The Groundless Myth of an Electrically Surging Dying Brain

 British mainstream news sources often misinform us very badly on science-related topics. In 2024 the British paper the Guardian gave us a junk story on the topic of near-death experiences. It pushed a groundless narrative that a neuroscientist had done something to help explain such experiences, which is not at all correct.  My widely read post "The Guardian's Misleading Story on Near-Death Experiences" gave an in-depth expose of all of the errors and misleading statements in that article. I was actually invited by someone at a scientific journal to turn that article into a scientific paper, but I declined, mostly because I am too busy writing posts for my three blogs (all which have many posts scheduled for future publication). 

A post of mine from 2025 ("The BBC's Science News Coverage Is Often Third-Rate") gave quite a few examples of third-rate coverage of science by the British Broadcasting Company or its affiliate or licensee that publishes under the name of BBC Science Focus. My post here documents falsehoods and misleading statements in a year 2025 BBC Science Focus article on near-death experiences. The latest example of poor science-related journalism from BBC Science Focus is a year 2026 article entitled "We're finally learning what it's like to die. And it's not as bad as you think...". 

Near the beginning of the article the author (Nate Scharping) states this, referring to EEG devices that read brain waves by means of electrodes attached to a head: 

"But scientists have recently begun to explore what happens in the final moment of life by gathering data on brain activity from patients who are dying. Using electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings, researchers are able to watch how patterns of brain activity change in the moments leading up to death."

We then have from the BBC article a very misleading statement trying to suggest the false idea that brains stay active for a minute after the heart has stopped. The article says this:

"That means that a flatlining heart monitor alarm – the classic Hollywood marker of death – doesn’t actually represent brain death.  According to Dr Ajmal Zemmar, a neurosurgeon and neuroscientist in Louisville, Kentucky, real brain death occurs later, likely more than a minute after the heart stops. That’s when an EEG shows a halt in brain activity."

I don't know who got it wrong here (Zemmar or the article writer Scharping), but the statement is false. The reality is that EEG devices show brains flatlining within 15 to 30 seconds after the heart stops, not "more than a minute" after the heart stops. 

The term "isoelectric" or iso-electric in reference to brain waves means a flat-lining equivalent to no electrical activity in the brain, as measured by EEG readings. The paper here states, "Within 10 to 40 seconds after circulatory arrest the EEG becomes iso-electric." Figure 1 of the paper here says that such an isoelectric flat-lining occurred within 26 seconds after the start of ventricular fibrillation, the "V-fib" that is a common cause of sudden cardiac death, with "cortical activity absent." Also referring to a flat-lining of brain waves meaning a stopping of brain electrical activity, another scientific paper says, "several studies have shown that EEG becomes isoelectric within 15 s [seconds] after ischemia [heart stopping] without a significant decrease in ATP level (Naritomi et al., 1988; Alger et al., 1989)."  

Similarly, another paper refers to blood pressure, and tells us, "When flow is below 20 mL/100 g/min (60% below normal), EEG becomes isoelectric." meaning that brain electrical activity flat-lines. The 85-page "Cerebral Protection" document here states, "During cardiac arrest, the EEG becomes isoelectric within 20-30 sec and this persists for several minutes after resuscitation." Another scientific paper states this, again using the word "isoelectric" to refer to flatlining of brain waves: 

"Of importance, during cardiac arrest, chest compliance is not confounded by muscle activity. The EEG becomes isoelectric within 15 to 20 seconds, and the patient becomes flaccid (Clark, 1992; Bang, 2003)."

A recent scientific paper referring to EEG readings of brain waves states this: 

"The trajectory of EEG activity following cardiac arrest is both well defined and simple. It consists of an almost immediate decline in EEG power, which culminates in a state of isoelectricity [flatlining] within 20 s [seconds]." 

A year 2025 scientific paper ("Near-death experience during cardiac arrest and consciousness beyond the brain: a narrative review") states this:

"In the context of circulatory arrest, cortical electrical waves in the alpha (8-13Hz) and beta (13-30Hz) bands disappear after an average of 6.5 seconds, while at the same time, the background activity of EEG is replaced by slow waves at delta frequency (<4Hz), which progressively attenuate and lead to a flat EEG recording with no measurable electrical wave pattern around 10-30 seconds—a neural process called isoelectricity or electrocerebral silence (Clute & Levy, 1990; de Vries et  al., 1998; Singer et  al., 1991; Smith et  al., 1990; van Lommel, 2023, p. 28; Visser et  al., 2001; Vriens et  al., 1996). Furthermore, in monkeys and cats, the EEG becomes isoelectric within 20 seconds of the cessation of cerebral blood flow (Hossmann & Kleihues, 1973). The EEG results suggest that cortical electrical activity critical for consciousness, namely alpha and beta activity reflecting top-down connectivity, is eliminated within an average of 6.5 seconds following CA [cardiac arrest]."

