🕷️ Crawler Inspector

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Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 162 (from laksa033)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa162.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a70349043/death-consciousness-brain-gamma-wave/\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a70349043/death-consciousness-brain-gamma-wave/\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/health\/a70349043\/death-consciousness-brain-gamma-wave\/","crawl_time":1776678508,"first_indexed_time":1771028097,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,popularmechanics!www,\/science\/health\/a70349043\/death-consciousness-brain-gamma-wave\/ s443","src_root_hash":"11125021743305196162","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Brain Waves in Dying Patients May Mean Death Isn’t Final","meta_descriptions":["Researchers documented a burst of gamma wave activity in the brains of patients taken off ventilators. It could mean it conducts a last-ditch effort to live."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Death might not be a clear-cut event, as gamma brainwaves may persist even after other signs of life have ceased.\nNear-death experiences suggest the brain could launch a desperate effort to find meaning or survive, which challenges our assumptions.\nMisinterpretations of death may could impact practices like organ donation, requiring careful evaluation of protocols.\nOn October 26, 2021,\nat Baptist Health Richmond in Kentucky, 36‑year‑old Anthony “TJ” Hoover II was declared\nbrain\ndead after a drug overdose. Doctors told his family he had no reflexes or brain activity. He had previously consented to organ donation, and      a medical team  began preparations. But about an hour into the procedure, the      surgeons abruptly stopped.      According to a whistleblower letter later sent to Congress, Hoover had begun “thrashing” on the operating table. Against all odds, he had regained consciousness. Though left with      long-term\nimpairments\nto speech, memory, and mobility because of the drug overdose, Hoover survived—and was eventually discharged into the care of his sister. His case—and others like it,\nfrom Kenya to Poland\n,\nEcuador\nto\nChina\n, where people have woken in morgues, coffins, or during last rites—force us to confront a mind-boggling possibility: What if\ndeath\nisn’t the neat, cataclysmic, all-at-once event our medical protocols make it out to be?\nThe standard reductionist model says\nconsciousness\nsimply ceases after death. Lights out. Thank you, next. But recent studies      have surfaced anomalies that challenge that timeline—and those models. One example: gamma-wave bursts—high-frequency electrical activity in the brain (\n30 to 100 hertz\n)—the same kind\nlinked\nto memory and awareness. And researchers have recorded them even after  death has occurred. But why would the brain do this after death—or near it?\nIn a 2023 University of Michigan\nstudy\n, researchers analyzed electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings from four comatose patients whose ventilators had been withdrawn. EEG measures the brain’s electrical activity, while ECG tracks the electrical signals that regulate heart rhythm.      In two of the patients, they observed a sudden surge in gamma brainwaves within seconds of cardiac decline. These bursts weren’t random: they were synchronized with slower brain rhythms (a recurring pattern in  conscious perception and REM sleep). They also      showed strong connectivity across the brain—especially in the “\nposterior hot zone,\n” an area linked to vision, bodily awareness, and sensory processing. The connectivity extended toward the frontal regions too, mimicking the neural patterns seen in dreaming, psychedelic states, and even conscious perception.\nThere was a highly organized surge across key regions of the brain—as if the entire system is momentarily lit up from within, says\nJimo Borjigin\n, PhD, associate professor of neurology and molecular and integrative physiology at the University of Michigan, and coauthor of the study. She adds that the activation appeared in areas tied to motion, speech, and even the temporal-parietal junction—a region of the brain involved in integrating sensory information and often linked to out-of-body experiences (OBEs), which are commonly\nreported\nas part of near-death experiences (NDEs). Many NDE accounts describe vivid sensory phenomena—such as bright lights, tunnels, or hearing voices of deceased relatives—which Borjigin notes could relate to           the activity patterns seen in the study,      particularly  in brain regions involved in vision and sensory processing.\nWhy would the dying brain go out with a flurry of activity      instead of a gentle drift? Surely it’s biologically expensive. “The brain [uses] 20 percent of the body’s energy,” says Borjigin. “Why, at this moment [after the oxygen supply has stopped] would we consume so much effort to produce conscious experience?” The Michigan professor offers one theory: The brain may be launching an internal search for survival. Many people who have had NDEs report reliving emotional moments, hearing messages like “It’s not your time,” or seeing deceased loved ones, she says. The dying brain might be reaching deep into memory, searching for unresolved purpose or a compelling reason to continue living. She also stresses how these findings challenge our assumptions. “We think of a comatose person as ‘gone,’ but even in those states, organized gamma activity appeared in regions tied to visual awareness. It’s a kind of twilight consciousness, possibly hidden but active.”\nAnd if someone can be revived, maybe they weren’t dead to  begin with. “These four patients were comatose, unresponsive, doctors decided there’s no hope, they want to remove the ventilator—yet [in two of them], there’s massive brain activity still happening,” Borjigin explains. It should make us rethink the dying process, she says. Because death might not  mean gone.\nThat   uncertainty could, in some cases, inform how surgeons assess the timing of   organ donation. If we don’t recognize covert signs of life, we might be removing organs from someone who could have recovered, says Borjigin. (Such cases are extremely rare, and organ donation saves countless lives.)\nDeath may be more ambiguous than we think. “Cardiac arrest doesn’t necessarily mean death, because brain activity may still persist,” says\nCaroline Watt\n, PhD, emeritus professor of parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh and author of\nParapsychology: A Beginner’s Guide\n. Some EEGs—especially surface-level ones used outside  research settings—can miss subtle signals, and many deaths occur outside hospital settings, where no brain monitoring is conducted at all.\nBut not   everyone is persuaded. The recent Michigan studies are “food for thought,” says\nBruce Greyson\n, MD, professor emeritus of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences at the University of Virginia and cofounder of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, who has spent over four decades studying NDEs. He warns that the studies are far from conclusive. In the Michigan cases, he points out, the heart was still beating—so oxygen was still circulating. That alone, he argues, disqualifies them as true post-death data. And none of the patients in the study returned to life, so it’s impossible to  know whether gamma                       surges   corresponded                to NDEs. “That’s evidence not for gamma activity being a marker of NDEs, but rather the exact opposite,” he says. The spikes, he adds, could stem from pain, spasms, or even phantom electrical noise from the muscles themselves.\nIn his book\nAfter: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond\n, Greyson argues that NDEs suggest consciousness may not be entirely reducible to brain function—seriously challenging strictly materialist models of the mind. As Greyson notes (quoting\nParnia 2024\n), “[T]he question of consciousness and its relationship with the brain remains one of the biggest mysteries in science.” While Greyson is careful not to claim that NDEs prove consciousness survives death, he acknowledges they raise significant questions about brain-based models of consciousness.\nBorjigin echoes the sentiment: “Death is the biggest disease no one has studied.” Skip the next few sentences if the archetypal fear of being buried alive sits with you often. There might be a chance the silent, waxy figure sealed in a coffin still holds internal visions no mourner outside can perceive. In 2012,\n95-year-old Li Xiufeng\nof Guangxi province,   China, was      declared dead by neighbors after she had fallen. Her body lay in an open casket for six days, as tradition dictated—until, just hours before the funeral, she climbed out, went to her kitchen, and began cooking porridge. “I slept for a long time. After waking up, I felt so hungry, and wanted to cook something to eat,” she later said.\nWhen asked about the      possibility that people have   been buried alive or revived after being wrongly declared dead,     Borjigin doesn’t flinch. She says   it’s possible—and even suggests a bold solution:             “Maybe we should have a camera inside a coffin.” She’s even clearer on what must happen next. “We need a global [scientific] re-assessment,” not just cultural or religious reassurances, but real evidence of what dying looks like, she says. “Death is the disease everybody is going to get, yet we don’t know much about it.”