What Science Found at the Edge of Death | The Third Man

The Why Files: Operation Podcast

The Why Files

Documentary, Science Fiction, Life Sciences, Science, Society & Culture, Fiction

4.8 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2026

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ready to reach your goals? Visit https://hims.com/THEWHYFILES to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you. Hundreds of survivors across a century — climbers, sailors, divers, soldiers — report the same thing. At the moment they were about to die, a calm presence appeared beside them. It gave directions. It knew the way out. It disappeared the moment the danger passed. A neuroscientist built a machine that can summon something like it. But what his subjects experienced and what survivors describe are not the same thing. The cases are real. The pattern is undeniable. What the presence actually is — that part is still open. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Right, home from work, walk the dog, kids are back.
0:04.4	Mom!
0:05.0	Up the stairs for something.
0:07.8	Ugh, back down, no idea what I went up for.
0:12.0	Mom, what's for dinner?
0:13.6	Chop, sizzle, done.
0:17.1	Hello, fresh, can't slow life down, but it makes bringing everyone together around the table a whole lot easier.
0:22.6	So it's phones down, forks up.
0:24.6	Hello Fresh. Bring back dinner time.
0:27.6	Hello.
0:28.6	Heyder, it's your big McDonald's hunger calling, and it's not just any kind of hunger.
0:34.6	It's the kind that calls for Big Arch.
0:36.6	Start with juicy beef, cheddar cheese and big arch sauce. Oh, and don't forget those crispy onions.
0:42.6	Hungry? You are now.
0:46.6	Served from 11 a.m. subject to availability. Price and participation may vary.
0:52.2	Frank Smith had to stop.
0:56.8	He was 28,000 feet up Everest and fading.
0:59.9	He knew if he closed his eyes, he wouldn't open them again.
1:03.8	Lots of climbers took their last breath right here.
1:05.8	Some were still frozen in the ice.
1:07.6	But his partner wasn't worried.
1:09.9	They just needed a break and a bit of food.
	...

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