Inside a Wisconsin hospital, a patient under propofol showed 12 neural spikes per second.
12 electrical signals fired every second across the visual cortex in June 2012.
In June 2012, researchers at a Wisconsin hospital monitored a 29-year-old patient given heavy propofol while tracking EEG brain activity. Despite visual cortex signals firing 12 times a second, subjective awareness was completely zero. Viewers still ask why do neurons fire under anesthesia if no vision or thought takes place. This 2012 experiment redefined how modern neuroscience defines human consciousness.
On June 3, 2012, inside a Wisconsin epilepsy monitoring suite, a 29-year-old patient lay unresponsive under propofol while his visual cortex fired at 12 spikes per second—yet he saw nothing. This documentary uncovers how general anesthesia selectively extinguishes subjective experience while neurons keep firing, tracing the mystery from the first ether demonstration in 1846 to modern optogenetics. Through real court filings, leaked trial records, and landmark studies, we reveal why consciousness depends not on individual brain cells but on the long-distance conversation they share.
Why you are the way you are. A new film every week.
#anesthesia #consciousness #neuroscience #brainscience #medicalmystery
