Scientists are now able to trigger an out-of-body experience (without subjecting volunteers to near-death):
Two teams used virtual reality goggles to con the brain into thinking the body was located elsewhere.
The visual illusion plus the feel of their real bodies being touched made volunteers sense that they had moved outside of their physical bodies. [...]
One theory is that it is down to how people perceive their own body - those unhappy or less in touch with their body are more likely to have an OBE.
But the two teams, from University College London, UK, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, believe there is a neurological explanation.
Their work suggests a disconnection between the brain circuits that process visual and touch sensory information may thus be responsible for some OBEs.
Leave it to the scientists to take the sweet mystery out of everything! Link - Thanks as always, David R!
Previously on Neatorama: Near Death Experience of an Atheist
Comments (6)
The experiment looked more like it was exploring proprioception or kinesthesia than true out-of-body experiences.
For instance the Madame that ran the local Whorehouse in New Orleans was addressed as "Ms. Lilly" in her retirement years.
It is very common here in the south, even when I worked in daycare, for children to address adults in this manner. I believe it is more a term of respect towards ones elders than a term for a Fallen Woman. Considering the nuances of "southern hospitality", respect would be given even to "Miss Lilly's" face, though knowing nods would be passed behind her back.
Miss (first name) and Mr. (first name)
It does stand for something: the fact that some women would prefer not to carry a title that refers solely to their status as the property of someone else.
Somewhere there's a bra burning...