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In their last minutes of life, some people’s brains generate a surge of surprisingly organized-looking electrical activity that may reflect consciousness — although scientists aren’t entirely sure. 

According to new research, published Monday (May 1) in the journal PNAS (opens in new tab) , this surge can sometimes occur after a person’s breathing stops but before the brain stops functioning. The activity pattern is somewhat similar to what is seen when people are awake or in dreamlike states, leading to speculation that perhaps these electrical surges reflect the otherworldly experiences reported by people who’ve had close brushes with death: A sense of looking at the body from the outside; a tunnel and white light; or a sense of reliving important memories. 

However, since all the patients in the new study ultimately died, it’s impossible to know if they had such experiences. 

“If you talk about the dying process, there is very little we know,” said Jimo Borjigin (opens in new tab) , a neuroscientist at the University of Michigan Medical School who led the study. It’s rare for patients to have their brains continuously monitored as they die, Borjigin told Live Science. “This is maybe the first study to really show second-by-second how the brain dies.” 

Related: Is brain death reversible? Near-death experiences 

Some people who are brought back from the brink of death report seeing or hearing unexplained things during resuscitation or when they seem to be unconscious. The reason for these near-death experiences is unknown, and it’s not clear if they’re even specific to death. 

International surveys suggest that only about half of what people call “near-death experiences” actually occur in life-threatening situations, said Daniel Kondziella (opens in new tab) , a neurologist at the University of Copenhagen who was not involved in the new research. The other half occur during meditation or in scary situations that don’t endanger one’s health or impact the brain’s metabolism, Kondiziella told Live Science. 

“The thing is, from the experience itself you cannot say if someone has had a cardiac arrest or syncope [a brief loss of consciousness] or near-miss traffic accident,” Kondiziella said. 

Because the people who survive to report a near-death experience are inherently different from the people who die — their brains don’t permanently lose function, for one thing — it’s hard to determine whether those who actually die also have these subjective experiences. 

In 2013, Borjigin and her colleagues measured electrical activity in the brains of rats (opens in new tab) that they euthanized via cardiac arrest. They found that for about 30 seconds after the heart stopped, the brain showed a surge in what are called gamma waves, which are the highest-frequency electrical oscillations in the brain. Gamma waves are correlated with conscious experience, but don’t necessarily prove that someone is conscious; they’re just one of many indicators that someone might be aware and alert. 

In 2022, a separate group of doctors happened to be monitoring the brain of an 87-year-old man with an electroencephalogram (EEG), which detects electrical activity on the surface of the brain, when the man unexpectedly died. Similar to Borjigin’s rats, the man’s brain showed a surge in gamma activity in the 30 seconds before and after his heart stopped.  ‘Reading’ the dying brain 

In their new paper, Borjigin and her team made a deliberate effort to use EEG to capture what the brain looks like during death. 

The researchers got permission to monitor dying patients in intensive care whose breathing support had been removed after treatment proved futile. The study included four patients total, all of whom were comatose after cardiac arrest. 

In the 30 seconds to two minutes after their ventilators were removed, two of the four patients’ brains showed surges in gamma waves. Interestingly, this gamma activity seemed organized, in that the gamma waves in one portion of the brain were associated with predictable activity patterns in other regions. 

The temporoparietal junction, a brain region where the temporal and parietal lobes meet, toward the back of the brain behind the ear, was particularly active with gamma waves. This region is known to be activated when people have out-of-body experiences or dreams, Borjigin said. 

The new findings echo what was seen in the 87-year-old patient who unexpectedly died, said Raul Vicente (opens in new tab) , a neuroscientist and data scientist at the University of Tartu who co-authored the 2022 study but was not involved in Borjigin’s work. “It’s very nice to see a confirmation,” he told Live Science. 

“The more consistent findings we have, the more evidence it is that this likely is a mechanism happening at the time of death and if we can pinpoint this down to one location, even better,” said Ajmal Zemmar (opens in new tab) , a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville Health who also co-authored the 2022 study. RELATED STORIES—Dying brains silence themselves in a dark wave of ‘spreading depression’

—Your brain ‘shields’ itself from the existential threat of death

—Can minds persist when they are cut off from the world?

Zemmar and Vicente are optimistic that these signals could be signs of conscious experience at the moment of death. But reflecting the debate in the field, Kondziella is more skeptical. 

“We know when you die a cardiac death as opposed to a brain death, that takes time,” he said. Minutes pass between the heart stopping and brain cells dying, he said. “It shouldn’t be a big surprise during those minutes, you will see aberrant electrophysiological activity in the brain.” 

Some people may experience something like near-death experiences in these moments, Kondziella said, but we may never know for sure. And again, these experiences may not be unique to death — a more likely explanation for near-death experiences that encompasses both life-threatening experiences and non-life-threatening experiences, he said, may be “REM sleep intrusion into wakefulness,” a situation in which the brain blends waking and dreaming states. (REM sleep is marked by dreaming and brain activity patterns that are very similar to waking, including gamma waves and other, lower-frequency waves.) 

Borjigin’s team is still collecting end-of-life data, hoping to add to the evidence that the dying brain may generate predictable gamma-wave patterns. Already, other research groups have attempted to use artificial intelligence to identify objects that people saw in their dreams (opens in new tab) based on their brain activity — similar mind-reading may be possible with unconscious and dying patients, Vicente said. 

“This opens an opportunity at some point, if we gather enough data, to be able to decode what people in different coma states are thinking,” Vicente said. 

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UK

Gallagher brothers share a high-five and hug as Oasis reunite on stage after 16 years

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Gallagher brothers share a high-five and hug as Oasis reunite on stage after 16 years

Oasis have reunited on stage for the first time in almost 16 years – with brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher sharing a high five and the briefest of hugs as they closed a performance that for fans was more than worth the wait.

