The Brain and Belief

Independent producer Karen Michel reports that some of the country's leading neuro-biologists are collaborating with Buddhist monks in an effort to understand the effects of meditation on the mind and the brain. Andrew Newberg directs the Center for Spirituality and the Mind at the University of Pennsylvania, and he tells Steve Paulson what brain imaging technology can tell us about the experiences of Franciscan nuns and Pentecostalists at prayer.

"Why We Believe What We Believe"
by Andrew Newberg

Ordinary people share their first memories of God or the first time they were sure god didn't exist.

Also in this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, molecular biologist Dean Hamer tells Steve Paulson that human beings are hard-wired for belief and are genetically pre-disposed to reach beyond their own limitations.

Deborah Blum is the author of "Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life after Death." She talks with Anne Strainchamps about the serious scientific effort undertaken by an elite group of scientists and scholars a hundred years ago to investigate the supernatural. What they found was mostly fraud.

Bruce Greyson is considered the father of research into the Near Death Experience. He's the Director of the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia and edits the Journal of Near-Death Studies. Greyson tells Jim Fleming what scientific basis there is for believing in NDEs.