tonight from exploring the afterlife.

begins now. >> good evening i am dari alexander. by as can bring you monthly stories on the impacts gac science and technology it had on all of us. and tonight it look as some of our favorite big ideas of the year. we begin with dan bowens who introduces us to a new york doctor who says his brush with death changed his life. >> anytime you have a transformative experience like this, it certainly makes you aware that their something else. >> it's the core of her very being. >> i believe something is more than what happens between her birth in her death. >> a believe this life is just the beginning. it doesn't just disappear, it doesn't just vanish into thin air. there's got to be something beyond. >> what we have come to understand first of all is --

i don't think there's a day that goes by that in some way i don't think about her. reporter: dr. anthony zakaria has experienced it. >> i was clinically dead. a lightning strike in 1994. >> lightning and hit the building and exited through the phone and i happen to be in the way. so it hit me in the face and just sent me flying backwards. >> been something unexplainable. >> i was completely separated and i was going someplace else. >> surrounded in a bluish white light. >> in that white light was truly the most amazing feeling. if you can imagine absolute love and peace. >> are are practicing and successful orthopedic surgeon was revived in the two decades since, he taught himself how to play the piano compositions he says come from the other side.

a man of medicine. how do you explain that? >> you know i've struggled with this all of my adult life. we have evidence that in many examples where people have described these so-called near-death or actual death experiences they are not hallucinations. >> stony brook university researcher helps conduct the largest ever study and near-death experiences. >> the people i've studied or only those who have gone beyond death. >> he looks at 2000 people worldwide who suffer some kind of cardiac arrest. they found more than 40% describe some kind of awareness before their hearts were restarted. >> if you look at different ages children as young as three or so people from all of the liberal from japan and india and other places have all described essentially same experience, feelings of peace and a warm welcoming light. sometimes the description going to read top -- tonnelle, love and compassion.

an afterlife? >> evidence so far is at least only die the first period after death the thing that makes us who we are does not become annihilated. can they continue 5000 years from now, i can tell you. >> what happens when you come back from death? research shows for many people even if they were religious before finding faith as a way to provide comfort and meaning. >> it changes the way he lived great. >> it changes your perspective says fordham religious education professor mary beth wardell. >> sometimes these moments of trauma can be entryways into conversation with the sacred. >> is this all there is if we love for 70 or 80 years then boom, dead, gone, nothing? this is like playing theater. this doesn't make sense. why fall in love?

it doesn't make sense. eternity. >> it took me a long time to realize that it's a mystery that i'm never going to understand. i don't have the capability of understanding. reporter: he enough there will always be skeptics and there will be reasons to think his story is to continue and it must be a hallucination doubters will say and he's convinced he will always be. >> afield blessed an amazing way because i've been given an opportunity to know that something else exists. i think that's one of the greatest gifts that could ever be given to somebody and that's understanding and knowing that this is not all there is. >> dan bowens "fox 5 news." >> coming up.

certain diseases are treated. >> it won't be the first time neurological disease like ms. >> nobody can come in here when it's running. >> a behind-the-scenes look at technology making the fastest, tallest and scariest

>> welcome back. did you ever wonder what makes rollercoasters so fast and so exciting plex a rare look behind the scenes at the technology that creates the thrills at six flags. >> why do we do this to ourselves? sometimes i just don't know. we all know how to enjoy to scare the heck out of us is that the out of us who put their trust in the hands of a process we know little about. we like him despite what he put us through. we are going to come back to to my compose moment a bit. he's an engineer's six flags somewhat of an imaginary part of an outstanding team that comes up with an idea for a ride like great adventure new jersey and makes it happen only a little more complicated than that. >> a matter but the right is the

whoever is involved on that and there's the creation of a we want the right to be. >> while you are feeling this. michael has spent countless hours doing this. saget drives a winch imposed the cables. >> you show does this process taking fox 5 into restricted area after restricted area. >> nobody can come in here when it's running. >> in the room outsiders don't get to see the brain built to be the tallest right of the world and the fastest. it gets into the topic has to go from zero to 120 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds. >> what you see in front of you is hydraulic fluid. that hydraulic fluid gets pumped by the motor. these look like torpedo shaft. they're back by nitrogen pressure. >> like a super hydraulic pressure builds up and once

to drive the big wheel that they call a winch that pulls the double cable at top the polls the slats on the track called the car and lodges you onto the trains we can lose your mind. >> i'm never going to complain about the process. >> not only is the launch of all but the weight stops. it will come for you to know that none of these rights have -- not even the tallest drop in the world where you go 90 miles per hour by the end of the 40015-foot drop. michael is not word because he has magnets. >> what additional breaking powered unique? the final we learned about el toro to look like an old wooded rollercoaster is a visual trick. technology is state-of-the-art. >> you will notice these -- sitting in the back i thought we were just going for a nice ride, little quality chat to wrap up

>> which are policy? i forgot whatever was i was thinking which led to the moment. i kid of course. we really liked michael. something i auma decided i would admit later. i look to regain my pride. >> i love you mom. i won't do this again next year. >> by accepting michael's challenge, i gave myself a pep talk. >> tried to be cool. i'm going to go get my throat. >> dedicating a life to pushing the limits to imagination and engineering to deliver to you a thrilling safe experience. >> the best part part of this job is watching the people.

