Scientists study near-death sensations

Researchers on the AWARE (AWAreness during REsuscitation) near-death experiences study want to include more UK centres in the project, in addition to boosting the number of European and US bases. The University of Southampton has already been conducting research into this phenomenon for over 18 months at selected hospitals …

[Mike Crawshaw]

Ahhh, Plato...

Nice to see some culture sneaking in. If you could work in some references to Histories by Herodotus, that would be great...

[Gabor Laszlo]

I'll sign up

if Julia Roberts is doing the resuscitation.

The one with the two pennies in the pocket please..

[ian]

Is that ....

... a photo of the LHC?

So the end of the world is nigh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Look over there!

Keiffer Sutherland, Flatliners! All you need to know about NDE!

[Robbie Simpson]

Do the dead see CERN ?

From the picture it looks like the LHC could well be a near death experience...

[Anonymous Coward]

life stages................

this'll be the "chapter 11" part of life then

[Anonymous Coward]

"Scientists study near-death sensations"

Just Vista, or Microsoft in general?

[Ash]

Plato's "Republic"

"Lots of good ideas, but never really went anywhere with them."

[Anonymous Coward]

Has Lucy reincarnated?

I was expecting a report on the progress of the hypothesis that memory resides in the mylar sheathes of neurons - it having already been established that bona fide memories can be retrieved of episodes when a patient is clinically brain-dead, as instrumented by cranial probes. Zilch.

Or at least some nonsense about the frikkin' DARPA laser heads having plans to temporarily kill some willing grunts so they can do a bit of remote viewing before they start decomposing in their armchairs. Zilch again.

Welcome back Lucy.

[Reid Malenfant]

Going Underground

I too have had a near death experience on the underground.

As a matter of fact I get one whenever I use public transport,

[Anonymous Coward]

<no title>

If that artist's impression is anything near right, then I'm not going!

Had enough of that on the Northern Line.

[Anonymous Coward]

@Mike Cranshaw

I agree with, Mike. Let's add FLATLINERS to his list, where near-death experiences were mixed with a heady bout of electronic voyeurism and lashings of crap acting !

[Andy Barber]

NDE

Been there done that!

[druck]

Near death experiance

"Journalist's impression of the brightly-lit-tunnel near-death sensation"

No, just a normal commute, about as close to a near death experience as it's possible to get.

[Jonathan Richards]

This way to your destination...

an AC wrote:

> Had enough of that on the Northern Line.

But this is apparently the Metropolitan Line, judging by the layout of the map posters on left and right. The bright light is probably wielded by somebody soliciting donations while playing a saxophone. Let's hope that this isn't Er's abiding impression of heaven.

[Ishkandar]

Why bother !!

One look at GW Dubya Bush and you'll learn all you need to know about near death experiences !!

[Anonymous Coward]

The name is deliberately misleading.

Why is it called a "near-death" experience, rather than a "not-death" experience?

[Anonymous Coward]

No mention of "blacking out"

So, you're talking about light at the end of the tunnel. Or more commonly experienced during high-G blackouts, where the retina starts to shut down from the outside inwards, resulting in dark outer regions, with a white circle slowly getting smaller.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not NEAR death..

.. that is, not if you're Brazilian..

[Robin A. Flood]

WHERE do we go ?

From the illustration, it looks like we all end up in the LHC.

Can this be the afterlife - being smashed into other souls by unthinking European sientists...

[Alan Fisher]

Journos - @ AC

the same reason aircraft 'almost hits' are called "Near Misses" and British/UN peacekeepers being shot at by Americans is called "friendly fire" complete oxymorons but they look good as headlines!!

I am interested though; I've had a couple off similar experiences in my life (almost truncated at the time)...once when I almost drowned in a canal....the oddest part is the sensory sharpening and seeming slowness of time once you escape the situation that could've killed you....anyone else ever had that?

[Steven Raith]

I prefer the theory...

...that NDEs are your brain giving you one big trip before you go out - IIRC there are all sorts of endorphines and stuff that whizz around the brain during that period of 'on the edge', but I may have been drunk whenI read that.

WRT to the picture for the story, an interesting mix of claustrophobia and agrophobia [specifically not enjoying *in the slightest* being around large groups of people - it's right fucker of a mix] really can make the Tube feel like death in a terribly unfunny, panic-stricken way.

And where do I work? The wrong side of the river from Kings Cross - fucking typical!

Ah well, makes the commute to work, er, interesting some days...

Steven R

[Plankmeister]

I've had an OBE.... does that count?

That is.... an Out of Body Experience. Was a most peculiar experience. All I can say is, if that's what it's like when you die, then I have no fear of death: Peace, calm, serenity, wellbeing, supreme self-confidence, and yes, there was a bright pinpoint of light in the very far distance...

[Michael Dunn]

Lingering death?

Dr Sam Parnia, an expert in the field involving consciousness during clinical death, explains that contrary to popular perception, death is not a "specific moment".

"It is a process that begins when the heart stops beating, the lungs stop working and the brain ceases functioning – a medical condition termed cardiac arrest, which from a biological viewpoint is synonymous with clinical death.

He's been reading the "Tibetan Book of the Dead" - every Buddhist knows this - it takes 49 days (subjective) to find a rebirth.

My Mala is in the pocket.

[Mark]

the end of the world is nigh!

What? Rite nigh? Before beddy-bies?

Dash it.