Near-death experiences continue to take worldwide center stage as the discussion of mind-body issues heats up.

Major international media outlets have reported this past week on a large new research study on NDEs being spearheaded by Dr. Sam Parnia from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, who is currently a Fellow at New York's Weill Cornell Medical Center. Time Magazine describes the study, called AWARE (AWAreness during REsuscitation), in their current edition, which can be read at http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20080919/hl_time/whathappenswhenwedie.

The AWARE study was formally announced at a UN symposium on September 11 titled “Beyond the Mind-Body Problem: New Paradigms in the Science of Consciousness.” The symposium featured several NDE research physicians involved with IANDS and was an especially exciting gathering of international leaders in the field of mind-body science. The day-long program included two keynote presentations and two panel discussions with leading voices from the fields of near-death, paranormal and spiritual experiences. Almost the entire symposium is available as a webcast at http://www.mindbodysymposium.com/ .

Of special interest are the four IANDS-related physicians: the morning keynote address with Sam Parnia (see above); the afternoon keynote address by Andrew Newburg, University of Pennsylvania, who describes the challenges of studying spiritual and religious experiences; Mario Beauregard, University of Montreal, a panelist in the morning session; and Bruce Greyson, University of Virginia, in the afternoon.

We highly recommend that readers listen to as much of this symposium as possible. The material is engrossing for anyone interested in the subject of NDEs and is well worth the time.