DailyDirt: Near Death Experiences

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Mon, Aug 26th 2013 5:00pm — Michael Ho

In 1907, a physician named Duncan MacDougall tried to quantify the moment of death for 6 people -- making a wild conclusion that a human soul weighs 21 grams. Today, we have a few more advanced ways to study near death experiences, but we haven't quite conquered the field of resuscitation science or vanquished death itself. Here are just a few fascinating -- but somewhat morbid -- links.

A cardiologist predicts that we'll be able to revive the clinically dead up to 24 hours after they stop breathing. Obviously, resuscitation techniques are getting better, but they will only work on patients with certain conditions -- and vital organs like the brain would have to be cooled down to preserve its functions. [url]
Lab rats might have near-death experiences, according to researchers who implanted electrodes into rat brains and observed a spike of brain activity after the rodents were killed. We'll probably never know if they see a bright light at the end of a tunnel or their entire lives flash before their eyes, but it's interesting to see the same kind of brain activity in other mammals near death. [url]
Researchers have discovered a "cascade of death" in dying roundworms that originates in its intestines and follows a necrosis pathway for about 1.5 hours before the organism completely expires. Scientists have actually known for years that Caenorhabditis elegans emits an eerily blue glow in its last throes of death, but only recently have researchers determined the molecular cause of this "death fluorescence" and tried methods to delay the onset of death in this worm species. Unfortunately, it's not possible (yet) to create immortal worms, but we've learned for certain that there's more than one way to kill a nematode. [url]

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Filed Under: brain activity, death, death fluorescence, near-death, necrosis, nematode, resuscitation, roundworm

10 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 26 Aug 2013 @ 5:20pm

immortal worms... great idea.
instead of cockroaches outliving everyone, it'l be worms. awesome.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2013 @ 12:51am

I don't know if this is true but a friend of mind who seems to know a lot about a lot and has been right most of the time says that, considering that when you die your brain looses it's electric charge you'd loose your memory

this may not be true but I've never known him to tell a lie.

any thoughts?
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 27 Aug 2013 @ 1:01am

Partial-Death Experiences Show There Is No Afterlife
Lots of people in the world today have already suffered partial death. The part of them that dies does not hang around like a ghost, it is gone.
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- The Real Michael, 27 Aug 2013 @ 5:03am
  
  Re: Partial-Death Experiences Show There Is No Afterlife
  Many people have reported experiencing NDE and seeing apparitions shortly before expiring. It's easy to research.
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  - Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 28 Aug 2013 @ 4:27pm
    
    Re: Many people have reported experiencing NDE
    I was talking about partial, but actual death, not �near-death�.
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- Anonymous, 27 Aug 2013 @ 2:38pm
  
  Re: Partial-Death Experiences Show There Is No Afterlife
  Huh?
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2013 @ 1:11am

I want to be immortal
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Anonymous, 27 Aug 2013 @ 2:35pm

I've seen this movie before. It was called "Flatliners".
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Anonymous, 27 Aug 2013 @ 2:37pm

A spike of brain activity AFTER the rodents were killed isn't a "near-death experience", is it? That would be an after-death experience.
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BOP (profile), 29 Aug 2013 @ 10:44am

24 hour resucitation
If it was my family member I don't think I'd be glad to have one brought back to life after 24 hours, don't think they'd be in very livable shape..
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