The topics listed below are purely illustrative. The IVS takes no position one way or the other on any of these issues. We merely present them as examples of the types of fundamental questions that the IVS encourages.

 

• Gravitation:  What is the true nature of gravitation?

 

• Ion channels: Biological experiments show channel-like behavior even when membrane channels are demonstrably absent. How can that be?

 

• Water: Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, the father of modern biochemistry, and many others have argued that water plays a central role in all biological function. Does it, or does it not?

 

• Group behaviors: What factors cause individual priorities to succumb to group dynamics?

 

• Natural flight: Dragonflies, bumblebees and hummingbirds should not fly according to prevailing theory. More recent proposals claim the problem is solved, while other work challenges those claims. What mechanism permits them to fly?

 

• Relativity: Special and general relativity form cornerstones of modern physics; yet scientists in surprising numbers argue that they are wrong or need to be significantly changed. Which views are correct?

 

• The Sun: Many consider the Sun a nuclear furnace. Yet investigators have uncovered evidence incompatible with that view. What is the true nature of solar energy?

 

• The Solar system and the stars: Increasing evidence implies a primary role for plasma and electro-magnetism in addition to gravity; is this view correct? 

 

• Global warming, Weather’s underlying basis remains incompletely understood. Are there fundamental tenets missing from our understanding?

 

• Sub-atomic particles: By now, 61 are said to exist. Does the ever-increasing number suggest a fundamental flaw with the standard model? Or is the continuing increase natural to anticipate?

 

• Origin of Life: Many theories have been propounded, but can any fresh view explain enough facts to gain wide acceptance?

 

• Cancer: Incidence is on the increase. Why so? And, can unconventional therapies deal more effectively than conventional therapies with this dread disease?

 

• Longevity: Insect species may live only several days, while some trees may live for five thousand years. What mechanism accounts for this huge range?

 

• AIDS: Several books by prominent scholars claim that HIV is at best only loosely related to AIDS. Does HIV cause AIDS, or does some other agent bear responsibility?

 

• Biological transmutation: Modern evidence implies that transmutation could happen regularly in biology. Do elements really transmute in biological organisms?

 

• Rain: Why do dark clouds sometimes hold their contents and sometimes release their contents. Why does it rain?

 

• Earth's magnetic field: It is widely believed that this field was present during biogenesis. What is the relationship between magnetic fields and life?

 

• Solar dynamics: Often correlated with riots, wars, natural disasters, and even market changes. Do solar dynamics relate to human activity, and what mediates those dynamics? 

 

• Remote viewing, telekinesis, and healing: Are these phenomena real? If so, what components of their physiology permit these abilities to emerge?

 

• Dark energy and dark matter: Do they really exist? Or does their appearance come from an erroneous view of gravitation?

 

• Physical nature of the universe:: The universe appears to contain matter, plasma, and gravitational, electromagnetic, and nuclear forces. What is the relative importance of these features in understanding the cosmos?

 

• Lightning: Its various forms including eleves, ball lightning, blue jets, and sprits remain poorly understood. Does a common principle underlie all of these exotic phenomena?

 

• Consciousness: Is consciousness merely something related to brain function, or is it something more? 

 

• Cold fusion: Can low energy nuclear reactions result in excess energy output over input? If so, what’s the explanation for the phenomenon?

 

• Near Death Experiences: NDEs have been recorded throughout written and oral history. What experiments could test the objective reality of this phenomenon?

 

• Big Bang theory: Certain theoretical anomalies remain unexplained. Can other theories provide a better fit to all relevant evidence?