Did Scientists Already Discover What Happens When We Die?

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00:00About 60 million people die worldwide each year, on average, which is approximately 164,000 deaths

00:07per day, or 6,850 deaths per hour. Death is clearly a fact of life. But what happens next?

00:15Reports of near-death experiences are growing, and the vast majority link NDEs to a feeling of peace.

00:23So what's your verdict?

00:25Unsurprisingly, there have been countless studies into death over the years, but also,

00:32and understandably, there are various ethical considerations which make the business of

00:37analysing and measuring death a little tricky. Death comes to us all, but it's often unexpected,

00:42and even in a hospital setting, the focus at the moment of death is usually on trying to keep the

00:48dying person alive, rather than recording precisely how death unfolds for them. In

00:54February 2022, however, news broke of an accidental recording of a dying brain, which reportedly has

01:00given scientists a unique snapshot into a person's final moments. Although details of the recording

01:06were released in 2022, the event in question actually took place six years earlier in 2016.

01:13An 87-year-old patient in Canada was then being treated for epilepsy,

01:17which involved doctors taking brain scans to measure his neural activity.

01:21However, when the patient unfortunately suffered a heart attack and died during one such scan,

01:27it meant that researchers had captured a unique series of moments within his brain.

01:32Before, during, and after death. With around 900 seconds of brain activity measured in total,

01:38analysts were subsequently able to specifically pinpoint 30 seconds before and 30 seconds after

01:44the patient passed away. And what they found appeared to support a long-held theory about

01:50dying… that your life flashes before your eyes. According to the study, published in the journal

01:56Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, the dying brain showed an increase in gamma activity,

02:01releasing brainwaves that are ordinarily linked to memory recall. The patterns that were recorded

02:07also relate to complex functions such as dreaming and meditation. The suggestion is,

02:12then, that when death arrives, the brain perhaps does embark on the phenomenon sometimes known as

02:17life recall. And, in the case of this particular patient, it may last for up to 30 seconds after

02:22the heart stops beating. Up until now, most of what's known about this comes from the testament

02:27of those who have had a near-death experience. The sensation of having revisited key moments

02:32from their lives is one of the most often reported by anyone describing an NDE. Scientists

02:38have also seen similar gamma surges in the brains of dying animals, such as rats, during testing.

02:44But this latest study offers a unique look at what happens to the human brain. Importantly,

02:49those behind the findings highlight that this is still just one case study, and so the results can't

02:54yet be applied to every brain. The patient had been diagnosed with epilepsy, which may have

03:00affected how his particular brain reacted to death. Similarly, the medications that he had

03:05previously taken might have had an effect, too. And, as no normal brain activity had been measured

03:10beforehand to serve as a comparison, it can't be clearly proven that any of the changes in the

03:15dying brain were that dramatically different to the patient's standard brain activity.

03:20As groundbreaking as this study appears to be, then, there are still plenty of questions and

03:24mysteries left to be solved. But, nevertheless, this study could yet serve as one of the most

03:29significant moments in our quests to understand the dying brain, and the human brain in general.

03:35For many, the 21st century is shaping up to be an incredibly important period for neuroscience.

03:40We've already made important breakthroughs regarding how we understand the senses,

03:44and how we view the importance of sleep. And, thanks to an ever-increasing mass of data,

03:50researchers can better than ever before map the brain and identify neurological processes.

03:55The human brain is still widely regarded as possibly the most complex, single structure in

04:00the entire universe… but we've also never understood it quite as well as we do today.

04:04The Human Connectome Project, or HCP, is perhaps the most ambitious research initiative relating

04:10to the brain overall. A US state-sponsored effort to map the human brain in its entirety,

04:16it was started in 2009, originally with a five-year goal for completion. So massive

04:22has the task proven to be, however, that it still hasn't been finished, thirteen years later, in 2022.

04:28The scope of the HCP has grown and grown in that time, though, so that it's now a multi-faceted,

04:34international venture. For example, while part of the project aims to better understand how

04:39Alzheimer's disease and dementia take hold, another concentrates on anxiety disorders,

04:45and how they can be identified by how the brain fires. There are also specific studies looking at

04:51the human brain at different points of its lifetime, from infancy through to old age.

04:56So, while the 2022 Dying Brain Study wasn't directly linked with the HCP,

05:00we can see how the results of it have hugely contributed to what's become an enormous field

05:05of research. But, finally, what can we do with the information that the Dying Brain Study has

05:10provided? Unlike with so many other areas, it's not as though scientists are expecting a wealth

05:15of new and supporting data to arrive anytime soon, due to the ethical considerations involved.

05:21A doctor can't just simply measure a patient's brain until they die without seriously neglecting

05:26their duty for care. And, in fact, according to some reports, one of the reasons why it took until

05:322022 for details to be released of a brain recording from 2016 is because researchers

05:38have been trying to find another, similar case in the meantime, but without any luck.

05:43This one glimpse of the dying brain is an exceptionally rare event, then. And while we

05:47might expect more examples to emerge as technology improves and evolves, for now it has set something

05:53of a new precedent. Until now, the notion of a dying person's life flashing before their eyes

05:58has perhaps been treated somewhat sceptically. No matter how many near-death experiences are

06:03reported, the apparent similarities between them are often put down to things like stress of the

06:08event, misremembering, or confirmation bias. It's said that patients may recall certain aspects of

06:14an NDE only because that's what they had previously expected would happen during one. But now there

06:20appears to be genuine, scientific findings to support the claims. The idea of life recall may

06:26no longer be so easily dismissed, as we now know that in at least this one case, the areas of the

06:32brain involved with memory recollection were particularly stimulated right at the end of life.

06:38Unfortunately, what this study cannot do is stop death in its tracks. The search for immortality

06:44goes on across all sectors of science and technology. But one consideration might be

06:49whether this latest development will lead to us managing death a little differently in the future,

06:54as the Human Connectome Project, amongst other things, seeks to better equip us to fight against

06:59various neurological conditions that can affect the human brain. If we're now getting a grip on

07:03the brain activity of death itself, then might we soon try to tackle that as well? If not to prevent

07:09it, then at least to ensure that when death does come, we can shape how it affects our final

07:15moments. Now, perhaps there is some comfort already to be found. Although this remains just

07:20one case study, and many of the conclusions to draw from it are still hypothetical, the suggestion is

07:26that when we leave this life, we do so in a dreamlike state of memory recall. For one patient,

07:32at least, the brain activity during death appeared to stimulate these kinds of reflective,

07:36recollective final thoughts. And that's why, to some extent, scientists might have discovered

07:42what happens when we die. Or, at least, they might have discovered a little bit more about

07:47one small part of it. But, of course, there is still so much about dying that remains a mystery.

07:53And there are so many metaphysical questions about the soul, spirit, mind, and body that

07:58will continue to stoke debate. It's human nature to ponder our own mortality from time to time,

08:04and perhaps it's unsurprising that there have been various efforts made to beat death over

08:08the years. But, equally, while all of that's happening, it's crucial to also make the most

08:14of life. To fully experience every moment as best we can. Because if the incredibly complex

08:20structure of the human brain tells us anything, it's that our lives are truly a unique and amazing

08:25opportunity. What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments. Check out

08:31these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you subscribe and ring the bell for our latest content.

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