You can find quite a few additional papers asserting that brains flat-line very quickly after cardiac arrest by doing Google or Google Scholar searches for the phrase "EEG becomes isoelectric" or "EEG becomes iso-electric." 

The BBC Science Focus article states this:

"At some point during hypoxia, brain cells begin to die. This starts with a process known as depolarisation, where nerve cells lose their electrical charge. This prompts the brain to release neurotransmitter chemicals, as well as sodium, potassium and calcium ions, among other things. This process could be responsible for the massive surge of activity seen in EEG readings of animal brains after death."

We have in this statement two different groundless myths: (1) the myth that there is a flood of chemicals released by dying brains; (2) the myth that there is a "massive surge of activity seen in EEG readings of animal brains after death." The second myth is the exact opposite of the truth. Instead of any "massive surge of activity seen in EEG readings of animal brains after death," EEG readings show the exact opposite: brains flatlining within 15 to 30 seconds after the heart stops (as shown by all the quotes above asserting exactly this). 

Both of these myths are thoroughly debunked in my long 2025 post "

The Groundless Myth That 'Floods'' or 'Surges' Help Explain Near-Death Experiences," which you can read here.  

The BBC Science Focus article by Scharping then mentions Ajmal Zemmar, a co-author of the paper "Enhanced Interplay of Neuronal Coherence and Coupling in the Dying Human Brain. It was a paper reporting on some EEG readings of a silent dying patient.  The press tried to make the paper sound as if it had some relevance to near-death experiences, which was ridiculous, because the silent dying patient reported no experience at all. The paper had a misleading title, because no actual "coherence" was observed in the dying patient. 

The paper here casts cold water on the "Enhanced Interplay of Neuronal Coherence and Coupling in the Dying Human Brain" paper discussed above, implying that whatever it observed may have been an artifact of muscle movement, which produces confounding signals in EEG readings. 

We get a claim in the BBC Science Focus article by Scharping that Zemmar referred to a "triphasic wave of death," but that phrase does not appear in his paper, and does not match what is observed in EEG readings of dying people. The term "wave of death" was used in a 2011 paper "Decapitation in Rats: Latency to Unconsciousness and the ‘Wave of Death." The paper gave data consistent with my statements about about brains flatlining with 15 to 30 seconds after cardiac arrest. The paper showed that when rates are decapitated, their brain waves flatline within 20 seconds, as shown by the graph below from the paper:

The so-called "wave of death" reported in the paper was a mere single blip in the EEG reading of brain waves, occurring minutes after decapitation, and lasting only about a second. Such a thing has no relevance to near-death experiences. 

We then get more "exact opposite of the facts" statements by the BBC article's author Scharping, in which he claims that "it appears the brain is kicking itself into a kind of overdrive" at death. EEG readings show the exact opposite: brains very quickly flatlining during cardiac arrest, and becoming electrically inactive with 15 to 30 seconds. 

We get this profoundly misleading mishmash from Scharping, mixing speculation, irrelevant claims and falsehood: 

"If a human being experiences anything during this process, it’s likely to be at the beginning, during the initial rush of brain wave activity, when it appears the brain is kicking itself into a kind of overdrive.

Unlike the ‘wave of death’, this activity is highly coordinated and likely represents a conscious experience, Zemmar explains. It’s something that both those who report NDEs and those who have actually died may experience – though science can’t yet say for certain. 'Usually the brain does this when you meditate, when you perform very high [level] cognitive tasks,' he says. 'It’s like the brain is… trying to pull off this very coordinated activity.' ”

The truth is that as soon as hearts shut down, brains very quickly start to flatline, and become electrically inactive within 15 to 30 seconds. There is zero neuroscience basis for thinking that conscious activity of any substantial length occurs during cardiac arrest. There is zero legitimacy in the attempt above to draw some similarity between brain activity during cognitive tasks and meditation  and brain activity during cardiac arrest. Zemmar's paper provides zero warrant for speculating that the silent dying patient it involved was conscious, and zero warrant for speculating that his data has any relevance to the topic of near-death experiences. 

Scharping then has a link to the paper "Surge of neurophysiological coupling and connectivity of gamma oscillations in the dying human brain." Referring to "four Michigan Medicine patients who died while being monitored by EEGs and electrocardiograms (ECGs)," Scharping then tells us this: 

"Two of the four had little to no change in their brain activity before they died. But the EEG readouts for the other two patients recorded significant bursts of gamma waves beginning just seconds after their ventilators were removed. Gamma waves are the highest frequency of brain waves and are typically associated with higher levels of conscious processing."

