Michael Egnor and I have been working on a book on how near-death experiences — which are often life-changing — became a topic in medical science, with studies, journal articles, and such devoted to them. One change I have noticed recently is that science writers seem a bit more careful with the topic than they used to be. It’s getting harder all the time to write it all off as nonsense or fraud — without obvious contradictions staring us in the face. Chris French/Bill Robinson Consider a recent item at the BBC’s Science Focus by staff science writer Alex Hughes. Mid-April, he interviewed psychologist Chris French of Goldsmiths University in London. French is described as “focusing upon non- paranormal explanations for ostensibly paranormal experiences” — in other words, he is a debunker. Hughes begins by asking “So what exactly causes near-death experiences? Are they visions from god? An actual glimpse of the afterlife? Unsurprisingly, science can’t say for sure.” Unsurprisingly? I distinctly remember a time when many felt that science could say for sure. Dozens …