Life and death.
Brain and body.
The human experience is entirely guided between these parameters, as we all build our everyday
realities on Earth.
But, overshadowing everything we ever achieve, the seeming nothingness of death beyond has
long played on our minds.
For thousands of years, human beings have sought to understand dying… and, in the
last couple of centuries or so, science has stepped in to try its hand at the problem.
And now, it’s made another major step forward.
This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; did scientists
just discover that your brain lives after you die?
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Let’s start with one of the greatest questions of all; what, actually, is life?
It can be understood in a purely physical way, of course.
Through the steady beating of a working heart, or by the constant rhythms of breathing, growth,
energy, and biochemistry.
From the bend of a stem toward the sun… to the springtime rituals of mating birds…
to the steady covering of moss over an ancient rock face.
There are signs of living, organic materials all around us.
The question of consciousness, though, never fails to cloud the issue.
Why do we think and feel?
How does the human experience differ from any other animals’?
Indeed, does it differ, at all?
And, sooner rather than later, we end up at the brain; the body’s most intricate organ,
and an ongoing enigma for researchers.
The human brain, in particular, has before been variously described as the single-most
complex structure not just within us… but within the entire universe.
Whether or not that’s true, it’s certainly the case that even now - after centuries of
dedicated study - there’s still much more that we don’t know about it, than do.
A vast and tangled mosaic of firing neurons and delicate connections, many argue that
consciousness is solely a product of the brain.
We know that we’re alive thanks to the brain, but the idea is that we also only know that
we know that we’re alive…
thanks to the brain, as well.
As such, and if there’s even a suggestion that life (as we understand it) is held in
the brain, then it’s little wonder that humans are so interested in what happens here
when we die.
In May 2023, details emerged of a multi-authored study at the University of Michigan.
The accompanying paper, published in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Science” ran
with a complex title, which read; “Surge of Neurophysiological Coupling and Connectivity
of Gamma Oscillations in the Dying Human Brain”.
The same paper gets more directly to the point within its opening gambit, however, cutting
through the jargon to ask; “is it possible for the human brain to be activated by the
dying process?”.
The study suggests that, although there is a general assumption that brain activity decreases
during death, and specifically during cardiac arrest… findings show that, actually, the
opposite could be happening.
That, instead, at the time of death, the brain might encounter a sudden surge of energy.
There had been indications toward this during some past experiments conducted on animals,
but comparative data from humans is typically very difficult to obtain - given the ethics
involved in studying death rather than trying to prevent it.
Nevertheless, the University of Michigan team presents data relating to four patients, all
of whom were in a comatose state before all of them did sadly die.
In all cases, with their families’ permission, the patients were taken off of life support
when it was deemed that they could not be saved.
At that point, though, specialists analyzed their brains in detail and from various perspectives.
The main (and potentially major) finding was that in two of the four dying brains, there
was a clear surge of gamma wave activity - a high energy jolt that seemingly sparked up
in certain key areas.
Again, while the question of consciousness is still far from answered, scientists do
believe that there could be certain parts of the brain that are more involved in producing
it than others.
And, in a further supporting article for the study, published on the University of Michigan
website, Lead Research Communicator, Kelly Malcom, explains how the gamma injection was
witnessed around those areas thought crucial for consciousness.
Malcom refers to a “so-called hot zone… the junction between the temporal, parietal
and occipital lobes in the back of the brain”.
According to Malcom, this area - a point that was lit up in two of the four dying brains
- is otherwise linked with “dreaming, visual hallucinations in epilepsy, and altered states
of consciousness in other brain studies”.
So, could these findings imply that some kind of alternate conscious experience is had upon
death?
Going one step further, does the brain live after you die?
Kelly Malcom writes that the team behind the study urges caution when applying the results
to any potential wider truth.
It’s also the case, writes Malcom, that it was impossible to know in this study what
the patients themselves experienced because they did not survive to relay that information
back.
Certainly, beyond the gamma wave surge, there’s no indication that the patients’ brains
displayed anything other than the usual, expected signs of having died.
Of having ceased to function, forever.
What’s more, in the paper to accompany the study, the team notes that “although the
marked activation of the posterior hot zone in the dying brain is suggestive of elevated
conscious processing…
it does not demonstrate it”.
That is, although heightened consciousness appears to have happened in these two cases,
we do not yet have proof that that really is what happens - neither here, nor for humankind
as a whole.
Nevertheless, toward the paper’s close, the tone is confident.
“Empirical evidence presented in this study,” writes the team, “strongly suggests that
the dying human brain can be activated”.
So, what’s your verdict?
Should this latest data change how we view death?
Is there a chance that, actually, dying doesn’t represent the end of consciousness?
Or is a surge in brain activity at the end of our lives to be expected?
After all, in terms of trauma, there can be no single moment that would register more
than the very end of life.
In fact, many argue along these lines in order to explain near death experiences, too.
Studies suggest, for example, that during a near death experience, the parts of the
brain tasked with memory recall are suddenly (and particularly) hard at work.
It’s then proposed that that’s why we’ve come to know (and expect) the ethereal sensation
of having our lives flash before our eyes.
Again, it’s thought that this could be linked to the trauma of that moment, as the dying
brain mounts a last ditch attempt to try and make sense of the situation.
Perhaps the gamma wave surges recorded during the May 2023 study are indicative of a similar
process in action…
it’s just that, in this case, the brains hosting the activity did, unfortunately, pass
on shortly after.
Of course, away from science, and over many thousands of years until now, there have been
various other explanations offered up as to what happens after we die.
Many of the world’s leading religions are built on (and around) stories of an afterlife,
seemingly to provide comfort for those trying to contemplate the incomprehensible.
If nothing else, then this latest study does at least give another insight into what really
happens, physically speaking, when the human body gives out.
As incredible as our bodies are, they do perish.
Death is a fact of life, and it will remain that way until we discover a genuine route
toward immortality.
Perhaps these most recent insights into the very last moments of the brain will even help
toward that, one day providing the basis for a technology to keep us going.
For now, studies such as these provide thought-provoking insights into some of our most profound, existential
questions.
What is life?
Is there something more?
Does any part of us survive after we’re gone?
We don’t yet have the answers, but we are continuing to probe for them.
And research into the mind, body, consciousness, and the soul is always gathering pace.
Did scientists just discover that your brain lives after you die?
Not exactly.
But, with this one small sample of dying brains, science has hinted that (in two out of the
four brains studied) there was something taking place.
One final surge of energy, right at the close.
What do you think?
Is there anything we missed?
Let us know in the comments, check out these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you
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