In my post here I carefully analyzed the data on all four of the patients that this study dealt with. In every case, the brain waves of the subjects shut down very promptly within a few seconds after their hearts stopped. I include visuals from the paper in that post. The reality is the exact opposite of what Scharping is trying to suggest. Instead of there being EEG readings suggesting "higher levels of conscious processing," for each of the four patients there were EEG readings indicating the exact opposite: brains electrically shutting down with 15 to 30 seconds after the heart stops. 

The article then gives us a false assessment of the work of neuroscientist Jimo Borjigin. In my post here I document two  misleading statements by Borjigin, and debunk claims that this neuroscientist did anything to provide evidence relevant to explaining near-death experiences. 

Below is a screen shot giving an example of one of Borjigin's misleading statements on this topic. It shows part of the paper Borjigin co-authored involving cardiac arrest in rats, a paper with the misleading titlte "Surge of neurophysiological coherence and connectivity in the dying brain," a title not matching the reported data.  The screen shot shows Figure 1 of the paper and part of its caption. We see in the top right corner EEG data showing the brain of a rat flatlining within about 15 seconds after cardiac arrest. But in a misleading statement, this very quick flatlining is described in the caption as "EEG displays a well-organized series of high-frequency activity following cardiac arrest." A correct description of the data would have been "a rat brain flatlining within 15 seconds after the rat's heart stopped."

Trying to back up his groundless claim of a surge of brain activity at death, Scharping then refers us to the 2017 study "Characterization of end-of-life electroencephalographic surges in critically ill patients." There are quite a few problems with that study. First, it did not use the type of EEG device used by neurologists, but a much cheaper device called the SEDLine device, one "developed as an assessment of hypnosis during anesthesia." The manual of the device tells us that it computes a single number, something called a Patient State Index which it defines as the likelihood that a patient is anesthetized. The devices were not designed for the purpose the paper authors used them for. The paper authors did not have heart-rate data corresponding to their brain wave data, as they were analyzing solely from a head-only device (SEDLine) that does not take pulse or heart rate measurements (according to its manual). So we do not  know how many (if any) of these so-called "end-of-life electroencephalographic surges" were things occurring after someone's heart stopped. 

 Scharping then refers us a 2009 paper based on readings from the same  SEDLine device, a study with the same problems as the study referred to above. Neither study shows any such thing as a surge in electrical activity in a brain when a heart has stopped. 

The reality of near-death experiences dramatically contradicts "brains make minds" claims. During cardiac arrest in which their hearts have stopped and their brains have flatlined, people often people report the most vivid near-death experiences, which are often described as very vivid "realer than real" type of experiences. No such thing should be possible if your brain is the source of your mind. 

According to four papers on the phenomenology of near-death experiences that I studied to make the table below, there are features that recur in a large fraction of near-death experiences.  The papers mentioned in the table below are these:

Study 1: The phenomenology of near-death experiences,” 78 subjects (link), a 1980 study, producing results similar to a smaller study group year 2003 in-hospital study by one of its co-authors. 

Study 2: "Qualitative thematic analysis of the phenomenology of near-death experiences,” 34 subjects (link), a 2017 study on people who survived cardiac arrest. 

Study 3: "Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands," a 2001 study of 62 subjects who were known to have suffered cardiac arrest and survived it, and who also reported a near-death experience (a subset that was 12% of a larger group of cardiac arrest survivors), link. The average duration of cardiac arrest was 4 minutes. 74% were interviewed within 5 days of their cardiac arrest. 

Study 4: "The Different Experience: A Report on a Survey of Near-Death Experiences in Germany," 82 subjects (link).

	Study 1	Study 2	Study 3	Study 4
Seeing a light or “unusual visual phenomena” such as lights or auras	48%	74%	> 23%	40%
Meeting other beings	55%	44%	32%	42%
Positive emotions or intense feeling of well-being	37-50%	29%	56%	50%
“Hyper-lucidity”		41%
ESP during the near-death experience	39%	12%
"Awareness of being dead" or awareness of dying		26%	50%
Distortion of time	79%	47%
Celestial landscape or other realm of existence	72%		29%	47%
Contact or communication with the dead	30%	23%	32%	16%
Out-of-body experience	35%	35%	24%	31%
Having some sort of nonphysical body separate from the physical body	58%
Passing through tunnel or similar structure	31%	26%	31%	38%
Life reviewed or relived	27.%	15%	13%	44%

The third of these studies (Study 3 in the table above) was limited to people reporting near-death experiences during cardiac arrest. The vivid experiences reported should have been impossible under "brains make minds" assumptions, because brains electrically shut down within 15 to 30 seconds after the heart stops, with that shutdown showing as a flatlining of EEG signals. And as for out-of-body experiences (in which an observer sees himself outside of his body), which are often part of near-death experiences, such out-of-body experiences are the least likely thing that anyone would ever report if his brain were the source of his mind.