[Newsgroups: m.h.a added, followups set to most appropriate groups.]  In <1993Apr19.205615.1013@unlv.edu> todamhyp@charles.unlv.edu (Brian M. Huey) writes:  >I am looking for any information/supplies that will allow >do-it-yourselfers to take Krillean Pictures.  (It's "Kirlian".  "Krillean" pictures are portraits of tiny shrimp. :)  [...]  >One might extrapolate here and say that this proves that every object >within the universe (as we know it) has its own energy signature.  I think it's safe to say that anything that's not at 0 degrees Kelvin will have its own "energy signature" -- the interesting questions are what kind of energy, and what it signifies.  I'd check places like Edmund Scientific (are they still in business?) -- or I wonder if you can find ex-Soviet Union equipment for sale somewhere in the relcom.* hierarchy.  Some expansion on Kirlian photography:  From the credulous side: [Stanway, Andrew, _Alternative Medicine: A Guide To Natural Therapies_, ISBN 0-14-008561-0, New York: Viking Penguin, 1986, p211, p188.  A not-overly critical but still useful overview of 32 alternative health therapies.]    ...the Russian engineer Semyon Kirlian and his wife Valentina during the   1950s.  Using alternating currents of high frequency to 'illuminate'   their subjects, they photographed them.  They found that if an object   was a good conductor (such as a metal) the picture showed only its   surface, while the pictures of poor conductors showed the inner   structure of the object even if it were optically opaque.  They found   too that these high frequency pictures could distinguish between dead   and living objects.  Dead ones had a constant outline whilst living ones   were subject to changes.  The object's life activity was also visible in   highly variable colour patterns.    High frequency photography has now been practised for twenty years in   the Soviet Union but only a few people in the West have taken it up   seriously.  Professor Douglas Dean in New York and Professor Philips at   Washington University in St Louis have produced Kirlian photographs and   others have been produced in Brazil, Austria and Germany.    Using Kirlian photography it is possible to show an aura around people's   fingers, notably around those of healers who are concentrating on   healing someone.  Normally, blue and white rays emanate from the fingers   but, when a subject becomes angry or excited, the aura turns red and   spotty.  The Soviets are now using Kirlian photography to diagnose   diseases which cannot be diagnosed by any other method.  They argue that   in most illnesses there is a preclinical stage during which the person   isn't actually ill but is about to be.  They claim to be able to   foretell a disease by photographing its preclinical phase.    But the most exciting phenomenon illustrated by Kirlian photography is   the phantom effect.  During high frequency photography of a leaf from   which a part had been cut, the photograph gave a complete picture of the   leaf with the removed part showing up faintly.  This is extremely   important because it backs up the experiences of psychics who can 'see'   the legs of amputees as if they were still there.  The important thing   about the Kirlian phantoms though is that the electromagnetic pattern   can't possibly represent a secondary phenomenon -- or the field would   vanish when the piece of leaf or leg vanished.  The energy grid   contained in a living object must therefore be far more significant than   the actual object itself.    [...]    Kirlian photography has shown how water mentally 'charged' by a healer   has a much richer energy field around it than ordinary water...   From the incredulous side: [MacRobert, Alan, "Reality shopping; a consumer's guide to new age hokum.", _Whole Earth Review_, Autumn 1986, vNON4 p4(11).  An excellent article providing common-sense guidelines for evaluating paranormal claims, and some of the author's favorite examples of hokum.]    The crank usually works in isolation from everyone else in his field of   study, making grand discoveries in his basement.  Many paranormal   movements can be traced back to such people -- Kirlian photography, for   instance.  If you pump high-voltage electricity into anything it will   emit glowing sparks, common knowledge to electrical workers and   hobbyists for a century.  It took a lone basement crank to declare that   the sparks represent some sort of spiritual aura.  In fact, Kirlian   photography was subjected to rigorous testing by physicists John O.   Pehek, Harry J. Kyler, and David L. Faust, who reported their findings   in the October 15, 1976, issue of Science.  Their conclusion: The   variations observed in Kirlian photographs are due solely to moisture on   the surface of the body and not to mysterious "auras" or even   necessarily to changes in mood or mental state.  Nevertheless,   television shows, magazines, and books (many by famous   parapsychologists) continue to promote Kirlian photography as proof of   the unknown.