That’s not the afterlife – it’s a brainstorm

DOCTORS believe they may have found the cause of the powerful spiritual experiences reported by people “brought back from the dead”.

A study of the brainwaves of dying patients showed a surge of electrical activity in the moments before their lives ended.

The researchers suggest this surge may be the cause of near-death experiences, the mysterious medical phenomena in which patients who have been revived when close to death report sensations such as walking towards a bright light or a feeling that they are floating above their body.

Many people experience the sensation as a religious vision and treat it as confirmation of an afterlife. However, the scientists behind the new research believe that is wrong.

“We think the near-death experiences could be caused by a surge of electrical energy released as the brain runs out of oxygen,” said Lakhmir Chawla, an intensive care doctor at George Washington University medical centre in Washington.

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On the trail of a 'living fossil'

The nocturnal solenodon, which is only found in the Dominican Republic and in one of the last forested patches of Haiti, is often described as a "living fossil", thanks to the fact that it has been around, virtually unchanged, for the past 76 million years.

Remarkably, this means it would have once scuttled amongst the giant feet of the dinosaurs, in the days when they roamed the Earth.

And it is an odd-looking animal.

It is the size of a rabbit, with a ginger-brown coat. It has disproportionately large, clawed feet, beady little eyes and a very long, thin nose.

But perhaps its most bizarre - and prehistoric - feature is that it is the only mammal that can inject venom through its teeth, the same way a snake does.

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Project Reason: Video Contest

The primary goal of Project Reason is to spread scientific thinking and secular values. We invite you to help us further our work by submitting a short video that conveys the message of the foundation.

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James Randi Speaks: Powered by Sunlight

A recent study in India by the Defense Research and Development Organization observed a holy man who claims that he has lived for decades without food or water. A team of 30 medics are reported to have been in attendance during a 14 day observation of the man.

Can a person survive on just air? Perhaps, as a professor in the study says, "If he does not derive energy from food and water, he must be doing that from energy sources around him, sunlight being one."

There have been many claimants over the years for the Million Dollar Challenge who say that they have survived for years without ingesting any food or water. When put to the test, they fail.

Norway hopes to unlock climate cash to fight tropical deforestation

Norway has announced $1bn in aid to protect forests in Indonesia and hopes to forge a partnership to fight climate change

Norway hopes to boost aid to fight tropical deforestation at a conference tomorrow, and to set in motion a partnership to unlock cash pledged at the Copenhagen summit to help slow climate change.

Norway says developed nations have promised $500m (£347m) to fight deforestation by 2012 on top of $3.5bn agreed at Copenhagen, and new pledges at the conference may bring the total aid closer to $5bn.

Fifty nations will take part in the Oslo meeting, to be attended by Britain's Prince Charles and the financier George Soros, to forge a "partnership" between donors and countries from the Amazon to Congo basins for protecting forests.

Plants soak up carbon dioxide as they grow, helping to curb the increasing rise in carbon levels.

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How Faith Blocks Reason

Horned dinosaurs 'island-hopped'

Horned dinosaurs previously considered native only to Asia and North America might also have roamed the lands of prehistoric Europe, say scientists.

Palaeontologists have announced the discovery of fossils belonging to a horned creature in the Bakony Mountains of western Hungary.

The find may give them a better understanding of the environment during the late period of dinosaur evolution.

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