\nPopular Mechanics\nPopular Mechanics\nPopular Mechanics\nPopular Mechanics\nStav Dimitropoulos is a Gold and Community Anthem Award–winning journalist, and writes about consciousness, science, and culture for\nPopular Mechanics\n,\nNature\n, and the BBC. Her work often explores mind-stretching angles where science meets philosophy. Her debut nonfiction book,\nSlow, Lazy, Gluttons\n(Greystone Books, 2026) asks: What if the traits society shames — laziness, darkness, nostalgia, and more — are actually survival superpowers? ","attrs_markdown":"[![Search](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/search.f1c199c.svg)Search](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/search\/)\n\n![Close](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/close.38e3324.svg?primary=%2523595959)\n***\n- [Newsletter](https:\/\/popularmechanics.com\/email\/popularmechanics-newsletter)\n- [Pop Mech Pro](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/about\/a40180523\/pop-mech-pro-membership-news-benefits\/)\n- [Subscribe](https:\/\/shop.popularmechanics.com\/popular-mechanics-all-access-3499.html?cds_tracking_code=poppanelnav)\n- [Home and DIY](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/home\/)\n- [Power Tools](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/home\/tools\/)\n- 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in](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/auth\/csrf?action=login&return_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.popularmechanics.com%2Fscience%2Fhealth%2Fa70349043%2Fdeath-consciousness-brain-gamma-wave%2F)\n\n[Subscribe](https:\/\/shop.popularmechanics.com\/popular-mechanics-all-access-3499.html?cds_tracking_code=poptopnav)\n\n- [Science](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/)\n- [Home & DIY](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/home\/)\n- [Technology](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/technology\/)\n- [Gear Reviews](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/product-reviews\/)\n- [Military](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/military\/)\n- [Transportation](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/transportation\/)\n- [Culture & Curiosities](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/culture\/)\n- [About](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/about\/a45\/about-us\/)\n- [More](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/health\/a70349043\/death-consciousness-brain-gamma-wave\/)\n\n![x ray view of a man dreaming with view of brain and spinal cord](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/ray-view-of-a-man-dreaming-with-view-of-royalty-free-illustration-1752522173.pjpeg?crop=1.00xw:1.00xh;0,0&resize=768:*)\n\n[![pinterest](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/social\/pinterest.e8cf655.svg?primary=%2523ffffff)](https:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?url=https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/health\/a70349043\/death-consciousness-brain-gamma-wave\/&description=&media=https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/ray-view-of-a-man-dreaming-with-view-of-royalty-free-illustration-1752522173.pjpeg?resize=1600:*)\n\nGetty Images\n\n1. [Science](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/)\n2. [Health](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/health\/)\n3. [A ‘Twilight Consciousness’ May Exist in Dying Patients, Scientists Say. Could That Mean Death Isn’t Final?](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/health\/a70349043\/death-consciousness-brain-gamma-wave\/)\n# A ‘Twilight Consciousness’ May Exist in Dying Patients, Scientists Say. Could That Mean Death Isn’t Final?\nJust before it ceases functioning, the brain may make a last-ditch effort to find unresolved purpose or a reason to stay alive.\n\nBy [Stav Dimitropoulos](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/author\/222985\/stav-dimitropoulos\/ \"Stav Dimitropoulos\")\n\nPublished: Feb 13, 2026 5:30 PM EST\n\n![bookmarks](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/saved.ad81f1a.svg?primary=%2523000000)\n\n![Open share options](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/social\/sharing.89c15b8.svg)\n\n![bookmarks](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/chat-text-regular.fbcc23c.svg?primary=%2523000000)2\n\n![bookmarks](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/headphones-regular.117021e.svg?primary=%2523000000)Listen (9 min)9 min\n\n***\n- Death might not be a clear-cut event, as gamma brainwaves may persist even after other signs of life have ceased.\n- Near-death experiences suggest the brain could launch a desperate effort to find meaning or survive, which challenges our assumptions.\n- Misinterpretations of death may could impact practices like organ donation, requiring careful evaluation of protocols.\n***\n**On October 26, 2021,** at Baptist Health Richmond in Kentucky, 36‑year‑old Anthony “TJ” Hoover II was declared [brain](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/health\/a70172357\/human-organoids-rat-brains\/) dead after a drug overdose. Doctors told his family he had no reflexes or brain activity. He had previously consented to organ donation, and a medical team began preparations. But about an hour into the procedure, the surgeons abruptly stopped. According to a whistleblower letter later sent to Congress, Hoover had begun “thrashing” on the operating table. Against all odds, he had regained consciousness. Though left with long-term [impairments](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2024\/oct\/18\/kentucky-man-wakes-up-organ-harvesting) to speech, memory, and mobility because of the drug overdose, Hoover survived—and was eventually discharged into the care of his sister. His case—and others like it, [from Kenya to Poland](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2014\/nov\/14\/waking-morgue-death-janina-kolkiewicz), [Ecuador](https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/dead-person-alive-woke-up-doctor-seen-twice-2023-2) to [China](https:\/\/www.ucanews.com\/news\/95-year-old-gets-out-of-coffin-days-after-dying), where people have woken in morgues, coffins, or during last rites—force us to confront a mind-boggling possibility: What if [death](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a69797512\/xenobots-conscious-cells\/) isn’t the neat, cataclysmic, all-at-once event our medical protocols make it out to be?\n\nThe standard reductionist model says [consciousness](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a69999336\/lucid-dreaming-precognition\/) simply ceases after death. Lights out. Thank you, next. But recent studies have surfaced anomalies that challenge that timeline—and those models. One example: gamma-wave bursts—high-frequency electrical activity in the brain ([30 to 100 hertz](https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/topics\/neuroscience\/gamma-wave))—the same kind [linked](https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/19273069\/) to memory and awareness. And researchers have recorded them even after death has occurred. But why would the brain do this after death—or near it?\n\nIn a 2023 University of Michigan [study](https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.2216268120), researchers analyzed electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings from four comatose patients whose ventilators had been withdrawn. EEG measures the brain’s electrical activity, while ECG tracks the electrical signals that regulate heart rhythm. In two of the patients, they observed a sudden surge in gamma brainwaves within seconds of cardiac decline. These bursts weren’t random: they were synchronized with slower brain rhythms (a recurring pattern in conscious perception and REM sleep). They also showed strong connectivity across the brain—especially in the “[posterior hot zone,](https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S105381192100118X)” an area linked to vision, bodily awareness, and sensory processing. The connectivity extended toward the frontal regions too, mimicking the neural patterns seen in dreaming, psychedelic states, and even conscious perception.\n\nThere was a highly organized surge across key regions of the brain—as if the entire system is momentarily lit up from within, says [Jimo Borjigin](https:\/\/medicine.umich.edu\/dept\/mni\/jimo-borjigin-phd), PhD, associate professor of neurology and molecular and integrative physiology at the University of Michigan, and coauthor of the study. She adds that the activation appeared in areas tied to motion, speech, and even the temporal-parietal junction—a region of the brain involved in integrating sensory information and often linked to out-of-body experiences (OBEs), which are commonly [reported](https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/15632275\/) as part of near-death experiences (NDEs). Many NDE accounts describe vivid sensory phenomena—such as bright lights, tunnels, or hearing voices of deceased relatives—which Borjigin notes could relate to the activity patterns seen in the study, particularly in brain regions involved in vision and sensory processing.\n\nWhy would the dying brain go out with a flurry of activity instead of a gentle drift? Surely it’s biologically expensive. “The brain \\[uses\\] 20 percent of the body’s energy,” says Borjigin. “Why, at this moment \\[after the oxygen supply has stopped\\] would we consume so much effort to produce conscious experience?” The Michigan professor offers one theory: The brain may be launching an internal search for survival. Many people who have had NDEs report reliving emotional moments, hearing messages like “It’s not your time,” or seeing deceased loved ones, she says. The dying brain might be reaching deep into memory, searching for unresolved purpose or a compelling reason to continue living. She also stresses how these findings challenge our assumptions. “We think of a comatose person as ‘gone,’ but even in those states, organized gamma activity appeared in regions tied to visual awareness. It’s a kind of twilight consciousness, possibly hidden but active.”