This kills me. If this were in any other area of science or medicine, it would be a minor story, a preliminary, non replicated study that doesn't really say much. But because it "debunks" something paranormal, the science media jump on it like a frat brother on a coed.

Why is that, I wonder? Could it be...anti-psi bias?

It bugs me that he's dismissing the "healthy OBE" as an unsubstantiated occult practice. I saw a whole shelf (about 4 ft) of OOBe books last time I was at Powells. Why not do some research or studies on folks who are good at doing OOBEs?

I think the researcher is falling into a trap by using loaded words like "spiritual" and "occult" when its really just looking into the nature of consciousness ---is it really an "epi-phenomenon" produced by the bio-chemistry of the brain or something else, more fundamental and perhaps not tied entirely to the physical body.

If all this is an illusion triggered by bio-electric signals, then all else must be considered an illusion as well, simply being the result of chemical and electrical interaction at the cellular level.

Therefore, their rationalization becomes the result of an illusory impression, that of consciousness, which of course does not exist as it cannot be seen as an entity in itself, and therefore is the result of a theory that cannot be falsified.