Editing Kirlian photography (section)

==Research==
Kirlian photography has been a subject of scientific research, [[parapsychology]] research and [[pseudoscience|pseudoscientific]] claims.<ref name="Stenger"/><ref name="Skrabanek">{{cite journal |title=Paranormal Health Claims |author=Skrabanek, P. |journal=Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences |date=1988 |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=303–309 |doi=10.1007/bf01961267 |pmid=2834214|s2cid=29310075 }}</ref>

===Scientific research===
Results of scientific experiments published in 1976 involving Kirlian photography of living tissue (human finger tips) showed that most of the variations in corona discharge streamer length, density, curvature, and color can be accounted for by the moisture content on the surface of and within the living tissue.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pehek|first=John O.|author2=Kyler, Harry J. |author3=Faust, David L. |name-list-style=amp |title=Image Modulatic Corona Discharge Photography|journal=Science|date=15 October 1976|volume=194|issue=4262|pages=263–270|doi=10.1126/science.968480|pmid=968480|bibcode=1976Sci...194..263P}}</ref> 
[[File:MDR Dusty Miller.jpg|thumb|Kirlian photograph of a dusty leaf]]
Konstantin Korotkov developed a technique similar to Kirlian photography called "gas discharge visualization" (GDV).<ref>Korotkov K.G., Krizhanovsky E.V. et al. (2004) The Dynamic of the Gas Discharge around Drops of Liquids. In book: Measuring Energy Fields: State of the Science, Backbone Publ.Co., Fair Lawn, USA, pp.&nbsp;103–123.</ref><ref>Korotkov K., Korotkin D. (2001) Concentration Dependence of Gas Discharge around Drops of Inorganic Electrolytes, Journal of Applied Physics, 89, 9, pp. 4732–4737.</ref><ref>Korotkov K. G., Kaariainen P. (1998) GDV Applied for the Study of a Physical Stress in Sportsmens, Journal of Pathophysiology, Vol. 5., p. 53, Saint Petersburg.</ref> Korotkov's GDV camera system consists of hardware and software to directly record, process and interpret GDV images with a computer. Korotkov promotes the device and research in a medical context.<ref>Katorgin, V. S., Meizerov, E. E. (2000) Actual Questions GDV in Medical Activity, Congress Traditional Medicine, Federal Scientific Clinical and Experimental Center of Traditional Methods of Treatment and Diagnosis, Ministry of Health, pp&nbsp;452–456, Elista, Moscow, Russia.</ref> Izabela Ciesielska at the Institute of Architecture of Textiles in Poland used Korotkov's GDV camera to evaluate the effects of human contact with various textiles on biological factors such as heart rate and blood pressure, as well as corona discharge images. The experiments captured corona discharge images of subjects' fingertips while the subjects wore sleeves of various natural and synthetic materials on their forearms. The results failed to establish a relationship between human contact with the textiles and the corona discharge images and were considered inconclusive.<ref name=Ciesielska/>

===Parapsychology research===
In 1968, [[Thelma Moss]], a psychology professor, headed [[University of California, Los Angeles]] (UCLA)'s [[UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute|Neuropsychiatric Institute]] (NPI), which was later renamed the Semel Institute. The NPI had a laboratory dedicated to parapsychology research and staffed mostly with volunteers. The lab was unfunded, unsanctioned and eventually shut down by the university. Toward the end of her tenure at UCLA, Moss became interested in Kirlian photography, a technique that supposedly measured the "auras" of a living being. According to Kerry Gaynor, one of her former research assistants, "many felt Kirlian photography's effects were just a natural occurrence."<ref name=Greene/>

Paranormal claims of Kirlian photography have not been observed or replicated in experiments by the scientific community.<ref name="Singer, Barry 1981 pp. 196-208"/><ref name="Watkins, Arleen J 1986"/> The physiologist [[Gordon Stein]] has written that Kirlian photography is a [[hoax]] that has "nothing to do with health, vitality, or mood of a subject photographed."<ref>[[Gordon Stein|Stein, Gordon]]. (1993). ''Encyclopedia of Hoaxes''. Gale Group. p. 183. {{ISBN|0-8103-8414-0}}</ref>