\n\nAnd if someone can be revived, maybe they weren’t dead to begin with. “These four patients were comatose, unresponsive, doctors decided there’s no hope, they want to remove the ventilator—yet \\[in two of them\\], there’s massive brain activity still happening,” Borjigin explains. It should make us rethink the dying process, she says. Because death might not mean gone.\n\nThat uncertainty could, in some cases, inform how surgeons assess the timing of organ donation. If we don’t recognize covert signs of life, we might be removing organs from someone who could have recovered, says Borjigin. (Such cases are extremely rare, and organ donation saves countless lives.)\n\nDeath may be more ambiguous than we think. “Cardiac arrest doesn’t necessarily mean death, because brain activity may still persist,” says [Caroline Watt](https:\/\/edwebprofiles.ed.ac.uk\/profile\/caroline-watt), PhD, emeritus professor of parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh and author of *Parapsychology: A Beginner’s Guide*. Some EEGs—especially surface-level ones used outside research settings—can miss subtle signals, and many deaths occur outside hospital settings, where no brain monitoring is conducted at all.\n\nBut not everyone is persuaded. The recent Michigan studies are “food for thought,” says [Bruce Greyson](https:\/\/www.brucegreyson.com\/about\/), MD, professor emeritus of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences at the University of Virginia and cofounder of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, who has spent over four decades studying NDEs. He warns that the studies are far from conclusive. In the Michigan cases, he points out, the heart was still beating—so oxygen was still circulating. That alone, he argues, disqualifies them as true post-death data. And none of the patients in the study returned to life, so it’s impossible to know whether gamma surges corresponded to NDEs. “That’s evidence not for gamma activity being a marker of NDEs, but rather the exact opposite,” he says. The spikes, he adds, could stem from pain, spasms, or even phantom electrical noise from the muscles themselves.\n\n## What happens when we die?\n- [![](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/virus-disease-x-cells-microscope-slide-royalty-free-image-1740513241.pjpeg?crop=1.00xw:0.881xh;0,0&resize=300:*)Could We Have Evidence That Cells Are Conscious?](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a69797512\/xenobots-conscious-cells\/)\n- [![](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/nurse-pushing-patient-lying-on-hospital-royalty-free-illustration-1739901964.pjpeg?crop=0.995xw:0.735xh;0.00481xw,0.168xh&resize=300:*)DMT Controls Consciousness at Your Moment of Death](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a63831340\/dmt-near-death-experience\/)\n- [![](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/abstract-silhouette-royalty-free-image-1763571635.pjpeg?crop=1.00xw:0.403xh;0,0.424xh&resize=300:*)She Was Pronounced Dead—Then Found Gasping for Air](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/health\/a69485935\/what-is-considered-death\/)\n\nIn his book *After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond*, Greyson argues that NDEs suggest consciousness may not be entirely reducible to brain function—seriously challenging strictly materialist models of the mind. As Greyson notes (quoting [Parnia 2024](https:\/\/www.resuscitationjournal.com\/article\/S0300-9572\\(23\\)00816-X\/fulltext)), “\\[T\\]he question of consciousness and its relationship with the brain remains one of the biggest mysteries in science.” While Greyson is careful not to claim that NDEs prove consciousness survives death, he acknowledges they raise significant questions about brain-based models of consciousness.\n\nBorjigin echoes the sentiment: “Death is the biggest disease no one has studied.” Skip the next few sentences if the archetypal fear of being buried alive sits with you often. There might be a chance the silent, waxy figure sealed in a coffin still holds internal visions no mourner outside can perceive. In 2012, [95-year-old Li Xiufeng](https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/news\/weird-news\/zombie-gran-95-year-old-chinese-woman-746295) of Guangxi province, China, was declared dead by neighbors after she had fallen. Her body lay in an open casket for six days, as tradition dictated—until, just hours before the funeral, she climbed out, went to her kitchen, and began cooking porridge. “I slept for a long time. After waking up, I felt so hungry, and wanted to cook something to eat,” she later said.\n\nWhen asked about the possibility that people have been buried alive or revived after being wrongly declared dead, Borjigin doesn’t flinch. She says it’s possible—and even suggests a bold solution: “Maybe we should have a camera inside a coffin.” She’s even clearer on what must happen next. “We need a global \\[scientific\\] re-assessment,” not just cultural or religious reassurances, but real evidence of what dying looks like, she says. “Death is the disease everybody is going to get, yet we don’t know much about it.”\n\n## Download Pop Mech Digital Issues\n![Chevron Left Icon](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/arrow-left-regular.dc4f48a.svg?primary=%2523D4D4D4)\n\n![Chevron Right Icon](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/arrow-right-regular.e879c19.svg?primary=%2523fff)\n\n![popular mechanics magazine cover about a runaway locomotive](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pop-mech-locomotive-cover-6985fd79eca3e.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:*)\n\n[Get the 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Issue](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/promotions\/a40118846\/download-exclusive-pop-mech-digital-issues\/)\n\n![popular mechanics march 2025 cover](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pmxan325cov-lo-68385a746ce01.jpg?crop=1.00xw:1.00xh;0,0&resize=640:*)\n\n[Get the Issue](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/promotions\/a40118846\/download-exclusive-pop-mech-digital-issues\/)\n\n![Headshot of Stav Dimitropoulos](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/rover\/profile_photos\/3982ef5c-4a25-489d-884c-34bf21f33bc2_1560194184.file?fill=1:1&resize=120:*)\n\n[Stav Dimitropoulos](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/author\/222985\/stav-dimitropoulos\/)\n\nContributor\n\nStav Dimitropoulos is a Gold and Community Anthem Award–winning journalist, and writes about consciousness, science, and culture for *Popular Mechanics*, *Nature*, and the BBC. Her work often explores mind-stretching angles where science meets philosophy. Her debut nonfiction book, *Slow, Lazy, Gluttons* (Greystone Books, 2026) asks: What if the traits society shames — laziness, darkness, nostalgia, and more — are actually survival superpowers?\n\nAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below\n\n## [Consciousness](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/consciousness\/)\n[![AI brain](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/2eb25764-a283-4a6e-beb0-f822f9fab62b.jpeg?crop=0.666666666667xw:1xh;center,top&resize=360:*)Scientists Built AI That Lives—and Dies—Like Us](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a71030665\/brain-inspired-ai-singularity\/)\n\n[![neurons firing](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/e9187c4a-041d-4ec2-8419-d6b27db6d5fd.jpeg?crop=0.625xw:1xh;center,top&resize=360:*)Could Advanced, Lab-Grown Brains Become Conscious?](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a70974233\/consciousness-of-assembloids\/)\n\n[![Space tunnel with God's eye](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/f91e37c9-c947-4414-90e2-468df93cf841.jpeg?crop=1xw:1.0xh;center,top&resize=360:*)Consciousness Persists After Death](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a70986648\/your-consciousness-persists-after-death-new-research-suggests\/)\n\n[![Realms of Dream](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/fb2d8aff-c2a5-47b7-97bf-3fa3da2bbaa6.jpeg?crop=0.75xw:1xh;0.182xw,0xh&resize=360:*)Sitting in This Chair Can Alter Your Consciousness](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a70974449\/chair-alters-consciousness\/)\n\nAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below\n\n[![abstract sculpture of a woman](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/abstract-sculpture-of-a-woman-royalty-free-image-1733779148.pjpeg?crop=0.672xw:1.00xh;0.185xw,0&resize=360:*)Now We Have Proof That Ancient Egyptians Got High](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/archaeology\/a70909680\/ancient-egyptian-ritual-drugs\/)\n\n[![human brain in sync with the universe. fractal art background with copy space.](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/a991658c-fff6-4475-bbd0-d42af9c3fd85.jpeg?crop=0.564xw:1.00xh;0.0667xw,0&resize=360:*)Your Brain Taps Into a Universal Consciousness](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a70859052\/consciousness-energy-field\/)\n\n[![A human silhouette stands amidst a powerful explosion of blue light trails and motion blur.](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/4f0fb81b-7d4f-4e1a-8137-2c03219f201c.jpeg?crop=0.666666666667xw:1xh;center,top&resize=360:*)You Could Be Visiting Other Dimensions in Dreams](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a70869079\/your-consciousness-enters-other-dimensions-while-dream\/)\n\n[![Man in rainbow light and stars](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/eaad8071-a87a-4381-9242-650ddf338eb5.jpeg?crop=0.750135501355xw:1xh;center,top&resize=360:*)You Shift to a Parallel Universe When You