experience a lucid dream-consciousness without being encased in a physical body-it starts to shift your idea of the world, of what reality really is. Reality in a dream and reality in the physical world-they're both constructs of your consciousness. You start to realize that we don't have any idea at all what reality really is."
If taking flight via lucid dreaming sounds like a different sort of trip, there's a reason.
 "I was climbing K2 and there were snowdrifts all around," says Dr. Stephen LaBerge, recalling the dream that would ultimately bring LD into the mainstream. "But I was dressed in shorts. And I thought, 'Wait a minute, I'm not properly prepared to go to the top of a mountain. Of course, it's a dream!' I was so reeled by it, I just flew off the mountain."
Meet the godfather of lucid dreaming, the researcher who brought LD from the fringes of alternative psychology to the razor-sharp edge of modern sleep and dream science. LaBerge, who bears a passing resemblance to Christopher Lloyd's Doc from the Back to the Future movies (though he drives a Subaru, not a DeLorean), is 67 now, living in Arizona and leading seminars. His dream about climbing K2 in shorts came when he was a graduate student in chemical physics at Stanford in the late sixties. Like so many others of his generation, he was drawn to psychedelics-only in his case, as a subject for study. He was researching their effects on consciousness. The substances, though, were illegal, making research difficult. LaBerge's eureka moment-his mountain-climbing dream-"set the seed," he says. "I couldn't study psychedelics, but here was a state-one that happens naturally in the REM cycle-that had similar potential."
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The breakthrough came in the early eighties, while LaBerge was conducting research at Stanford's prestigious Center for Sleep Sciences and Medicine. He had come up with an ingeniously simple study that proved once and for all the reality of lucid dreaming: Subjects with a history of lucid dreaming were given instructions to send specific signals-two pairs of left-to-right eye movements-once they slipped into the deepest level of REM sleep, where lucidity occurs. "That was something," LaBerge recalls proudly. "A communication from the dream world while it was happening."
He spent the following decades sharing his findings in books (Lucid Dreaming, Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming), establishing the Lucidity Institute, and inventing devices like the NovaDreamer, a now-discontinued sleep mask designed to nudge dreamers into lucidity with light pulses powerful enough to penetrate the unconscious and alert dreamers that they're asleep, but not so disruptive as to wake them.
Whether you're delivered there by light or by luck, the moment you achieve awareness that you're in a dream is when it becomes lucid. LD practitioners train themselves to recognize dream signals-in my case, an office cubicle in the middle of a forest; in LaBerge's, inappropriate mountain-climbing attire-that tip them off to the fact that they're dreaming (think of them as unreality checks). Sean Kelly suggests giving yourself the finger: He pushes his middle finger into the flesh of his palm, and if it goes through, he knows he's dreaming.
During my first few unsuccessful weeks attempting lucidity, none of this worked. Nor did the Remee, a red-light-emitting LD mask made by a Brooklyn company, which just kept me from sleeping at all.
There is another, chemical option for those stuck on the lucidity launchpad, something that several lucid dreamers had quietly clued me in to: galantamine, a brain-boosting drug used as a treatment for Alzheimer's that's said to have powerful lucid-dream-triggering side effects. Like many other nootropics, a.k.a. smart drugs, galantamine requires a prescription in the U.S., but low-dosage capsules containing its active ingredient-derived from the flowers of the Galanthus causcasicus plant-can easily be obtained. You wake up to take it at three in the morning, then go back to sleep, perchance to lucid-dream.
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It didn't have an effect on me, at least not initially. But then, a couple of nights later, when I wasn't expecting it, I had my lucid dream. It may have been a delayed reaction to the galantamine. Or perhaps it was simply because I'd been concentrating on lucid dreaming so intensely (all the experts agree that a strong desire to lucid-dream is a key factor in achieving lucidity)-and on my looming deadline. But there I was, in a cubicle in the forest, typing these words into a laptop: This is exhilarating. Although next time, I want to try to dream bigger. I'm going to fly.

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