It's essentially a slightly more serious version of Richard Wiseman's BBC2 series The People Watchers.

Thanks to Tamas Borbely for the recommendation.

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Speaker: Dr Sam Parnia
Title: Near Death Experiences During Cardiac Arrest

One of the subjects that has both captivated and eluded humankind throughout time is the mystery of what happens when we die. Although traditionally a subject for philosophical or theological debate, scientific progress has begun to shed light on both the physiological as well as cognitive processes such as near death experiences that take place during clinical death. Dr. Sam Parnia, author of What Happens When We Die, chronicles the history and development of the study of cardiac arrest as well as near death experiences. At the same time, he will introduce the novel method he and his colleagues have devised to study the phenomenon of consciousness and the human mind at the end of life, which they hope will finally enable science to resolve the mystery of near death experiences.

One of the world’s leading experts on the scientific study of death, the state of the human mind-brain, and near-death experiences, Dr. Sam Parnia spends his time between hospitals in the United Kingdom and Cornell University in New York, where he is a Fellow in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. Founder of the Human Consciousness Project and Horizon Research Foundation, he has published extensively and presented his work at scientific institutions across the country. His groundbreaking research has been featured on the Discovery Channel documentary, The Day I Died.

This talk is part of a regular series, run by Prof. Chris French from the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit (APRU). For details of other talks in the series please see this page.

For updates about related events and news of interest, please subscribe to the Psychology of the Paranormal Email Network.

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Thanks to Dr Stephen Law of CFI UK for the footage

CFI also have an event on Saturday 6th March titled “Monsters vs Aliens“, featuring three experts on UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster and Sasquatch.

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UPDATE: 1:12pm: Andy Lewis wrapping up and taking questions.
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UPDATE: 12:37pm: Andy Lewis on stage. Live streaming audio. Apologies for the slight distortion, it’s not possible to rectify while Andy is talking.
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UPDATE: 11.48am: Singh continuing to fight libel case because:
“I think I am right.
It is important (child health)
It is doubly impoitant (free speech).
I might win?!”
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Also thankful for the support shown.
UPDATE: 11:43am: When the BCA filed suit against Singh, the Guardian was also apparently being sued by Matthias Rath, Tesco & Elton John. Guardian also apparently still £175,000 out-of-pocket from Rath case, despite Goldacre winning.
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UPDATE: 11:32am: Discussing chiropractic, and Daniel Palmer.
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UPDATE: 11.29am: Singh talking about a systematic review of acupuncture.
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UPDATE: 11:27am: Placebos in acupuncture – needles in wrong locations, needles not inserted deeply enough, even retracting needles which deceptively appear to penetrate the skin.
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UPDATE: 11:23am: Singh moving on to James Lind’s clinical trials on scurvy and controlled testing.
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UPDATE: 11:18am: Simon Singh currently on stage talking about acupuncture and its representation in the media.
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UPDATE: 10:54am: We have permission to stream Andy Lewis’ talk. Currently it looks to be audio only but I’ll try to find a way to stream video too. Andy is scheduled to talk at 12pm. The stream will be below.
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UPDATE: 10:44am: Unfortunately we couldn’t find a stable internet connection through which we could stream the 10:23 event, though the event itself went smoothly (excepting a lone protest from a black car sporting large flags and loud music).

We are instead hoping to potentially stream talks from CFI UK’s alternative medicine event today, again below. Announcements will be made here and via our Twitter account if we can gain the appropriate permission.

This article will be posted online automatically at 9:45am on Saturday 30th while we are trying to engineer the feed. If successful, the video will go live at 10:23am when the event starts. If not, here’s a low-quality copy of a lecture given by Prof. Chris French on the myths and methodology of the placebo effect instead.

Streaming .TV shows by Ustream

The conduct, content, opinions and ideas provided in broadcast events neither represent nor are endorsed by The Skeptic Magazine, Skeptics in the Pub, or its affiliates.

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At 10:23am on Saturday 30th January, over 300 individuals from branches of Skeptics in the Pub will simultaneously consume an overdose of commercially available homeopathic medicines. The nationwide protest, organised by the 10:23 campaign from Merseyside Skeptics, will either unfold as one of the largest mass suicides since Jonestown, or will yet again confirm that science, evidence and rational thought actually do work.

The confirmed locations of the overdoses are as follows:

UK

Birmingham: High Street

Edinburgh: Secret Location

Glasgow: Tie Rack in Central Station

London: Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, Holborn

Leeds: Leeds Mainline Rail Station, main entrance at 9.30-10 am

Immediately after the protest, Dr Simon Singh, Prof. John Garrow and Andy Lewis will take to the stage of London’s Conway Hall for Trick or Treatment: Alternative Medicine on Trial, the first event in 2010 from CFI UK.

The protest, comes after a Boots representative, Paul Bennett, attracted ridicule from the national press after admitting to a parliamentary select committee last month that Boots knowingly sells homeopathic remedies to the public for which it has no evidence of effectiveness. The Science and Technology Select Committee are due to release their report on homeopathy around the time of the protest, at the end of January.

While dispensing sugar pills may seem harmless, in reality the endorsement of homeopathic potions by leading health providers can have grave consequences. As well as potentially undermining trust in medicine and medical advice, customers may be misled into believing that they are treating their illness – for example a Panorama investigation famously revealed that homeopaths were advising customers to take ineffective pills in place of Malaria prophylactics on holiday. In extreme cases, such as the ‘healing therapist’ Russell Jenkins, deaths may occur.

The 10:23 Campaign, so named in recognition of Avogadro’s Constant (the limit of dilution which is exceeded by homeopathic preparations) aims to raise awareness of homeopathy and its basis within long-discredited 18th century pseudoscience, selling remedies to the public which have no scientific basis and no credible evidence for its efficacy beyond the placebo effect.

As ever, this is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate JREF’s Law (namely ”there is no topic of parapsychological discussion upon which James Randi has failed to comment”) by directing attention to Randi’s lecture at Princeton in 2001, which contained the following segment on homeopathy. Randi’s commentary in 2002 for the BBC is worth reading also.

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