Die](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a70846980\/parallel-universe-death-theory\/)\n\n[![A mental health concept. A man with a blurred head with his eyes covered. With a grunge, abstract edit](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/cee4e75f-f435-4eca-a51b-1a19d2a7ab30.jpeg?crop=0.666666666667xw:1xh;center,top&resize=360:*)Altered State of Consciousness Has a Dark Side](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/health\/a70832843\/altered-state-of-consciousness-has-dark-side\/)\n\n[![isconsciousnessrealorillusion](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/21a2454f-570e-4165-a83a-1bc6a0fa3870.jpeg?crop=0.753xw:1.00xh;0.125xw,0&resize=360:*)Human Consciousness Is an Illusion, Scientists Say](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a70806483\/is-consciousness-real-or-illusion\/)\n\n[![conceptual image of person with semitransparent head revealing amanita mushrooms](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/adobestock-795680304-66a01184db972.jpeg?crop=0.563xw:1.00xh;0.0862xw,0&resize=360:*)Magic Mushrooms May Have Shaped Our Consciousness](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a70769915\/magic-mushrooms-psilocybin-consciousness\/)\n\n[![concept art of cells colorful ](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/a676ce74-e43b-444d-b44b-f965bdfbe92a.jpeg?crop=0.666666666667xw:1xh;center,top&resize=360:*)Every Single Cell in the Universe Is Conscious](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a70702319\/consciousness-beyond-humans\/)\n\nAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below\n\n[![Logo](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/popularmechanics\/static\/images\/logos\/logo.a957255.svg?primary=%25231c6a65)](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/)\n\n[![x](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/social\/x.3361b6d.svg?primary=%2523000000&id=social-button-icon)](https:\/\/x.com\/PopMech)\n\n[![tiktok](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/social\/tiktok.603c377.svg?primary=%2523000000&id=social-button-icon)](https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@popularmechanics?lang=en)\n\n[![youtube](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/social\/youtube.ce3e1ae.svg?primary=%2523000000&id=social-button-icon)](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/popularmechanics?sub_confirmation=1)\n\n[![facebook](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/social\/facebook.a5a3a69.svg?primary=%2523000000&id=social-button-icon)](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/popularmechanics)\n\n[![instagram](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/social\/instagram.f282b14.svg?primary=%2523000000&id=social-button-icon)](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/popularmechanics\/)\n\n[![pinterest](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/social\/pinterest.e8cf655.svg?primary=%2523000000&id=social-button-icon)](https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/popmech\/?auto_follow=1)\n\n[Newsletter](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/newsletter)[About Us](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/about\/a45\/about-us\/)[Media Kit](http:\/\/www.popularmechanicsmediakit.com\/r5\/home.asp)[Writer Guidelines](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/about\/a34246962\/how-to-pitch-popular-mechanics\/)[Press Room](http:\/\/www.hearst.com\/news)[Contact Us](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/about\/a2922\/contact-us\/)[Community Guidelines](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/about\/a3024\/community-guidelines\/)[Advertise Online](https:\/\/www.advertising.hearstmagazines.com\/brands\/popular-mechanics)[Customer Service](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/service)[Subscribe](https:\/\/shop.popularmechanics.com\/popular-mechanics-all-access-3.html?cds_tracking_code=popfooter)[Digital Issues](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/promotions\/a40118846\/download-exclusive-pop-mech-digital-issues\/)[PopMech Pro Membership Perks](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/about\/a46147319\/pop-mech-pro-membership\/)\n\n![Hearst Men's and Enthusiast Media Group - A Part of Hearst Digital Media](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/popularmechanics\/static\/images\/logos\/network-logo.910b3ba.svg?primary=%2523ffffff)\n\nA Part of Hearst Digital Media\n\nWe may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back.\n\n©2026 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.\n\n[Privacy Notice](https:\/\/www.hearst.com\/-\/us-magazines-privacy-notice)[CA Notice at Collection](https:\/\/www.hearst.com\/-\/us-magazines-privacy-notice#_ADDITIONAL_INFO)[Your CA Privacy Rights\/Shine the Light](https:\/\/www.hearst.com\/-\/us-magazines-privacy-notice#_ADDITIONAL_INFO)[DAA Industry Opt Out](https:\/\/www.hearst.com\/-\/us-magazines-privacy-notice#_OPT_OUTS)[Terms of Use](https:\/\/www.hearst.com\/-\/us-magazines-terms-of-use)[Site Map](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/sitemap\/)\n\n[Cookies Choices](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/health\/a70349043\/death-consciousness-brain-gamma-wave\/ \"Cookies Choices\")","attrs_readable_markdown":"***\n- Death might not be a clear-cut event, as gamma brainwaves may persist even after other signs of life have ceased.\n- Near-death experiences suggest the brain could launch a desperate effort to find meaning or survive, which challenges our assumptions.\n- Misinterpretations of death may could impact practices like organ donation, requiring careful evaluation of protocols.\n***\n**On October 26, 2021,** at Baptist Health Richmond in Kentucky, 36‑year‑old Anthony “TJ” Hoover II was declared [brain](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/health\/a70172357\/human-organoids-rat-brains\/) dead after a drug overdose. Doctors told his family he had no reflexes or brain activity. He had previously consented to organ donation, and a medical team began preparations. But about an hour into the procedure, the surgeons abruptly stopped. According to a whistleblower letter later sent to Congress, Hoover had begun “thrashing” on the operating table. Against all odds, he had regained consciousness. Though left with long-term [impairments](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2024\/oct\/18\/kentucky-man-wakes-up-organ-harvesting) to speech, memory, and mobility because of the drug overdose, Hoover survived—and was eventually discharged into the care of his sister. His case—and others like it, [from Kenya to Poland](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2014\/nov\/14\/waking-morgue-death-janina-kolkiewicz), [Ecuador](https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/dead-person-alive-woke-up-doctor-seen-twice-2023-2) to [China](https:\/\/www.ucanews.com\/news\/95-year-old-gets-out-of-coffin-days-after-dying), where people have woken in morgues, coffins, or during last rites—force us to confront a mind-boggling possibility: What if [death](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a69797512\/xenobots-conscious-cells\/) isn’t the neat, cataclysmic, all-at-once event our medical protocols make it out to be?\n\nThe standard reductionist model says [consciousness](https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a69999336\/lucid-dreaming-precognition\/) simply ceases after death. Lights out. Thank you, next. But recent studies have surfaced anomalies that challenge that timeline—and those models. One example: gamma-wave bursts—high-frequency electrical activity in the brain ([30 to 100 hertz](https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/topics\/neuroscience\/gamma-wave))—the same kind [linked](https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/19273069\/) to memory and awareness. And researchers have recorded them even after death has occurred. But why would the brain do this after death—or near it?\n\nIn a 2023 University of Michigan [study](https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.2216268120), researchers analyzed electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings from four comatose patients whose ventilators had been withdrawn. EEG measures the brain’s electrical activity, while ECG tracks the electrical signals that regulate heart rhythm. In two of the patients, they observed a sudden surge in gamma brainwaves within seconds of cardiac decline. These bursts weren’t random: they were synchronized with slower brain rhythms (a recurring pattern in conscious perception and REM sleep). They also showed strong connectivity across the brain—especially in the “[posterior hot zone,](https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S105381192100118X)” an area linked to vision, bodily awareness, and sensory processing. The connectivity extended toward the frontal regions too, mimicking the neural patterns seen in dreaming, psychedelic states, and even conscious perception.\n\nThere was a highly organized surge across key regions of the brain—as if the entire system is momentarily lit up from within, says [Jimo Borjigin](https:\/\/medicine.umich.edu\/dept\/mni\/jimo-borjigin-phd), PhD, associate professor of neurology and molecular and integrative physiology at the University of Michigan, and coauthor of the study. She adds that the activation appeared in areas tied to motion, speech, and even the temporal-parietal junction—a region of the brain involved in integrating sensory information and often linked to out-of-body experiences (OBEs), which are commonly [reported](https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/15632275\/) as part of near-death experiences (NDEs). Many NDE accounts describe vivid sensory phenomena—such as bright lights, tunnels, or hearing voices of deceased relatives—which Borjigin notes could relate to the activity patterns seen in the study, particularly in brain regions involved in vision and sensory processing.