===Claims===
Kirlian believed that images created by Kirlian photography might depict a conjectural energy field, or [[aura (paranormal)|aura]], thought, by some, to surround living things. Kirlian and his wife were convinced that their images showed a life force or energy field that reflected the physical and emotional states of their living subjects. They thought that these images could be used to diagnose illnesses. In 1961, they published their first article on the subject in the Russian ''Journal of Scientific and Applied Photography''.<ref name=Pilkington>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2004/feb/05/research.highereducation1|first=Mark|last=Pilkington|title=Bodies of light|newspaper=The Guardian|date=5 February 2004|location=London}}</ref> Kirlian's claims were embraced by energy treatments practitioners.<ref name=JSmith>{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Jonathan C.|title=Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal: A Critical Thinker's Toolkit|date=2009|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|location=Chichester, UK|isbn=978-1-4051-8122-8|page=283}}</ref>

====Torn leaf experiment====

A typical demonstration used as evidence for the existence of these energy fields involved taking Kirlian photographs of a picked leaf at set intervals. The gradual withering of the leaf was thought to correspond with a decline in the strength of the aura. In some experiments, if a section of a leaf was torn away after the first photograph, a faint image of the missing section sometimes remains when a second photograph was taken. However, if the imaging surface is cleaned of contaminants and residual moisture before the second image is taken, then no image of the missing section will appear.<ref>{{cite Encyclopedia of Claims |title=Kirlian photography |first-letter=K |access-date=2008-10-14 |archive-url= |archive-date= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=What is Kirlian Photography? The Science and the Myth Revealed|url=https://www.lightstalking.com/what-is-kirlian-photography-the-science-and-the-myth-revealed/|author=Rachael Towne|publisher=Light Stalking|date=2012-11-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Kirlian Photography and the "Aura"|author=Rory Coker|url=https://web2.ph.utexas.edu/~coker2/index.files/kirlian.shtml|publisher=Department of Physics - University of Texas at Austin}}</ref>

The living aura theory is at least partially repudiated by demonstrating that leaf moisture content has a pronounced effect on the electric discharge coronas; more moisture creates larger corona discharges.<ref name="Boyers"/> As the leaf dehydrates, the coronas will naturally decrease in variability and intensity. As a result, the changing water content of the leaf can affect the so-called Kirlian aura. Kirlian's experiments did not provide evidence for an energy field other than the electric fields produced by chemical processes and the streaming process of coronal discharges.<ref name=Boyers/>

The coronal discharges identified as Kirlian auras are the result of [[stochastic]] [[electricity|electric]] [[ionization]] processes and are greatly affected by many factors, including the voltage and frequency of the stimulus, the pressure with which a person or object touches the imaging surface, the local humidity around the object being imaged, how well grounded the person or object is, and other local factors affecting the conductivity of the person or object being imaged. Oils, sweat, bacteria, and other [[ionization|ionizing]] contaminants found on living tissues can also affect the resulting images.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Opalinski, John|title=Kirlian-type images and the transport of thin-film materials in high-voltage corona discharges|journal=Journal of Applied Physics|volume=50|issue=1|pages=498–504|date=Jan 1979|doi=10.1063/1.325641|bibcode=1979JAP....50..498O}}</ref><ref>[https://massless.info/kirlian.html The Kirlian Technique: Controlling the Wild Cards]. The Kirlian effect not only is explainable by natural processes; it also varies according to at least six physical parameters. Arleen J. Watkins and Williams S. Bickel, The Skeptical Inquirer 13:172–184, 1989.</ref><ref name=SkepticDict>{{cite book|last=Carroll|first=Robert Todd|title=The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions|date=2003|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|location=Hoboken, NJ, USA|isbn=978-0-471-27242-7|page=446|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6FPqDFx40vYC&pg=PP1}}</ref>

====Qi====
Scientists such as Beverly Rubik have explored the idea of a human [[Energy (esotericism)|biofield]] using Kirlian photography research, attempting to explain the Chinese discipline of [[Qigong]]. Qigong teaches that there is a vitalistic energy called [[qi]] (or chi) that permeates all living things.

Rubik's experiments relied on Konstantin Korotkov's GDV device to produce images, which were thought to visualize these qi biofields in chronically ill patients. Rubik acknowledges that the small sample size in her experiments "was too small to permit a meaningful statistical analysis".<ref name=Rubik>{{cite web|last=Rubik|first=Beverly|title=The human biofield and a pilot study of qigong|url=http://bdigital.ufp.pt/bitstream/10284/775/1/151-172Cons-Ciencias%2002-2.pdf|access-date=26 August 2012}}</ref> Claims that these energies can be captured by special photographic equipment are criticized by skeptics.<ref name=JSmith/>