After the split in 2009, for many years Noel said he would never go back – and for a long time, as the brothers exchanged insults through separate interviews (and on social media, for Liam), it seemed pretty unlikely to ever happen.

But now, here they are. As they walked out on stage at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, all eyes were on the Gallaghers for a sense of their relationship – dare we say it, friendship? – now after all these years.

There was no reference to their fall-out or making up, but the gestures were there – lifting hands together as they walked out for the first time.

The headline "OASIS REUNITED" was shown on stage at the gig. Pic: PA
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The headline “OASIS REUNITED” was shown on stage at the gig. Pic: PA

Fans at the Oasis gig. Pic: PA
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Fans at the Oasis gig. Pic: PA

Headlines and tweets of speculation and then confirmation of the reunion filled the screens as the show started. “This is happening,” said one, repeatedly.

In the end, it was all about the music.

Liam has received criticism in the past for his voice not being what it once was during his solo or Beady Eye performances, but back on stage with his brother tonight he delivered exactly what fans would have hoped for – a raw, steely-eyed performance, snarling vocals, and the swagger that makes him arguably the greatest frontman of his day.

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This was Oasis sounding almost as good as they ever have.

Fans sang along and held up their phones to film as Oasis performed. Pic: PA
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Fans sang along and held up their phones to film as Oasis performed. Pic: PA

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Oasis: ‘It’s good to be back’

They opened with Hello, because of course, “it’s good to be back”. And then Acquiesce, and those lyrics: “Because we need each other/ We believe in one another.”

The song is said to be about friendship in the wider sense, rather than their brotherly bond and sibling rivalry, but you can’t help but feel like it means something here.

Over two hours, they played favourite after favourite – including Morning Glory, Some Might Say, Cigarettes & Alcohol, Supersonic and Roll With It.

Liam Gallagher as Oasis takes to the stage in Cardiff. Pic: PA
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Liam Gallagher as Oasis takes to the stage in Cardiff. Pic: PA

In the mid-section, Liam takes his break for Noel to sing Talk Tonight, Half The World Away and Little By Little; the tempo slows but there is by no means a lull, with the fans singing all his words back to him.

Liam returns for hits including Stand By Me, Slide Away, Whatever and Live Forever, before sending the crowd wild (or even wilder) with Rock And Roll Star.

Noel Gallagher performing on stage. Pic: PA
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Noel Gallagher performing on stage. Pic: PA

An Oasis fan is pointing at the stage during the gig. Pic: PA
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An Oasis fan is pointing at the stage during the gig. Pic: PA

When the reunion announcement was made last summer, it quickly became overshadowed by the controversy of dynamic pricing causing prices to rocket. As he has done on X before, Liam addressed the issue on stage with a joke.

“Was it worth the £4,000 you paid for the ticket?” he shouted at one point. “Yeah,” the crowd shouts back; seemingly all is forgiven.

After Rock And Roll Star, the dream that very quickly became a reality for this band, Noel introduced the rest of the group, calling Bonehead a “legend”.

Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs of Oasis. Pic: PA
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Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs of Oasis. Pic: PA

Liam Gallagher carried a tambourine in his mouth during the concert. Pic: PA
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Liam Gallagher carried a tambourine in his mouth during the concert. Pic: PA

Then he acknowledges all their young fans, some who maybe weren’t even born when they split. “This one is for all the people in their 20s who’ve never seen us before, who’ve kept this shit going,” he says before the encore starts with The Masterplan.

Noel follows with Don’t Look Back In Anger, and the screens fill with Manchester bees in reference to the arena bombing and how the song became the sound of hope and defiance for the city afterwards.

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‘I’d have paid £10,000 to see them’

Two fans sat on their friends' shoulders as Oasis performed. Pic: PA
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Two fans sat on their friends’ shoulders as Oasis performed. Pic: PA

During Wonderwall, there’s a nice touch as Liam sings to the crowd: “There are many things I would like to say to you, but I don’t speak Welsh.”

It is at the end of Champagne Supernova, which closes the set, that it happens; Noel puts down his guitar, and they come together for a high-five and a back-slap, a blink-and-you’d miss it hug.

Read more:
What you need to know about the Oasis tour
Liam Gallagher hits out at council after fans branded ‘rowdy’

“Right then, beautiful people, this is it,” Liam had told the crowd as he introduced the song just a few minutes earlier. “Nice one for putting up with us over the years.”

From the roar of the audience, it’s safe to say most people here would agree it’s been worth it.

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Politics

Sweden’s justice minister says to ‘turn up the pressure’ on crypto seizures

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Sweden’s justice minister says to ‘turn up the pressure’ on crypto seizures

Sweden’s justice minister says to ‘turn up the pressure’ on crypto seizures

Gunnar Strömmer reportedly said that Swedish authorities had confiscated more than $8.3 million worth of criminal profits since a law related to seizures was passed in 2024.

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US

At least 13 people confirmed dead and more than 20 missing from girls camp in Texas flooding

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At least 13 people confirmed dead and more than 20 missing from girls camp in Texas flooding

13 people have been killed in the US state of Texas after heavy rain caused flash flooding, according to local media reports.

Officials have also said more than 20 are missing from a girls’ camp in Texas.

As much as 10 inches (25 centimetres) of heavy rain fell in just a few hours overnight in central Kerr County, causing flash flooding of the Guadalupe River.

Judge Rob Kelly, the chief elected official in the county, confirmed fatalities from the flooding and dozens of water rescues so far.

A flood watch issued on Thursday afternoon estimated isolated amounts up to seven inches (17 centimetres) of rising water.

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