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Ten Unexplained Phenomena LiveScience.com 10
- The Body/Mind Connection Medical
science is only beginning to understand the ways in which the mind influences
the body. The placebo effect, for example, demonstrates that people can at times
cause a relief in medical symptoms or suffering by believing the cures to be effective
- whether they actually are or not. Using processes only poorly understood, the
body's ability to heal itself is far more amazing than anything modern medicine
could create. 9
- Psychic powers and ESP Psychic
powers and extra-sensory perception (ESP) rank among the top ten unexplained phenomena
if for no other reason than that belief in them is so widespread. Many people
believe that intuition (see #3) is a form of psychic power, a way of accessing
arcane or special knowledge about the world or the future. Researchers have tested
people who claim to have psychic powers, though the results under controlled scientific
conditions have so far been negative or ambiguous. Some have argued that psychic
powers cannot be tested, or for some reason diminish in the presence of skeptics
or scientists. If this is true, science will never be able to prove or disprove
the existence of psychic powers. 8
- Near-Death Experiences and Life After Death People
who were once near death have sometimes reported various mystical experiences
(such as going into a tunnel and emerging in a light, being reunited with loved
ones, a sense of peace, etc.) that may suggest an existence beyond the grave.
While such experiences are profound, no one has returned with proof or verifiable
information from "beyond the grave." Skeptics suggest that the experiences
are explainable as natural and predictable hallucinations of a traumatized brain,
yet there is no way to know with certainty what causes near-death experiences,
or if they truly are visions of "the other side." 7
- UFOs There
is no doubt that UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) exist - many people see things
in the skies that they cannot identify, ranging from aircraft to meteors. Whether
or not any of those objects and lights are alien spacecraft is another matter
entirely; given the fantastic distances and effort involved in just getting to
Earth from across the universe, such a scenario seems unlikely. Still, while careful
investigation has revealed known causes for most sighting reports, some UFO incidents
will always remain unexplained. 6
- Deja vu Deja
vu is a French phrase meaning 'already seen,' referring to the distinct, puzzling,
and mysterious feeling of having experienced a specific set of circumstances before.
A woman might walk into a building, for example, in a foreign country she'd never
visited, and sense that the setting is eerily and intimately familiar. Some attribute
deja vu to psychic experiences or unbidden glimpses of previous lives. As with
intuition (see #3), research into ,human psychology can offer more naturalistic
explanations, but ultimately the cause and nature of the phenomenon itself remains
a mystery.
5
- Ghosts From
the Shakespeare play "MacBeth" to the NBC show "Medium," spirits
of the dead have long made an appearance in our culture and folklore. Many people
have reported seeing apparitions of both shadowy strangers and departed loved
ones. Though definitive proof for the existence of ghosts remains elusive, sincere
eyewitnesses continue to report seeing, photographing, and even communicating
with ghosts. Ghost investigators hope to one day prove that the dead can contact
the living, providing a final answer to the mystery. 4
- Mysterious Disappearances People
disappear for various reasons. Most are runaways, some succumb to accident, a
few are abducted or killed, but most are eventually found. Not so with the truly
mysterious disappearances. From the crew of the Marie Celeste to Jimmy Hoffa,
Amelia Earhart, and Natalee Holloway, some people seem to have vanished without
a trace. When missing persons are found, it is always through police work, confession,
or accident never by 'psychic detectives'). But when the evidence is lacking and
leads are lost, even police and forensic science can't always solve the crime.
3
- Intuition Whether
we call it gut feelings, a 'sixth sense,' or something else, we have all experienced
intuition at one time or another. Of course, gut feelings are often wrong (how
many times during aircraft turbulence have you been sure your plane was going
down?), but they do seem to be right much of the time. Psychologists note that
people subconsciously pick up information about the world around us, leading us
to seemingly sense or know information without knowing exactly how or why we know
it. But cases of intuition are difficult to prove or study, and psychology may
only be part of the answer.
2
- Bigfoot For
decades, large, hairy, manlike beasts called Bigfoot have occasionally been reported
by eyewitnesses across America. Despite the thousands of Bigfoot that must exist
for a breeding population, not a single body has been found. Not one has been
killed by a hunter, struck dead by a speeding car, or even died of natural causes.
In the absence of hard evidence like teeth or bones, support comes down to eyewitness
sightings and ambiguous photos and films. Since it is logically impossible to
prove a universal negative, science will never be able to prove that creatures
like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster do not exist, and it is possible that these
mysterious beasts lurk far from prying eyes. 1
- The Taos Hum Some
residents and visitors in the small city of Taos, New Mexico, have for years been
annoyed and puzzled by a mysterious and faint low-frequency hum in the desert
air. Oddly, only about 2 percent of Taos residents report hearing the sound. Some
believe it is caused by unusual acoustics; others suspect mass hysteria or some
secret, sinister purpose. Whether described as a whir, hum, or buzz and whether
psychological, natural, or supernatural no one has yet been able to locate the
sound's origin. |
