Story:
German scientists prove there is life after death.
Analysis:
The message comes as ‘groundbreaking’ news to say that German scientists have proved the existence of life after death. The story shared widely on social networking sites also took to reddit and went viral soon. Although many people thought the claim is a fact, it isn’t.
It’s Satire!
The claim originated from an article published in website World News Daily Report (worldnewsdailyreport.com) on 29 Aug. 2014. Mentioned below is a briefing of the article:
A team of psychologists and medical doctors associated with the Technische Universität of Berlin, have announced this morning that they had proven by clinical experimentation, the existence of some form of life after death. This astonishing announcement is based on the conclusions of a study using a new type of medically supervised near-death experiences, that allow patients to be clinically dead for almost 20 minutes before being brought back to life.
Many people who read the curious story of life after death mistook the article for reliable and genuine news, but in fact, World News Daily Report is a satirical publication posting fictitious stories, as mentioned in their disclaimer:
World News Daily Report is a news and political satire web publication, which may or may not use real names, often in semi-real or mostly fictitious ways. All news articles contained within worldnewsdailyreport.com are fiction, and presumably fake news…
No wonder, there are no credible reports of the said team of scientists or their study on near death experiences. The picture in the article showing a doctor addressing a meeting is in fact Dr. Bruce Ribner announcing the discharge of an Ebola patient during a press conference in Atlanta in Aug. 2014. So the story saying German scientists proved there is life after death is a hoax that originated from a satirical publication. However, the phenomenon of near death experience (NDE) has been reported by many people worldwide, and it seems to be revealed in many popular cultures.
Near Death Experience (NDE)
The term “near-death experience” was coined by Dr. Raymond Moody in his 1975 book, “Life After Life”. A near-death experience is any experience that someone close to death perceives events which seem to be impossible, unusual or supernatural. Although many people from all over the world have reported various near death experiences, there is lack of scientific evidence to prove the phenomenon. While skeptics have discarded such claims as false and/or hallucinatory, researchers say they can be simply the chemical changes that occur in the brain and sensory organs in the moments before death.
Near death experiences are complex, subjective and emotionally charged; so many aspects of them cannot be tested. This is the reason why it is difficult to come up with scientific evidence to ultimately explain why some people have near-death experiences. As of now, medical science offers compelling evidence to say that many aspects of NDEs are physiological and psychological in nature. For more information on near-death experiences, read the website of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS.org).
Hoax or Fact:
Hoax.
0 Comments