Terminal Lucidity: Myth, Mystery, or Miracle? From: Discover - 08/09/2014 Can sick people gain mental clarity just before they die? University of Virginia researchers Michael Nahm and Bruce Greyson explore this issue in a gripping (if macabre) paper published in the journal Omega: The death of Anna Katharina Ehmer: a case study in terminal lucidity. There are cases of individuals, often autistic, who go years without speaking, but later demonstrate the ability. (Selective mutism) Singing may rely on different neural pathways from speech, and there are many recorded cases of people who can sing but not talk. There's even a recent story of an autistic man who can sing beautifully but barely speak at all. Read the entire article at: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuroskeptic/2014/08/09/terminal-lucidity/ Links: The death of Anna Katharina Ehmer: a case study in terminal lucidity http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24547666 Selective mutism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_mutism