\n\nWhy would the dying brain go out with a flurry of activity instead of a gentle drift? Surely it’s biologically expensive. “The brain \\[uses\\] 20 percent of the body’s energy,” says Borjigin. “Why, at this moment \\[after the oxygen supply has stopped\\] would we consume so much effort to produce conscious experience?” The Michigan professor offers one theory: The brain may be launching an internal search for survival. Many people who have had NDEs report reliving emotional moments, hearing messages like “It’s not your time,” or seeing deceased loved ones, she says. The dying brain might be reaching deep into memory, searching for unresolved purpose or a compelling reason to continue living. She also stresses how these findings challenge our assumptions. “We think of a comatose person as ‘gone,’ but even in those states, organized gamma activity appeared in regions tied to visual awareness. It’s a kind of twilight consciousness, possibly hidden but active.”\n\nAnd if someone can be revived, maybe they weren’t dead to begin with. “These four patients were comatose, unresponsive, doctors decided there’s no hope, they want to remove the ventilator—yet \\[in two of them\\], there’s massive brain activity still happening,” Borjigin explains. It should make us rethink the dying process, she says. Because death might not mean gone.\n\nThat uncertainty could, in some cases, inform how surgeons assess the timing of organ donation. If we don’t recognize covert signs of life, we might be removing organs from someone who could have recovered, says Borjigin. (Such cases are extremely rare, and organ donation saves countless lives.)\n\nDeath may be more ambiguous than we think. “Cardiac arrest doesn’t necessarily mean death, because brain activity may still persist,” says [Caroline Watt](https:\/\/edwebprofiles.ed.ac.uk\/profile\/caroline-watt), PhD, emeritus professor of parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh and author of *Parapsychology: A Beginner’s Guide*. Some EEGs—especially surface-level ones used outside research settings—can miss subtle signals, and many deaths occur outside hospital settings, where no brain monitoring is conducted at all.\n\nBut not everyone is persuaded. The recent Michigan studies are “food for thought,” says [Bruce Greyson](https:\/\/www.brucegreyson.com\/about\/), MD, professor emeritus of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences at the University of Virginia and cofounder of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, who has spent over four decades studying NDEs. He warns that the studies are far from conclusive. In the Michigan cases, he points out, the heart was still beating—so oxygen was still circulating. That alone, he argues, disqualifies them as true post-death data. And none of the patients in the study returned to life, so it’s impossible to know whether gamma surges corresponded to NDEs. “That’s evidence not for gamma activity being a marker of NDEs, but rather the exact opposite,” he says. The spikes, he adds, could stem from pain, spasms, or even phantom electrical noise from the muscles themselves.\n\nIn his book *After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond*, Greyson argues that NDEs suggest consciousness may not be entirely reducible to brain function—seriously challenging strictly materialist models of the mind. As Greyson notes (quoting [Parnia 2024](https:\/\/www.resuscitationjournal.com\/article\/S0300-9572\\(23\\)00816-X\/fulltext)), “\\[T\\]he question of consciousness and its relationship with the brain remains one of the biggest mysteries in science.” While Greyson is careful not to claim that NDEs prove consciousness survives death, he acknowledges they raise significant questions about brain-based models of consciousness.\n\nBorjigin echoes the sentiment: “Death is the biggest disease no one has studied.” Skip the next few sentences if the archetypal fear of being buried alive sits with you often. There might be a chance the silent, waxy figure sealed in a coffin still holds internal visions no mourner outside can perceive. In 2012, [95-year-old Li Xiufeng](https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/news\/weird-news\/zombie-gran-95-year-old-chinese-woman-746295) of Guangxi province, China, was declared dead by neighbors after she had fallen. Her body lay in an open casket for six days, as tradition dictated—until, just hours before the funeral, she climbed out, went to her kitchen, and began cooking porridge. “I slept for a long time. After waking up, I felt so hungry, and wanted to cook something to eat,” she later said.\n\nWhen asked about the possibility that people have been buried alive or revived after being wrongly declared dead, Borjigin doesn’t flinch. She says it’s possible—and even suggests a bold solution: “Maybe we should have a camera inside a coffin.” She’s even clearer on what must happen next. “We need a global \\[scientific\\] re-assessment,” not just cultural or religious reassurances, but real evidence of what dying looks like, she says. “Death is the disease everybody is going to get, yet we don’t know much about it.”\n\n![popular mechanics magazine cover about a runaway locomotive](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pop-mech-locomotive-cover-6985fd79eca3e.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:*)\n\nPopular Mechanics\n\n![popular mechanics magazine cover about chernobyl dogs](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pop-mech-chernobyl-cover-6985fd2b419cc.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:*)\n\nPopular Mechanics\n\n![popular mechanics magazine cover about mind control](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pmxan525cov-lo-6985fcd616a99.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:*)\n\nPopular Mechanics\n\n![popular mechanics magazine cover about spaceships](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pmxan425cov-lo-6985fc68028c2.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:*)\n\nPopular Mechanics\n\n![a yellow and black sign](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pmxanb23cov-lo-65884f81a7827.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:*)\n\n![tie dye background with skeleton images and title written in groovy text reading secrets of the cia's doomed mind control experiments](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pmxan525cov-lo-68cb0b682f7db.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:*)\n\n![popular mechanics april and may 2024 cover](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pman224cov-lo-6605c4e642d39.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:*)\n\n![text](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/amelia-cover-66a9416e2b7f1.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:*)\n\n![ai is about to ruin humanity cover](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pmxan223cover-641c524aabf5b.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:*)\n\n![text](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pmxan623cov-65831c1051433.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:*)\n\n![popmech pro issue cover](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pmxan323cov-lo-646f6064440aa.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:*)\n\n![popular mechanics magazine cover](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pmxan123cov-lo-1674156737.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:*)\n\n![frozen individual with bluish tint and right hand raised behind a sheet of ice](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pmxan524cov-lo-66f2c7f9f076e.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:*)\n\n![a person standing on a rocky surface](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pmxan124cov-lo-65b2739e0ac2d.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:*)\n\n![pop mech issue cover](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pm-2022-07-cover-zodiac-1658954355.png?crop=1.00xw:1.00xh;0,0&resize=640:*)\n\n![cover of popular mechanics magazine discussing nuclear fusion](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pmxan125cov-lo-679143fceea56.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:*)\n\n![death](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pmxan422cov-lo-1669218120.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:*)\n\n![popular mechanics march 2025 cover](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/pmxan325cov-lo-68385a746ce01.jpg?crop=1.00xw:1.00xh;0,0&resize=640:*)\n\n![Headshot of Stav Dimitropoulos](https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/rover\/profile_photos\/3982ef5c-4a25-489d-884c-34bf21f33bc2_1560194184.file?fill=1:1&resize=120:*)\n\nStav Dimitropoulos is a Gold and Community Anthem Award–winning journalist, and writes about consciousness, science, and culture for *Popular Mechanics*, *Nature*, and the BBC. Her work often explores mind-stretching angles where science meets philosophy. Her debut nonfiction book, *Slow, Lazy, Gluttons* (Greystone Books, 2026) asks: What if the traits society shames — laziness, darkness, nostalgia, and more — are actually survival superpowers?","meta_canonical":null}

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URL	https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a70349043/death-consciousness-brain-gamma-wave/
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Meta Title	Brain Waves in Dying Patients May Mean Death Isn’t Final
Meta Description	Researchers documented a burst of gamma wave activity in the brains of patients taken off ventilators. It could mean it conducts a last-ditch effort to live.
