This article is reposted from the old Wordpress incarnation of Not Exactly Rocket Science.
The idea of an out-of-body experiences seems strange and hokey - certainly not one that would grace one of the world's top scientific journals. So it may seem surprising that two years ago, Science published not one, but twopapers that considered the subject through the lens of scientific scrutiny.
Out-of-body experiences are rare and can be caused by epileptic fits, neurological conditions such as strokes and heavy drug abuse. Clearly, they are triggered when something goes wrong in our brains. And as usual for the brain, something going wrong can tell us a lot about what happens the rest of the time.
Simply put, if we very rarely have an out-of-body experience, why is it that for the most part we have 'in-body' experiences? It's such a fundamental part of our lives that we often take ...
