The Scientific Explanation Thread

[lostpunk5545]

Ok so I'm guessing this could border on the territory of the Anything You've Always Wanted To Know Thread but...

This is the thread where you come to post about things you've been intrigued about and researched. Enlighten us on something we've never taken time to really think about. Biology, Quantum Physics (which I'll never quite get my mind around - I'm mathematically retarded), Geology, whatever ology does it for you (besides scientology and its ilk). Of course, feel free to discuss what's been posted (in fact, I insist).

It's kind of my reaction to having to argue in threads like the Astrology thread etc. and having my argument invalidated by someone who has never tried to understand a topic on any rational plane of thought.

So if you feel that you just have to prove to everyone that fairies exist, by all means come rationalise, just have something to cite as backup.

Anyways I'm going to kick this off with an article on Near Death Experiences (NDEs). I remember someone talking about it in the Astrology thread, and last night's episode of Penn and Teller's Bullshit tackled the subject. Apparently about 18% of people who have been on the brink of death have experienced something similar, white light, surrounded by loving relatives, etc. etc.

Interestingly, about the same percentage of people experienced similar things when exposed to high g-forces and were knocked out in Air Force experiments. So supposedly it is something that is symptomatic of the brain being under stress.

Anyways I tried to research this a bit more thoroughly but the first 20 or so google hits were all for wanky spiritual sites (and my subscription to New Scientist has expired and thus my access to the database due to me being a broke loser). I did find some interesting stuff that dealt with similarites between Ketamine experiences and NDEs.

In short this is something I'm going to try to piece together a bit better when soberness is amongst my list of virtues (a short list indeed).

But for now, here's the article I was talking about. I'm not under any illusions that this is anyway related to a reputable scientific journal, for all I know it's a shitty UK tabloid feature, but it was the closest thing I could find to sounding close to reality so here goes...

Light at end of the tunnel over near death experiences
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
(Filed: 11/04/2006)

Some describe a journey along a tunnel towards a light. Many say the light exudes warmth and forgiveness. Others report that gazing down on themselves in an operating theatre made them certain of life after death.

Throughout history, there have been accounts of people experiencing visions on the brink of death, what are now called near-death experiences. There are dozens of books and films on the subject, even a Journal of Near Death Studies in America, and a conference planned this October in Houston, Texas.

Today, new evidence is published that backs the idea that the near-death experience is a biological experience, rather than anything to do with a larger, spiritual dimension, a glimpse of heaven, or the existence of the soul.

People who have had near- death experiences are able to slip into dream sleep more easily than those who have not had one, according to a study published in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

"I see it as an activation of certain brain regions that are also active during the dream state," said Prof Kevin Nelson, a neurologist and lead study author, from the University of Kentucky, Lexington.

"However, I hesitate to call it dreaming or dreaming while awake. This is the first testable hypothesis of a biological basis for these experiences."

For his study, a near-death experience was defined as a time during a life-threatening episode when a person experienced a variety of feelings, including a sense of being outside of one's body, unusual alertness, seeing an intense light, and a feeling of peace.

The study compared 55 people with near-death experiences with 55 people of the same age and gender who had not had them.

It found that people with near-death experiences were more likely to have a sleep-wake system in which the boundaries between sleep and wakefulness were not as clearly regulated, and the dream sleep state - when there is rapid eye movement - can intrude into normal wakeful consciousness.

Examples of "REM intrusion" include waking up and feeling that you cannot move - sleep paralysis - having sudden muscle weakness in your legs, and hearing sounds just before falling asleep or just after waking up that other people cannot hear.

Of the people with near- death experiences, 60 per cent reported REM intrusion, compared with 24 per cent of people who had not had near-death experiences.

"These findings suggest that REM-state intrusion contributes to near-death experiences," said Prof Nelson.

Prof Nelson said other factors supported this. Several features of near-death experiences are also associated with the dream state, for example, the feeling of being outside of one's body and being surrounded by light.

Because the brain turns off the body's ability to move during dreaming, muscles can lose their tone, or tension.