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Boilerpipe Text	Death might not be a clear-cut event, as gamma brainwaves may persist even after other signs of life have ceased. Near-death experiences suggest the brain could launch a desperate effort to find meaning or survive, which challenges our assumptions. Misinterpretations of death may could impact practices like organ donation, requiring careful evaluation of protocols. On October 26, 2021, at Baptist Health Richmond in Kentucky, 36‑year‑old Anthony “TJ” Hoover II was declared brain dead after a drug overdose. Doctors told his family he had no reflexes or brain activity. He had previously consented to organ donation, and a medical team began preparations. But about an hour into the procedure, the surgeons abruptly stopped. According to a whistleblower letter later sent to Congress, Hoover had begun “thrashing” on the operating table. Against all odds, he had regained consciousness. Though left with long-term impairments to speech, memory, and mobility because of the drug overdose, Hoover survived—and was eventually discharged into the care of his sister. His case—and others like it, from Kenya to Poland , Ecuador to China , where people have woken in morgues, coffins, or during last rites—force us to confront a mind-boggling possibility: What if death isn’t the neat, cataclysmic, all-at-once event our medical protocols make it out to be? The standard reductionist model says consciousness simply ceases after death. Lights out. Thank you, next. But recent studies have surfaced anomalies that challenge that timeline—and those models. One example: gamma-wave bursts—high-frequency electrical activity in the brain ( 30 to 100 hertz )—the same kind linked to memory and awareness. And researchers have recorded them even after death has occurred. But why would the brain do this after death—or near it? In a 2023 University of Michigan study , researchers analyzed electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings from four comatose patients whose ventilators had been withdrawn. EEG measures the brain’s electrical activity, while ECG tracks the electrical signals that regulate heart rhythm. In two of the patients, they observed a sudden surge in gamma brainwaves within seconds of cardiac decline. These bursts weren’t random: they were synchronized with slower brain rhythms (a recurring pattern in conscious perception and REM sleep). They also showed strong connectivity across the brain—especially in the “ posterior hot zone, ” an area linked to vision, bodily awareness, and sensory processing. The connectivity extended toward the frontal regions too, mimicking the neural patterns seen in dreaming, psychedelic states, and even conscious perception. There was a highly organized surge across key regions of the brain—as if the entire system is momentarily lit up from within, says Jimo Borjigin , PhD, associate professor of neurology and molecular and integrative physiology at the University of Michigan, and coauthor of the study. She adds that the activation appeared in areas tied to motion, speech, and even the temporal-parietal junction—a region of the brain involved in integrating sensory information and often linked to out-of-body experiences (OBEs), which are commonly reported as part of near-death experiences (NDEs). Many NDE accounts describe vivid sensory phenomena—such as bright lights, tunnels, or hearing voices of deceased relatives—which Borjigin notes could relate to the activity patterns seen in the study, particularly in brain regions involved in vision and sensory processing. Why would the dying brain go out with a flurry of activity instead of a gentle drift? Surely it’s biologically expensive. “The brain [uses] 20 percent of the body’s energy,” says Borjigin. “Why, at this moment [after the oxygen supply has stopped] would we consume so much effort to produce conscious experience?” The Michigan professor offers one theory: The brain may be launching an internal search for survival. Many people who have had NDEs report reliving emotional moments, hearing messages like “It’s not your time,” or seeing deceased loved ones, she says. The dying brain might be reaching deep into memory, searching for unresolved purpose or a compelling reason to continue living. She also stresses how these findings challenge our assumptions. “We think of a comatose person as ‘gone,’ but even in those states, organized gamma activity appeared in regions tied to visual awareness. It’s a kind of twilight consciousness, possibly hidden but active.” And if someone can be revived, maybe they weren’t dead to begin with. “These four patients were comatose, unresponsive, doctors decided there’s no hope, they want to remove the ventilator—yet [in two of them], there’s massive brain activity still happening,” Borjigin explains. It should make us rethink the dying process, she says. Because death might not mean gone. That uncertainty could, in some cases, inform how surgeons assess the timing of organ donation. If we don’t recognize covert signs of life, we might be removing organs from someone who could have recovered, says Borjigin. (Such cases are extremely rare, and organ donation saves countless lives.) Death may be more ambiguous than we think. “Cardiac arrest doesn’t necessarily mean death, because brain activity may still persist,” says Caroline Watt , PhD, emeritus professor of parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh and author of Parapsychology: A Beginner’s Guide . Some EEGs—especially surface-level ones used outside research settings—can miss subtle signals, and many deaths occur outside hospital settings, where no brain monitoring is conducted at all. But not everyone is persuaded. The recent Michigan studies are “food for thought,” says Bruce Greyson , MD, professor emeritus of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences at the University of Virginia and cofounder of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, who has spent over four decades studying NDEs. He warns that the studies are far from conclusive. In the Michigan cases, he points out, the heart was still beating—so oxygen was still circulating. That alone, he argues, disqualifies them as true post-death data. And none of the patients in the study returned to life, so it’s impossible to know whether gamma surges corresponded to NDEs. “That’s evidence not for gamma activity being a marker of NDEs, but rather the exact opposite,” he says. The spikes, he adds, could stem from pain, spasms, or even phantom electrical noise from the muscles themselves. In his book After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond , Greyson argues that NDEs suggest consciousness may not be entirely reducible to brain function—seriously challenging strictly materialist models of the mind. As Greyson notes (quoting Parnia 2024 ), “[T]he question of consciousness and its relationship with the brain remains one of the biggest mysteries in science.” While Greyson is careful not to claim that NDEs prove consciousness survives death, he acknowledges they raise significant questions about brain-based models of consciousness. Borjigin echoes the sentiment: “Death is the biggest disease no one has studied.” Skip the next few sentences if the archetypal fear of being buried alive sits with you often. There might be a chance the silent, waxy figure sealed in a coffin still holds internal visions no mourner outside can perceive. In 2012, 95-year-old Li Xiufeng of Guangxi province, China, was declared dead by neighbors after she had fallen. Her body lay in an open casket for six days, as tradition dictated—until, just hours before the funeral, she climbed out, went to her kitchen, and began cooking porridge. “I slept for a long time. After waking up, I felt so hungry, and wanted to cook something to eat,” she later said. When asked about the possibility that people have been buried alive or revived after being wrongly declared dead, Borjigin doesn’t flinch. She says it’s possible—and even suggests a bold solution: “Maybe we should have a camera inside a coffin.” She’s even clearer on what must happen next. “We need a global [scientific] re-assessment,” not just cultural or religious reassurances, but real evidence of what dying looks like, she says. “Death is the disease everybody is going to get, yet we don’t know much about it.” Popular Mechanics Popular Mechanics Popular Mechanics Popular Mechanics Stav Dimitropoulos is a Gold and Community Anthem Award–winning journalist, and writes about consciousness, science, and culture for Popular Mechanics , Nature , and the BBC. Her work often explores mind-stretching angles where science meets philosophy. Her debut nonfiction book, Slow, Lazy, Gluttons (Greystone Books, 2026) asks: What if the traits society shames — laziness, darkness, nostalgia, and more — are actually survival superpowers?
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[Science](https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/) 2. [Health](https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/) 3. [A ‘Twilight Consciousness’ May Exist in Dying Patients, Scientists Say. Could That Mean Death Isn’t Final?](https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a70349043/death-consciousness-brain-gamma-wave/) # A ‘Twilight Consciousness’ May Exist in Dying Patients, Scientists Say. Could That Mean Death Isn’t Final? Just before it ceases functioning, the brain may make a last-ditch effort to find unresolved purpose or a reason to stay alive. By [Stav Dimitropoulos](https://www.popularmechanics.com/author/222985/stav-dimitropoulos/ "Stav Dimitropoulos") Published: Feb 13, 2026 5:30 PM EST ![bookmarks](https://www.popularmechanics.com/_assets/design-tokens/fre/static/icons/saved.ad81f1a.svg?primary=%2523000000) ![Open share options](https://www.popularmechanics.com/_assets/design-tokens/fre/static/icons/social/sharing.89c15b8.svg) ![bookmarks](https://www.popularmechanics.com/_assets/design-tokens/fre/static/icons/chat-text-regular.fbcc23c.svg?primary=%2523000000)2 ![bookmarks](https://www.popularmechanics.com/_assets/design-tokens/fre/static/icons/headphones-regular.117021e.svg?primary=%2523000000)Listen (9 min)9 min * - Death might not be a clear-cut event, as gamma brainwaves may persist even after other signs of life have ceased. - Near-death experiences suggest the brain could launch a desperate effort to find meaning or survive, which challenges our assumptions. - Misinterpretations of death may could impact practices like organ donation, requiring careful evaluation of protocols. * On October 26, 2021, at Baptist Health Richmond in Kentucky, 36‑year‑old Anthony “TJ” Hoover II was declared [brain](https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a70172357/human-organoids-rat-brains/) dead after a drug overdose. Doctors told his family he had no reflexes or brain activity. He had previously consented to organ donation, and a medical team began preparations. But about an hour into the procedure, the surgeons abruptly stopped. According to a whistleblower letter later sent to Congress, Hoover had begun “thrashing” on the operating table. Against all odds, he had regained consciousness. Though left with long-term [impairments](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/18/kentucky-man-wakes-up-organ-harvesting) to speech, memory, and mobility because of the drug overdose, Hoover survived—and was eventually discharged into the care of his sister. His case—and others like it, [from Kenya to Poland](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/14/waking-morgue-death-janina-kolkiewicz), [Ecuador](https://www.businessinsider.com/dead-person-alive-woke-up-doctor-seen-twice-2023-2) to [China](https://www.ucanews.com/news/95-year-old-gets-out-of-coffin-days-after-dying), where