In the 1940s, Soviet parapsychologist Semyon Davidovitch Kirlian developed high-frequency, high-voltage snapshots of the energy fields that surround living creatures. Vivid starbursts of lightning and glowing arcs of colour shine from fingertips, palm prints and even vegetable matter, such as leaves.

Or lentils. The network provides images of a living, organically grown lentil sprout straight out of the health food store packet, and the same sprout after being cooked at 140F for three minutes. The live lentil is vibrant; the baked lentil is not - and as a vegetarian for 25 years, I feel bad about the millions of lentils I've cooked.

More shocking is the difference between an energy-packed, organic new potato, and a McDonald's French fry.

The most beautiful image is a web of blue and scarlet lightning, shaped like a cross-section through the human brain, that emanates from an artefact taken from the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid at Giza.

Inanimate objects usually possess insubstantial Kirlian auras, and the researchers suggest this electric lightshow could mean the pyramid stone was a psychic healer's tool.

The researchers want hands-on healers to have their auras photographed as they work, in the hope of discovering how health-giving energy can seemingly be transferred from one human to another.

Whether you're sceptical or not, these images are worth seeing - like the infinitely complex shapes of fractal geometry, Kirlian photos possess a beauty that transcends their scientific value.

www.kirlian.net