Astronomer Tyler Nordgren earned a Ph.D. in astronomy from Cornell University and has worked as an astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory and Lowell Observatory. In the first half, he spoke on the history of solar eclipses, from the astrologers of ancient China and Babylon to the high priests of the Maya to today's NASA, and how this phenomenon has transformed from a fearsome omen to a tourist attraction. "A total solar eclipse, I tell people it's one of the most unnatural, natural things you'll ever see in the sky. Having the sun go black and day turned to night, in the middle of the day, is just absolutely eerie," Nordgren said. It was this eerie quality that gave the eclipses such significance in the ancient world. That otherworldly quality, combined with their rarity and cyclical nature, gave eclipses the same allure for the ancients that they do for us today. Nordgren also advocated for making the trip to an area within the zone of totality - where the sun is completely covered, and you can remove your protective glasses to see the sun's corona - if possible. He said the difference between a place where the sun is completely obscured, and someplace with even 99% coverage is drastic, and you can only look at the eclipse directly within those areas.

He said that people should enjoy the eclipse, and not worry about any panic in the media about eye damage. As long as you don't look directly at the sun without protective glasses, which he noted is uncomfortable for people to do anyway, your eyes will be fine. He, however, emphasized that you should only look directly at the sun while you are wearing proper protective eyewear, or when the sun was completely covered by the moon. In fact, he said, you would not be able to see the corona with the glasses still on once the sun was completely covered, and would have to remove them. But that's something that only those within the zone of totality can do. Everyone else will have to use glasses or other devices, he explained. Anything that casts a shadow, however, will allow you to view the progress of the eclipse without protective eyewear. Even the light shining through the leaves of a tree can give a delightful show, according to Nordgren. He also encouraged folks to keep their eclipse glasses, provided they aren't scratched or damaged, for looking at the sun at other times, explaining they are useful for observing sunspots and other solar phenomena as well.

--------------------------

What if we already know everything we need to know? That is, if we know how to access it. That's the idea advanced by innovation leader and the founder of Intuition Lab, Kim Chestney. Chestney joined us in the second half to explain how to tap into your inner wisdom and create the life you are made for. She told George she was researching the origins of intuition when she came to the realization that "it really came down to this concept of the unified fields, the quantum fields, and the light that holds all of the information, our inner wisdom." She explained that intuition is simply "our ability to pick up on these cosmic signals and this code that's embedded in the universe," noting that it's "a natural, biological and quantum function." She claimed that once someone learns to tap into that signal, what some call the Akashic Record, they can then intuit potential outcomes and understand themselves and others on a deeper level. "When we start to tap into that part of our brain that processes intuitive information, the world starts to feel more like a quantum world than the Newtonian world that we're used to," Chestney explained. "We can do impossible things. We can know things beyond time and space and all these magical things that we once thought were impossible."

Chestney's book, The Illumination Code, breaks the process of learning to do this down into "seven keys." In true non-linear style, Chestney noted that "you don't have to read them step by step, but (it provides) a step-by-step unfolding of this idea of a quantum intelligence and working with it." The foundational key, however, according to Chestney, is recognizing that "intuition is a next evolution for our human consciousness... to know that there is a part of our self, a higher part of our self, a deeper part of our self, that knows everything."

News Segment Guests: Mish Shedlock / Howard Bloom