people have woken in morgues, coffins, or during last rites—force us to confront a mind-boggling possibility: What if [death](https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a69797512/xenobots-conscious-cells/) isn’t the neat, cataclysmic, all-at-once event our medical protocols make it out to be? The standard reductionist model says [consciousness](https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a69999336/lucid-dreaming-precognition/) simply ceases after death. Lights out. Thank you, next. But recent studies have surfaced anomalies that challenge that timeline—and those models. One example: gamma-wave bursts—high-frequency electrical activity in the brain ([30 to 100 hertz](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/gamma-wave))—the same kind [linked](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19273069/) to memory and awareness. And researchers have recorded them even after death has occurred. But why would the brain do this after death—or near it? In a 2023 University of Michigan [study](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2216268120), researchers analyzed electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings from four comatose patients whose ventilators had been withdrawn. EEG measures the brain’s electrical activity, while ECG tracks the electrical signals that regulate heart rhythm. In two of the patients, they observed a sudden surge in gamma brainwaves within seconds of cardiac decline. These bursts weren’t random: they were synchronized with slower brain rhythms (a recurring pattern in conscious perception and REM sleep). They also showed strong connectivity across the brain—especially in the “[posterior hot zone,](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105381192100118X)” an area linked to vision, bodily awareness, and sensory processing. The connectivity extended toward the frontal regions too, mimicking the neural patterns seen in dreaming, psychedelic states, and even conscious perception. There was a highly organized surge across key regions of the brain—as if the entire system is momentarily lit up from within, says [Jimo Borjigin](https://medicine.umich.edu/dept/mni/jimo-borjigin-phd), PhD, associate professor of neurology and molecular and integrative physiology at the University of Michigan, and coauthor of the study. She adds that the activation appeared in areas tied to motion, speech, and even the temporal-parietal junction—a region of the brain involved in integrating sensory information and often linked to out-of-body experiences (OBEs), which are commonly [reported](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15632275/) as part of near-death experiences (NDEs). Many NDE accounts describe vivid sensory phenomena—such as bright lights, tunnels, or hearing voices of deceased relatives—which Borjigin notes could relate to the activity patterns seen in the study, particularly in brain regions involved in vision and sensory processing. Why would the dying brain go out with a flurry of activity instead of a gentle drift? Surely it’s biologically expensive. “The brain \[uses\] 20 percent of the body’s energy,” says Borjigin. “Why, at this moment \[after the oxygen supply has stopped\] would we consume so much effort to produce conscious experience?” The Michigan professor offers one theory: The brain may be launching an internal search for survival. Many people who have had NDEs report reliving emotional moments, hearing messages like “It’s not your time,” or seeing deceased loved ones, she says. The dying brain might be reaching deep into memory, searching for unresolved purpose or a compelling reason to continue living. She also stresses how these findings challenge our assumptions. “We think of a comatose person as ‘gone,’ but even in those states, organized gamma activity appeared in regions tied to visual awareness. It’s a kind of twilight consciousness, possibly hidden but active.” And if someone can be revived, maybe they weren’t dead to begin with. “These four patients were comatose, unresponsive, doctors decided there’s no hope, they want to remove the ventilator—yet \[in two of them\], there’s massive brain activity still happening,” Borjigin explains. It should make us rethink the dying process, she says. Because death might not mean gone. That uncertainty could, in some cases, inform how surgeons assess the timing of organ donation. If we don’t recognize covert signs of life, we might be removing organs from someone who could have recovered, says Borjigin. (Such cases are extremely rare, and organ donation saves countless lives.) Death may be more ambiguous than we think. “Cardiac arrest doesn’t necessarily mean death, because brain activity may still persist,” says [Caroline Watt](https://edwebprofiles.ed.ac.uk/profile/caroline-watt), PhD, emeritus professor of parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh and author of Parapsychology: A Beginner’s Guide. Some EEGs—especially surface-level ones used outside research settings—can miss subtle signals, and many deaths occur outside hospital settings, where no brain monitoring is conducted at all. But not everyone is persuaded. The recent Michigan studies are “food for thought,” says [Bruce Greyson](https://www.brucegreyson.com/about/), MD, professor emeritus of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences at the University of Virginia and cofounder of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, who has spent over four decades studying NDEs. He warns that the studies are far from conclusive. In the Michigan cases, he points out, the heart was still beating—so oxygen was still circulating. That alone, he argues, disqualifies them as true post-death data. And none of the patients in the study returned to life, so it’s impossible to know whether gamma surges corresponded to NDEs. “That’s evidence not for gamma activity being a marker of NDEs, but rather the exact opposite,” he says. The spikes, he adds, could stem from pain, spasms, or even phantom electrical noise from the muscles themselves. ## What happens when we die? - [![](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/virus-disease-x-cells-microscope-slide-royalty-free-image-1740513241.pjpeg?crop=1.00xw:0.881xh;0,0&resize=300:)Could We Have Evidence That Cells Are Conscious?](https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a69797512/xenobots-conscious-cells/) - [![](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/nurse-pushing-patient-lying-on-hospital-royalty-free-illustration-1739901964.pjpeg?crop=0.995xw:0.735xh;0.00481xw,0.168xh&resize=300:)DMT Controls Consciousness at Your Moment of Death](https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a63831340/dmt-near-death-experience/) - [![](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/abstract-silhouette-royalty-free-image-1763571635.pjpeg?crop=1.00xw:0.403xh;0,0.424xh&resize=300:)She Was Pronounced Dead—Then Found Gasping for Air](https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a69485935/what-is-considered-death/) In his book After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond, Greyson argues that NDEs suggest consciousness may not be entirely reducible to brain function—seriously challenging strictly materialist models of the mind. As Greyson notes (quoting [Parnia 2024](https://www.resuscitationjournal.com/article/S0300-9572\(23\)00816-X/fulltext)), “\[T\]he question of consciousness and its relationship with the brain remains one of the biggest mysteries in science.” While Greyson is careful not to claim that NDEs prove consciousness survives death, he acknowledges they raise significant questions about brain-based models of consciousness. Borjigin echoes the sentiment: “Death is the biggest disease no one has studied.” Skip the next few sentences if the archetypal fear of being buried alive sits with you often. There might be a chance the silent, waxy figure sealed in a coffin still holds internal visions no mourner outside can perceive. In 2012, [95-year-old Li Xiufeng](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/zombie-gran-95-year-old-chinese-woman-746295) of Guangxi province, China, was declared dead by neighbors after she had fallen. Her body lay in an open casket for six days, as tradition dictated—until, just hours before the funeral, she climbed out, went to her kitchen, and began cooking porridge. “I slept for a long time. After waking up, I felt so hungry, and wanted to cook something to eat,” she later said. When asked about the possibility that people have been buried alive or revived after being wrongly declared dead, Borjigin doesn’t flinch. She says it’s possible—and even suggests a bold solution: “Maybe we should have a camera inside a coffin.” She’s even clearer on what must happen next. “We need a global \[scientific\] re-assessment,” not just cultural or religious reassurances, but real evidence of what dying looks like, she says. “Death is the disease everybody is going to get, yet we don’t know much about it.” ## Download Pop Mech Digital Issues ![Chevron Left Icon](https://www.popularmechanics.com/_assets/design-tokens/fre/static/icons/arrow-left-regular.dc4f48a.svg?primary=%2523D4D4D4) ![Chevron Right Icon](https://www.popularmechanics.com/_assets/design-tokens/fre/static/icons/arrow-right-regular.e879c19.svg?primary=%2523fff) ![popular mechanics magazine cover about a runaway locomotive](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/pop-mech-locomotive-cover-6985fd79eca3e.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:) [Get the 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Her work often explores mind-stretching angles where science meets philosophy. Her debut nonfiction book, Slow, Lazy, Gluttons (Greystone Books, 2026) asks: What if the traits society shames — laziness, darkness, nostalgia, and more — are actually survival superpowers? 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Readable Markdown	* - Death might not be a clear-cut event, as gamma brainwaves may persist even after other signs of life have ceased. - Near-death experiences suggest the brain could launch a desperate effort to find meaning or survive, which challenges our assumptions. - Misinterpretations of death may could impact practices like organ donation, requiring careful evaluation of protocols. * On October 26, 2021, at Baptist Health Richmond in Kentucky, 36‑year‑old Anthony “TJ” Hoover II was declared [brain](https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a70172357/human-organoids-rat-brains/) dead after a drug overdose. Doctors told his family he had no reflexes or brain activity. He had previously consented to organ donation, and a medical team began preparations. But about an hour into the procedure, the surgeons abruptly stopped. According to a whistleblower letter later sent to Congress, Hoover had begun “thrashing” on the operating table. Against all odds, he had regained consciousness. Though left with long-term [impairments](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/18/kentucky-man-wakes-up-organ-harvesting) to speech, memory, and mobility because of the drug overdose, Hoover survived—and was eventually discharged into the care of his sister. His case—and others like it, [from Kenya to Poland](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/14/waking-morgue-death-janina-kolkiewicz), [Ecuador](https://www.businessinsider.com/dead-person-alive-woke-up-doctor-seen-twice-2023-2) to [China](https://www.ucanews.com/news/95-year-old-gets-out-of-coffin-days-after-dying), where people have woken in morgues, coffins, or during last rites—force us to confront a mind-boggling possibility: What if [death](https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a69797512/xenobots-conscious-cells/) isn’t