100 Monkeys
The Japanese monkey, Macaca Fuscata, has been observed in the wild for over 30 years. In 1952, on the Island of Koshima, scientists provided monkeys with sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. The monkeys liked the taste of the sweet potatoes, but found the dirt unpleasant. An 18 month old female named Imo found she could solve the problem by washing the potatoes in the salty ocean water. She taught this trick to her mother. Her playmates learned this trick and taught their mothers too.

Between 1952 and 1958, all the young monkeys learned to wash the sandy sweet potatoes and make them more palatable. Only the adults who imitated their children learned this cultural improvement. Other adult monkeys kept eating dirty sweet potatoes (which says something about parents who don't listen to their children). In autumn of 1958, something startling took place. A certain number of Koshima monkeys were already washing their sweet potatoes, the exact number is not known. The hypothetical number given was 99. Then it happened. The hundredth monkey learned to wash the sweet potatoes. The added energy of that hundredth monkey somehow created an ideological breakthrough. With that one additional monkey, almost all in the tribe were washing their potatoes before eating them. What is amazing is that the habit of washing the sweet potato jumped overseas. Colonies of monkeys on other islands and the mainland troop at Takaskiyama began washing their sweet potatoes too.

Although the exact number may vary, this Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon means that when only a limited number of individuals knows a 'new way', it remains the conscious property of those individuals. However, when one more individual manifests this new awareness, the field is strengthened, a critical mass is reached, and the awareness becomes the conscious property of all. This new awareness is communicated mind to mind. Science gets weird sometimes. Did you know that a physicist proved the possiblity of time travel in 1964? It's interesteing that at times facts seem unreal or fantastic, and are ofttimes swept under the rug because the general public is just not ready to accept the information.

No prompt or assignment here, but the quote from Hamlet comes to mind: "There is more to heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in you philosophies."