"During a crisis that occurs with REM-state intrusion, this lack of muscle tone could reinforce a person's sense of being dead and convey the impression of death to other people," Prof Nelson said.

He added that a biological explanation was "spiritually neutral". "We, as neurologists, address the how of these experiences coming about but not the why," he said.

Motherfuckin' linkage

^ Notice that cop out shit at the end, "spiritually neutral". That newspaper needs a new science writer. What a pussy. Ok so it's not the writer's fault. LAME SCIENTIST... Why add that postscript jerk off? Just present the facts.

 

[doofqueen]

Anyone who believes that I actualy believe in fairies is more stupid than they think I am

 

[endlesseulogy]

If in the beginning there was "nothing", how to scientists explain the "Big Bang"?

 

[zephyr]

^ Its probably the same theory that Aero bar makers stick to when selling that choccy- "Its the bubbles of nothing that make it really something"

Eh.

 

[endlesseulogy]

^^ You are probably right.. Something from nothing -?

 

[m4dd0g]

I think the nontechnical explanation is that all the rules* didnt exist either

I thought the explanation sounded very Douglas Adams

* Useful rules include such gems as describing exactly what 'nothing' is and how good universes shouldnt run about willy-nilly making 'something' from 'nothing'

 

[EJ]

If in the beginning there was "nothing", how to scientists explain the "Big Bang"?

Who said there was "nothing"?

 

[endlesseulogy]

If there was something, what created the something? It's kind of like when you face two mirrors together. An infinate tunnel of duality to dosnt really give a solid explanation of what created our universe.

 

[zephyr]

If there was something there that created the universe, what created the thing that created the universe?

 

[endlesseulogy]

Exactly, these are concepts that are unfathomable for the human mind. "If there is a god, what created god?". If there were gasses around that caused the big bang, what created those gasses?

 

[NickyJ]

I believe that brainwashed alien souls are the reason that I'm depressed

 

[Samadhi]

Regardind NDE's, i read about a theory that states that DMT may be the cause of them:

Dr. Rick Strassman, while conducting DMT research in the 1990's at the University of New Mexico, advanced the theory that a massive release of Dimethyltryptamine from the pineal gland prior to death or near death was the cause of the near death experience phenomenon. Only two of his test subjects reported NDE-like audio or video hallucinations. His explanation for this was the possible lack of panic involved in the clinical setting and possible dosage diffrences between those administered and those encountered in actual NDE cases.

Taken from wikipedia

 

[zephyr]

Exactly, these are concepts that are unfathomable for the human mind. "If there is a god, what created god?". If there were gasses around that caused the big bang, what created those gasses?

nickyj's arse is my guess. We all evolved from a nickyj fart!!

 

[NickyJ]

Does that make me god?! :D

 

[endlesseulogy]

Regardind NDE's, i read about a theory that states that DMT may be the cause of them:



Taken from wikipedia

Dr.Strassman's book was a great read. Oh the possibilities. I was surprised to learn that DMT occurs natually in the brain and it is released from the pineal gland at birth and death. weird 8(

 

[katmeow]

Sorry LP

Does that make me god?! :D

Just your anal cavity.

 

[lostpunk5545]

If in the beginning there was "nothing", how to scientists explain the "Big Bang"?

Time is a product of gravity. It's your conception of time that makes it hard for you to comprehend nothing.

 

[endlesseulogy]

Im sorry but please explain in more detail.

Arn't time and gravity connected to physical bodies?

Time is a product of gravity

Isn't everything a product of everything?

 

[m4dd0g]

I'm pretty sure my explanation covered it (srylsly)

If you dont have rules (time, gravity, dimensions, matter, quantum physics) before the universe and also in the first pico-seconds of the big bang then trying to explain what happned using those rules doesnt make sense.

Might as well ask 'how do you create time from nothing?'
Or, what exactly is 'creation' in a reality where there is no space and time?

 

[knight_marshall]

you are all not paying attention to the most important aspect of this questing. If 'everything' is a product of 'nothing', what does that make 'nothing' a product of... everything? (consider them both as objective points of view, where one is the ability to see, and the other the inability)