the neat, cataclysmic, all-at-once event our medical protocols make it out to be? The standard reductionist model says [consciousness](https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a69999336/lucid-dreaming-precognition/) simply ceases after death. Lights out. Thank you, next. But recent studies have surfaced anomalies that challenge that timeline—and those models. One example: gamma-wave bursts—high-frequency electrical activity in the brain ([30 to 100 hertz](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/gamma-wave))—the same kind [linked](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19273069/) to memory and awareness. And researchers have recorded them even after death has occurred. But why would the brain do this after death—or near it? In a 2023 University of Michigan [study](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2216268120), researchers analyzed electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings from four comatose patients whose ventilators had been withdrawn. EEG measures the brain’s electrical activity, while ECG tracks the electrical signals that regulate heart rhythm. In two of the patients, they observed a sudden surge in gamma brainwaves within seconds of cardiac decline. These bursts weren’t random: they were synchronized with slower brain rhythms (a recurring pattern in conscious perception and REM sleep). They also showed strong connectivity across the brain—especially in the “[posterior hot zone,](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105381192100118X)” an area linked to vision, bodily awareness, and sensory processing. The connectivity extended toward the frontal regions too, mimicking the neural patterns seen in dreaming, psychedelic states, and even conscious perception. There was a highly organized surge across key regions of the brain—as if the entire system is momentarily lit up from within, says [Jimo Borjigin](https://medicine.umich.edu/dept/mni/jimo-borjigin-phd), PhD, associate professor of neurology and molecular and integrative physiology at the University of Michigan, and coauthor of the study. She adds that the activation appeared in areas tied to motion, speech, and even the temporal-parietal junction—a region of the brain involved in integrating sensory information and often linked to out-of-body experiences (OBEs), which are commonly [reported](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15632275/) as part of near-death experiences (NDEs). Many NDE accounts describe vivid sensory phenomena—such as bright lights, tunnels, or hearing voices of deceased relatives—which Borjigin notes could relate to the activity patterns seen in the study, particularly in brain regions involved in vision and sensory processing. Why would the dying brain go out with a flurry of activity instead of a gentle drift? Surely it’s biologically expensive. “The brain \[uses\] 20 percent of the body’s energy,” says Borjigin. “Why, at this moment \[after the oxygen supply has stopped\] would we consume so much effort to produce conscious experience?” The Michigan professor offers one theory: The brain may be launching an internal search for survival. Many people who have had NDEs report reliving emotional moments, hearing messages like “It’s not your time,” or seeing deceased loved ones, she says. The dying brain might be reaching deep into memory, searching for unresolved purpose or a compelling reason to continue living. She also stresses how these findings challenge our assumptions. “We think of a comatose person as ‘gone,’ but even in those states, organized gamma activity appeared in regions tied to visual awareness. It’s a kind of twilight consciousness, possibly hidden but active.” And if someone can be revived, maybe they weren’t dead to begin with. “These four patients were comatose, unresponsive, doctors decided there’s no hope, they want to remove the ventilator—yet \[in two of them\], there’s massive brain activity still happening,” Borjigin explains. It should make us rethink the dying process, she says. Because death might not mean gone. That uncertainty could, in some cases, inform how surgeons assess the timing of organ donation. If we don’t recognize covert signs of life, we might be removing organs from someone who could have recovered, says Borjigin. (Such cases are extremely rare, and organ donation saves countless lives.) Death may be more ambiguous than we think. “Cardiac arrest doesn’t necessarily mean death, because brain activity may still persist,” says [Caroline Watt](https://edwebprofiles.ed.ac.uk/profile/caroline-watt), PhD, emeritus professor of parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh and author of Parapsychology: A Beginner’s Guide. Some EEGs—especially surface-level ones used outside research settings—can miss subtle signals, and many deaths occur outside hospital settings, where no brain monitoring is conducted at all. But not everyone is persuaded. The recent Michigan studies are “food for thought,” says [Bruce Greyson](https://www.brucegreyson.com/about/), MD, professor emeritus of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences at the University of Virginia and cofounder of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, who has spent over four decades studying NDEs. He warns that the studies are far from conclusive. In the Michigan cases, he points out, the heart was still beating—so oxygen was still circulating. That alone, he argues, disqualifies them as true post-death data. And none of the patients in the study returned to life, so it’s impossible to know whether gamma surges corresponded to NDEs. “That’s evidence not for gamma activity being a marker of NDEs, but rather the exact opposite,” he says. The spikes, he adds, could stem from pain, spasms, or even phantom electrical noise from the muscles themselves. In his book After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond, Greyson argues that NDEs suggest consciousness may not be entirely reducible to brain function—seriously challenging strictly materialist models of the mind. As Greyson notes (quoting [Parnia 2024](https://www.resuscitationjournal.com/article/S0300-9572\(23\)00816-X/fulltext)), “\[T\]he question of consciousness and its relationship with the brain remains one of the biggest mysteries in science.” While Greyson is careful not to claim that NDEs prove consciousness survives death, he acknowledges they raise significant questions about brain-based models of consciousness. Borjigin echoes the sentiment: “Death is the biggest disease no one has studied.” Skip the next few sentences if the archetypal fear of being buried alive sits with you often. There might be a chance the silent, waxy figure sealed in a coffin still holds internal visions no mourner outside can perceive. In 2012, [95-year-old Li Xiufeng](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/zombie-gran-95-year-old-chinese-woman-746295) of Guangxi province, China, was declared dead by neighbors after she had fallen. Her body lay in an open casket for six days, as tradition dictated—until, just hours before the funeral, she climbed out, went to her kitchen, and began cooking porridge. “I slept for a long time. After waking up, I felt so hungry, and wanted to cook something to eat,” she later said. When asked about the possibility that people have been buried alive or revived after being wrongly declared dead, Borjigin doesn’t flinch. She says it’s possible—and even suggests a bold solution: “Maybe we should have a camera inside a coffin.” She’s even clearer on what must happen next. “We need a global \[scientific\] re-assessment,” not just cultural or religious reassurances, but real evidence of what dying looks like, she says. “Death is the disease everybody is going to get, yet we don’t know much about it.” ![popular mechanics magazine cover about a runaway locomotive](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/pop-mech-locomotive-cover-6985fd79eca3e.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:) Popular Mechanics ![popular mechanics magazine cover about chernobyl dogs](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/pop-mech-chernobyl-cover-6985fd2b419cc.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:) Popular Mechanics ![popular mechanics magazine cover about mind control](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/pmxan525cov-lo-6985fcd616a99.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:) Popular Mechanics ![popular mechanics magazine cover about spaceships](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/pmxan425cov-lo-6985fc68028c2.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:) Popular Mechanics ![a yellow and black sign](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/pmxanb23cov-lo-65884f81a7827.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:) ![tie dye background with skeleton images and title written in groovy text reading secrets of the cia's doomed mind control experiments](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/pmxan525cov-lo-68cb0b682f7db.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:) ![popular mechanics april and may 2024 cover](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/pman224cov-lo-6605c4e642d39.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:) ![text](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/amelia-cover-66a9416e2b7f1.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:) ![ai is about to ruin humanity cover](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/pmxan223cover-641c524aabf5b.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:) ![text](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/pmxan623cov-65831c1051433.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:) ![popmech pro issue cover](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/pmxan323cov-lo-646f6064440aa.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:) ![popular mechanics magazine cover](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/pmxan123cov-lo-1674156737.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:) ![frozen individual with bluish tint and right hand raised behind a sheet of ice](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/pmxan524cov-lo-66f2c7f9f076e.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:) ![a person standing on a rocky surface](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/pmxan124cov-lo-65b2739e0ac2d.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:) ![pop mech issue cover](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/pm-2022-07-cover-zodiac-1658954355.png?crop=1.00xw:1.00xh;0,0&resize=640:) ![cover of popular mechanics magazine discussing nuclear fusion](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/pmxan125cov-lo-679143fceea56.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:) ![death](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/pmxan422cov-lo-1669218120.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:) ![popular mechanics march 2025 cover](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/pmxan325cov-lo-68385a746ce01.jpg?crop=1.00xw:1.00xh;0,0&resize=640:) ![Headshot of Stav Dimitropoulos](https://hips.hearstapps.com/rover/profile_photos/3982ef5c-4a25-489d-884c-34bf21f33bc2_1560194184.file?fill=1:1&resize=120:) Stav Dimitropoulos is a Gold and Community Anthem Award–winning journalist, and writes about consciousness, science, and culture for Popular Mechanics, Nature, and the BBC. Her work often explores mind-stretching angles where science meets philosophy. Her debut nonfiction book, Slow, Lazy, Gluttons* (Greystone Books, 2026) asks: What if the traits society shames — laziness, darkness, nostalgia, and more — are actually survival superpowers?
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