A REMEDY FOR DEATH

In this blog, I earlier mentioned one writer's take on Dr. Alexander's book.

Here's  another, this by John Horgan, that appeared in a Scientific American blog. His post,  What Should We Do With Our Visions of Heaven—and Hell?     raises some technical criticisms of Dr. Alexander's report on his experience (of near-death).  But Horgan then adds some more experience to the discussion with a report of his own "travel" (or NDE or OBE or whatever) during an experiment in his college years.

I get the sense he still doesn't know what to make of what he encountered.  It's worth reading, I think, so I won't try to summarize, or even introduce my take on it.

What I do find puzzling are the reader comments to Horgan's article: many, maybe most, are hostile to the idea of even considering these possibilities.  That mindset reminds me of the mindset of the medieval church (even until not-so-long ago) pronouncing ANATHEMA!  (Meaning, thanks Wikipedia,  "either set apart, banished or denounced".

At least nowadays we don't burn at the stake "heretical thinkers" -- those who explore questions that the Establishment had decreed settled.

One  put-down of  Harvard Med trained neurosurgeon Dr. Alexander was to the effect, What kind of real scientist can he be given that he wears bow-ties? (Sorry, in a hurry and can't put my finger on the exact quote, but it's in the response to Horgan's article.)  In other words, Dr. A doesn't dress like us, so therefore he's not to be credited.  Anathema! Ban bow-ties! Block off your ears to those who experience what is not to be believed!

It's strange how the world works: this morning I was reading a short piece by a local veterinarian on the potential use of stem cells derived from a dog's fat cells to remedy a variety of conditions. It said, "Adipose (fat) derived from stem cells have the potential to transform into many different types of tissue, including bone, muscle, cartilage or tendon."

Though I am keeping up on the fields of regenerative medicine, stem cells, and anti-aging (as continuing background for my technothriller A REMEDY FOR DEATH), I had not heard of fat cells as a source. Things are happening very fast in the fields allied to regenerative medicine, stem cells and related uses!

Now the synchronicity: literally as I was reading that article, an email came in from our niece, Cassie, regarding her son, Nate, and his health condition. I won't go into details, but -- synchronicitously both in timing and content -- that article was very relevant.

To add to the synchronicity, I checked out one of my recent blog posts here, and found, serendipitously, already linking overnight to that blog this more technical link to new insight on the potential use of adipose-derived stem cells in regenerative medicine.

Here's the link to that article on adipose fat-derived stem cells and resulting possibilities in regenerative medicine work

Caution! I do not see anything in either of these articles that suggests going out and gorging on pizza, ice cream etc. in order to build up one's supply of fat cells as sources of in-case-needed stem cells. Speaking for myself, I already have more than enough fat cells on hand . . . or rather, at my waist!

Interesting article in Next Big Future on the stem cells, longevity and theFoxO gene, which is particularly active in centenarians (people 100 years or older) AND in a certain kind of fresh-water polyp.  (Not up on polyps? Think of it as a tiny freshwater squid.)

For some reason (being researched) human stem cells become fewer and less active with age ... except in those certain centenarians.  AND also in these polyps, which don’t show signs of aging. The link appears to be that FoxO gene, or some shared commonality around it.

What does this have to do with this blog, and with my technothriller A REMEDY FOR DEATH? I dunno, the article just intrigued me.  And at the risk of giving away the plot, I can tell you that there are no freshwater polyps playing a role in the plot of A REMEDY FOR DEATH.

(Though, come to think of it, that would be a creepy scene, wouldn’t it? Somebody tossed into a pool of tiny immortal squid-like things! Oooh, creepy! Maybe my next book.)

More on regenerative medicine and stem cells, though in this case a somewhat different source of cells.

The BBC reports on research at Cambridge University in England that appears to have enabled paralyzed dogs to overcome spinal injuries via work implanting "olfactory ensheathing cells" or "OEC" frm the dog's nose into its spinal cord. Result: 23 of the 34 dogs which had the transplanted cells were able to walk again, though admittedly not perfectly. Of the control group of other dogs, implanted with a placebo, none showed that ability.

The article raises the hope that in the future, similar work may enable paralyzed humans to show significant improvement, but cautions that may be quite some way off in the future.

What I found particularly intriguing is the use of olfactory ensheathing cells.  Seems we all-- humans and dogs-- have them growing within us. In fact, those are the only part of the human body where nerve fibers continue to grow in adults. That suggests that --perhaps-- OECs may offer an alternative to embryonic stem cells, or even to other stem cells.

If you go back to the BBC post, you will find a video showing one dog's progress over the six months after injection of these nerve cells. "Nerve cell transplant enables paralysed dogs to walk"

PROOF OF HEAVEN, Dr. Eben Alexander's book on what he describes as his journey to the afterlife came out a month or so ago, accompanied by features in Newsweek and ABC. (Links below).  Dr Alexander is a Harvard Med school trained neurosurgeon.

I haven't gotten to read it yet, but from what I've heard it's another in a long list of accounts of NDEs, Near-death experiences. I've made a study of those accounts over the years as I was researching my technothriller A REMEDY FOR DEATH.

Among them: HEAVEN IS FOR REAL, by Todd Burpo, an account of a four-year old's NDE.

Others by Raymond Moody, Kenneth Ring, Melvin Morse, and Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, all physicians. Also P.M.H. Atwater. 

Also another first person account by a doctor of his NDE from illness during World War II.

Alas, his name escapes me at the moment, and I''m away from my books, so will have to add it when the name comes to me. Note that this happened a good many years back, long before there had been much written on Near-death experiences, or Out-of-body (OBEs--closely related), so the skeptics can't accuse him of jumping on a bandwagon.

Update: that was Dr George Ritchie, and it seems it was his experience that intrigued Dr Raymond Moody.  Dr Ritchie was a physician and psychiatrist.

I won't list titles here, as all of these people  have books still on Amazon, BN and maybe even your local bookstore.

 Newsweek article: "Heaven is real: A doctor's experience with the afterlife"

ABC link: "Neurosurgeon describes . . . " 

ABC carried the story on both the evening news and Nightline