IKR? Unusual neural activity during a heart attack and system shut-down, and the authors turn that into “recapitulation of entire episodic memory”, because reasons.
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It really wasn’t a conclusion. Speculation, and they said so, and even that much they walked back:
it is intriguing to speculate that such activity could support a last ‘recall of life’ that may take place in the near-death state,"
However, the findings are based on the recordings from just one person, and the researchers urge caution, noting among other factors that traumatic brain injuries and white matter damage can affect brain waves
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I hope my lived experiences come back with cartoon censor bars over private areas.
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Perhaps you know something about the gender and/or gender preference(s) of @UnBoingBoing that I don’t but it seems equally likely that they’re going for a “show me the dick” moment.
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That makes a difference how?
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Moobs!
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Helping/not helping 
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Well, see, it could be a woman, so misogyny no longer exists! I’m sure just as many women as men talk endlessly about how all they think about is sex… so, equality achieved! /s
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If you respond to unsolicited dick pics with “Is it supposed to look like that? Aw, you’re very brave!” they tend not to send you a second one.
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Now that I’ve committed this gif to memory, it’s something dying mind could show me in my final seconds.
Thanks a lot.
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“No thank you, I’m not fond of Vienna sausages.”
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Yes thanks.
Brain death in the donor, definitely.
Have always wondered, and I don’t know if you would even be able to answer this, but if I were brain dead, and if I were to donate whatever organs I could, is there enough “me” to still feel the process? Does my body get anesthesia or would that potentially impact the donated organ too much to make for a good transplant?
I completely get it if you can’t answer.
I guess part of the issue is just how much brain death is sufficient to not feel pain.
Organ donors are amazing special people.
My deepest respect for their final act of generosity, often anonymously.
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Don’t know about anesthesia, though I suspect it isn’t necessary for the donor. Brain death involves absolute inactivity in the brain. The patient does not have any response to any stimulus, including things that ordinarily cause substantial pain (nailbed pressure comes to mind, where a hard object like the handle of a reflex hammer is pressed into the base of a thumbnail).
The body cannot have any spontaneous breathing, usually tested by turning of the ventilator for several minutes.
The body will not exhibit any reflexes, which goes far beyond the knee jerk type reflex. A brain has been severely injured, but isn’t dead, might exhibit what are labeled “primitive” reflexes. For example, a “pucker” reflex may re-emerge. Newborns will respond by puckering their lips when something touches them. It’s thought to be related to breastfeeding. The action disappears after a few months. Search for “primitive reflexes” or “infantile reflexes” if you’d like to learn more about them. Some of them are kinda strange. Since he’s a pediatrician, docosc probably knows a lot about them.
Usually at least two physicians must agree on all of these things. Please know that I am not a Neurologist and have not been a part of such a process, and some of what I’ve written could be very wrong. I have declared plenty of folks dead in the more traditional sense, such as patients with terminal cancer who have an expected death in Hospice, but I’m not addressing the same sort of issues.
What’s quite remarkable about all of this is that these things continue to spark a lot of controversy among bioethicists. The first article I found on a quick search about brain death bioethics is a pretty good reference.
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The idea being that the whole thing won’t be dragged out and is over really quick?
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Thank you for all of this.
The body not exhibiting any reflexes makes sense to me as part of the final evaluation process.
I appreciate your generosity here.
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