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Top Ten Unexplained Phenomena  
STRANGE 

Tags: science, supernatural, ghosts, mystery, myths, truth, conspiracy

According to LiveScience, science can explain many strange phenomena, yet some mysteries remain to be solved. Here are the creepy, spooky and downright strange phenomena that made the top ten. Have you experienced any of these?

1.	The Mind/Body Connection: Science is only beginning to understand the ways in which the mind influences the body. The placebo effect, for example, demonstrates that people can cause relief in medical symptoms by believing the cures to be effective--whether they actually are or not. Using processes only poorly understood, the body's ability to heal itself is far more amazing than any medicine.
2.	Psychic Powers and ESP: Psychic powers and ESP rank among the top phenomena because the belief in them is so widespread. Many people believe that intuition is a way of accessing special knowledge about the world and future. Researchers have tested people who claim to have psychic powers, and achieved negative or ambiguous results. Some argue that psychic powers cannot be tested, or diminish in the presence of skeptics or scientists. If this is true, science will never be able to prove or disprove the existence of psychic powers.
3.	Near Death Experience/ Life After Death: People who were once near death report various mystical experiences- going into a tunnel and emerging in a light, reunited with loved ones, etc- that may suggest an existence beyond the grave. While such experiences are profound, no one has returned with proof or verifiable information. Skeptics suggest that the experiences are natural, predictable hallucinations of a traumatized brain, yet there is no way to know what causes them or if they truly are visions of "the other side."
4.	UFO's: There is no doubt that UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) exist--many people see things in the skies that they cannot identify, ranging from aircraft to meteors. Whether those objects and lights are alien spacecraft is another matter; given the distances and effort involved in just getting to Earth from across the universe, such a scenario seems unlikely. Still, while careful investigation has revealed known causes for most reports, some UFO incidents will always remain unexplained.
5.	Dejà vu: Dejà vu refers to the distinct and mysterious feeling of having experienced a specific set of circumstances before. A woman might walk into a building in a foreign country she'd never visited, and the setting might be eerily and intimately familiar. Some attribute dejà vu to psychic experiences or glimpses of previous lives. As with intuition, research into psychology can offer more naturalistic explanations, but ultimately the cause and nature of the phenomenon itself remains a mystery.
6.	Ghosts: Spirits of the dead have long made an appearance in our culture and folklore. Many people have reported seeing apparitions of shadowy strangers and departed loved ones. Though definitive proof for the existence of ghosts remains elusive, sincere eyewitnesses continue to report seeing, photographing, and even communicating with ghosts. Ghost investigators hope to one day prove that the dead can contact the living, providing a final answer to the mystery.
7.	Mysterious Disappearance: Most disappeared people are runaways, some have accidents, a few abducted or killed, but most are eventually found. Not so with truly mysterious disappearances. From the crew of the Marie Celeste to Jimmy Hoffa, Amelia Earhart, and Natalee Holloway, some people vanish without a trace. When missing persons are found, it is through police work, confession, or accident- never by "psychic detectives". But neither police or forensic science can always solve the crime.
8.	Intuition: Whether we call it gut feeling or a "sixth sense," we have all experienced intuition at one time or another. Of course, gut feelings are often wrong, but they do seem to be right much of the time. Psychologists note that people subconsciously pick up information about the world around us, leading us to sense or know information without knowing exactly how or why we know it. Cases of intuition are difficult to prove or study, and psychology may only be part of the answer.
9.	BigFoot: For decades, large, hairy, manlike beasts called Bigfoot have occasionally been reported by eyewitnesses across America, yet not a single body has been found. In the absence of hard evidence like teeth or bones, support comes down to eyewitness sightings and ambiguous photos. Since it is logically impossible to prove a universal negative, science will never be able to prove that Bigfoot does not exist, and it is possible that such beasts lurk far from prying eyes.
10.	The Taos Hum: Some residents and visitors in the small city of Taos, New Mexico, have for years been annoyed and puzzled by a faint low-frequency hum. Oddly, only about 2 percent of Taos residents report hearing the sound. Some believe it is caused by unusual acoustics; others suspect mass hysteria or a secret purpose. Whether described as a whir, hum, or buzz--and whether psychological, natural, or supernatural--no one has been able to locate the sound's origin.

Lister: diperniac
Source: LiveScience.Com

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