Skeptical reporter @ 2013-08-16

Skeptical Reporter for August 16th, 2013 A surge of electrical activity in the brain could be responsible for the vivid experiences described by near-death survivors. A study carried out on dying rats found high levels of brainwaves at the point of the animals' demise. US researchers said that in humans this could give rise to a heightened state of consciousness. The lead author of the study, Dr Jimo Borjigin, of the University of Michigan, said: "A lot of people thought that the brain after clinical death was inactive or hypo-active, with less activity than the waking state, and we show that is definitely not the case. If anything, it is much more active during the dying process than even the waking state". From bright white lights to out-of-body sensations and feelings of life flashing before their eyes, the experiences reported by people who have come close to death but survived are common the world over. Even though they are currently little understood, this kind of new research could help to shed some light on near-death experiences. In California, believers have discovered a tree that they think delivers the tears of God. The small but growing group attribute the liquid dripping from a Crape Myrtle tree to a miracle. Parishioner Maria Ybarra says: "When you say ‘glory be to God in Jesus name’ the tree starts throwing out more water." On close inspection, arborist Jon Reelhorn agrees, something is falling from the tree in front of St. Johns Cathedral. But it isn't water: "The aphids will suck the sap, the sap goes through the aphid and then it is a honey dew excrement from the aphid and it gets so heavy in the summertime that it will drip down".  He calls it a natural process. He also found another tree dripping across the street. And like the honey dew rolling off its leaves, clinical therapist Mark McOmber says the way people choose to interpret it can also be attributed to nature: "Human beings inherently need to hope for things, things that they can't understand, things they can't see". Warren Jeffs, the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,  is a self-proclaimed “prophet of God”. He was convinced of sexual assault on minors and now, from behind bars, he is sharing his prophecies with one of Arizona’s top leaders -- Attorney General Tom Horne. From behind bars in Palestine, Texas, Jeffs telephones his followers who transcribe his words and often send copies of them to public officials. The “revelations” are a mixture of orders, visions and demands. Horne said he’s concerned because the revelations show that Jeffs still has control over the FLDS community in Colorado City. “It’s the worst injustice happening in Arizona right now,” he said. Jeffs is the leader of the polygamist FLDS church. But he’s currently serving more than 100 years in prison for child molestation. Former members of the FLDS community said that Jeffs writes the revelations on a regular basis to be studied and carried out by his followers. And another UFO sighting has been explained by more ”earthly” means. On October 16, 2012, the sighting of a shiny object in the sky above Kentucky gained considerable media attention. Plenty of people saw the object: The Kentucky State Police received multiple reports of sightings. A couple of days later, the Appalachian News-Express ran a story headlined “Mystery Object in Sky Captivates Locals.” Regional television stations reported that government agencies professed ignorance. The story was picked up by CNN. And the UFO-loving website Ashtar Command Crew linked to the news as ostensible proof of continuing visits from the Galactic Federation fleet. Rich DeVaul has recently explained the sighting. The shiny object in the sky was the work of his Google team. The people who saw the „UFO” in Pike County were witnessing a test of Project Loon, a breathtakingly ambitious plan to bring the Internet to a huge swath of as-yet-unconnected humanity—via thous...