Are near-death experiences real?

In your final moments, they say, you may walk down a tunnel of light. You might rise above your body, watching the scene below before passing into another world. Perhaps you’ll be met by glowing figures, see your life flash before your eyes, or feel a deep, unearthly calm.

These are the stories of people who’ve reached the edge of death and returned. They’re not rare, nor random, and they have a name: near-death experiences.

CrowdScience listener Steven in Chile first heard of them during a CPR class and wondered, are they fictit...