A series of articles on near-death experiences was published recently over four days in the Durham Herald-Sun, with an article about IANDS President Diane Corcoran's work with military veterans and one about Board member Robert Mays' research on consciousness. "Retired colonel has dealt with near-death experiences since Vietnam War" describes Corcoran's work over 40 years to help veterans who have experienced an NDE and to teach nurses and other military medical personnel to take soldiers' accounts seriously and to try to understand more about the near-death experience.

"Near-death researcher believes the mind survives death" describes the work of Robert and Suzanne Mays on the nature of consciousness based on evidence from NDEs. For the Mayses, the mind is "an energetic entity" that separates from the body as people are dying. A strong case can be made that the mind survives death.

“If we take what the near-death experiencers are saying, the mind will go to a place which is very positive. It’s what everybody would call heaven,” Robert Mays said. "We're focusing on how the mind works with the brain and further implications. If we can demonstrate that the out-of-body part of the experience is real, then we think there's strong evidence for these other things that are reported in the transcendent part, such as an afterlife, the existence of a heavenly realm and possibly even reincarnation."

The other articles of the series, written by Herald-Sun reporter Keith Upchurch, included:

• Cheating Death: Doctors at Duke University Hospital were about to declare David Foster dead in February when something unexpected happened. His daughter gave him a goodbye kiss on the forehead, and he returned to life.Now, he’s back to his old self except for one important change: He no longer fears death. Also: A Daughter's View, Doctor Calls Case 'a Miracle', Back from the Brink of Death.

• Cheating death: Woman who ‘dropped dead’ at work now back at her job: Amy Moore was talking to a co-worker one day when her heart stopped beating. She fell to the floor, and clinically died. But today, the Johnston County resident is back at work, grateful for a second chance as a wife and mother. She calls it a miracle.

• Near-death experience gave woman lasting peace: Angela Bennett clearly remembers the day she had an out-of-body experience as death was closing in. She had gone into diabetic shock, her eyes had rolled back and paramedics were frantically working on her. “I don’t know if we can bring her back,” one of the medics had said. They did bring her back from death’s doorstep that day in 1990, but not before Bennett had an out-of-body experience she’ll never forget.

• Researcher sees near-death experiences as hallucination: Skeptical viewpoint.