someone coming off of a ride screaming and yelling and giving high fives to each other. we can only imagine what he has in store for his next big idea. "fox 5 news." >> coming up. >> the remarkable stem cell procedure that's dramatically improving patient's lives. plus. a rapper evolution. how hip-hop is fading a way for

piano music. i'm glad you finally made it, dad. you have to experience this city. that's what you always say. you were right about the food.

spent the day with an astronaut. one more. it's beautiful, isn't it? how about a baseball game next time? done! done. book priceless experiences around the globe with... ...your world mastercard. only at priceless.com. >> and manhattan clinic is dramatically changing the lives of people who battle ms.

who use their own stem cells to fight the disease. liz is abutts introduces two young mother whose already seeing results. >> is very emotional thing for me to watch myself walking down the aisle. vicki cherishes her wedding video because it helps to remember what it is like to walk without pain. not long after this video was multiple sclerosis. she was just 24 years old. >> that was diagnosed in february of 2000. i knew something was going on two or three years before that. >> the mother of two young daughters is trying to keep up with the disease was progressing it eventually she could walk on her own. >> this was 2008 and i went from relying on a cane to barely being able to hold myself up. >> determined to find a better

research center of new york on the west side and matt doctors say boot. >> she had been slowly getting worse over time and begin to experiencing a lot of false. doctors sadiq started the center in 2006 dedicating his life to treating and researching the disease. >> the problem with the electrical system in the brain and spinal cord. it affects the moving parts in the movement of your legs. you can affect the eyes and butter functioning, bull function. >> 400,000 people have ms in the united states and 2.5 million around the world. there is still no cure. >> there's groundbreaking research happening this lab. is helping patients reverse never been done before.

cell trial that uses the patient's own stem cells that we take from the bone marrow and we try to injected into the spinal fluid and we are hoping we can regenerate material that is lost. >> this video shows doctors extracting themselves from the patient's bone marrow. a large needle goes into the chest or hip. doctors aspirate or section a lifetime supply of stem cells out in about 30 seconds. 20 -- vicki is one of them and have the procedure done. >> if you feel like your breath is being taken away. interprocess unique to -- researchers harvest stem cells from bone marrow and many played them and to bring mike stem cells. >> injecting brainstem cells and the spinal fluid in the hope that regenerates insulation

then they can repair. >> the results have been promising. >> most patients will say they have a headache or a slight fever for a few days or one or two days but other than that no side effects. >> novicky can walk without again for some time. her legs are getting stronger. >> you should be walking without a cane. >> there was nothing ever to give people hope. >> it's hard to imagine going back. >> these are happy tears. the study will continue through april and findings will be submitted to the fda. doctors sadiq hopes to bring relief to the patient's in. >> it's the first time a neurological disease like ms or versus symptoms.

>> for vicki she imagines a future when she walks again, maybe even walking her daughters down the aisle. >> of features exciting. >> i never thought i would be walking without relying on my cane. anything i can grab onto. >> liz dahlem "fox 5 news." >> coming up. students learning science or through hip-hop. >> we are changing the world. the revolutionary program more

no way. savor an egg mcmuffin any time you like. a fresh cracked egg, canadian bacon and an english muffin with real butter. mcdonald's all day breakfast menu. >> is a revolutionary new program that is more than just making the grade. a college professor is teaching students science through hip-hop and lisa evers shows us this big idea is getting good results. >> let me tell you something. >> something incredible is

the energy for the performers. students using terminology is a bear science lesson. they are part of a the hip-hop edge science genius program. it uses the rhythmic repetition scientific concepts. it's the brainchild of christopher embeds one of the top urban education educators. >> we will have 95, 96% of the kids say it. students compete to represent their school and the battle rap science bowl competition. >> in hip-hop tickets are doing everything you want them to do in school and at school they are completely disengaged.

that the young persons engaged in the concepts going on the question they are more likely to be successful. that this is not some gimmick great dr. and then himself a product of new york city public schools says hip-hop helped him especially the science oriented versus on the wu-tang clan who is now hip-hop at supporter. >> energy connecting a mouse sites with great cemetery. the bars unlock the power to the stars and the telescope in part the guards. >> put definitions on the boards of inuit means. to grind. >> her science teacher uses hip-hop at per sheet tells you to game-changer in many ways not the least of which is improve test scores. >> not only do they take the book at their very tell them but they research a vocabulary which

we believe this is the enhanced ability to connect the students and make teaching more for filling for her. >> taking in time and emotion and passion. they want to be doing that. they get that excited about education. it's something that i live for. >> we had content in there and i loved it. >> it's not just the work we are doing, it's what happens in the lives afterwards. we have kids who are more engaged in science more likely to ask for advanced science classes and now we have our group going into college who are declaring science majors in college. >> it helps me remember and use it in my vocabulary to help me pay it. >> the kids in the white schools and the kids in the african-american schools and the kids in the latino schools are consuming the same cultural artifact which is hip-hop so

cultural and ethnic divide who have been segregated. >> hip-hop has a future. this idea of hip-hop and education as an influencer of education is not just hip-hop but education. we are changing the world. the benefits of this program go well beyond the classroom. a guidance counselor here told me it helps so many of the students look at the potential for their lives in a whole new way. in the south bronx lisa evers "fox 5 news." so that it is up for the biggest ideas of 2015. i am dari alexander. thank you for watching and have

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