Death, Decoded: The Scientific Inquiry of Passing

By Mat Jefferson Richter

according to Forensic Science International, a peer-reviewed high-level international journal for health and science, enzymes and bacteria also eat down the body's tissues, generating gases that cause the body to inflate and discolor. After death, the body's temperature then progressively decreases until it reaches room temperature, known as “algor mortis.”

Consequently, the body's muscles tighten and become rigid within a few hours following death, known as "rigor mortis," which is caused by lactic acid accumulation in the muscles. This usually appears two to six hours after death and can continue for up to 48 hours.

Lastly, gravity causes blood to settle in the lower portions of the body— resulting in purple staining of the skin known as "livor mortis," which develops 30 minutes to two hours after death. As uncomforting as

HOLOANATOMY/ P2

the HoloAnatomy Software Suite due to the lack of a feature wherein students can feel each body part.

The brain behind the software intends to solve the issue by partnering it with Haptic VR Gloves — a system that will stimulate the user’s touch and motion through computer simulation.

Another challenge with VR training is the student-teacher interaction, as instructors will have a hard time answering the inquiries of their learners as they cannot view what their students see through the headset.

"In many medical schools, interacting with cadavers marks the medical student's transition into the immeasurable privilege and responsibility of taking care of the human body; digital tools should not 'replace' humans, but they can play an essential role in helping students acquire critical knowledge,” Ilumis Inc. CEO highlighted.

Even with a few gaps in the program, the VR medical training software still undoubtedly takes the known-for-gaming technology to a new level by using it as a medium to show an in-depth and digital perspective of the human body—making it a great supplement in training future health professionals with a bonus of lessening the reliance to cadavers.

We’ve witnessed death to some extent, perhaps on screens like Grey’s Anatomy or The Good Doctor, if not in real life. Yet, despite death’s inevitability, mankind still falters at the idea of dying—but who or what won’t, when it implies an irreversible end of life?

Even with years of study, the issue of what occurs after we die remains one of the universe's unfathomable mysteries. Recent scientific advancements, on the other hand, have shed new light on the physical processes that occur after death.

‘Life Recall’: When the heart stops beating Brain activity during death has long perplexed researchers, especially neuroscientists. That said, scientists were employing electroencephalography

(EEG) equipment to study and manage seizures in the brain of an 87-yearold epileptic patient, who eventually suffered a heart attack and died. This unforeseen development enabled them to document the activity of a dying human brain.

In turn, Dr. Ajmal Zemmar, a physicianscientist, and a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville, measured 15 minutes of brain activity in the said unpredicted study.

When the patient’s heart stopped functioning, brain waves or “oscillations,” which are rhythmic brain activity patterns dealing with memory retrieval, are generated. This causes the brain to reminisce about memories similar to a neardeath experience known as “life recall,” as if a flash of one’s memory bank.

Meanwhile, Dr. Zemmar further hypothesized that “the brain may be playing a last recall of important life events just before we die.”

The science behind postmortem decay

Dr. Roger Byard, a professor of pathology at the University of Adelaide and expert in forensic pathology, disclosed that "the study of postmortem decay is not only essential for forensic investigations, but it also provides valuable insights into the processes of life and death."

That said, when the heart stops pumping, the brain is deprived of the oxygen and glucose it needs to operate. This implies that brain activity begins to decrease within seconds and terminates altogether within a few minutes; precisely put, the brain function ceases.

Following that, it sounds, passing does not exempt anyone.

No life after death? Physics disagrees

The human body is made up of matter and energy, both electrical and chemical in nature. Surprisingly, the body has around 20 watts of energy, which is tantamount to the need for a light bulb to illuminate—and which is adequate to cover a person’s whole thinking capacity.

As per the law of conservation of energy, energy cannot be generated or destroyed, only converted from one form to another. When a person dies, the energy held in their tissues is released and turned into other types of energy, such as heat and chemical energy. This is also seen in the cremation process—when the heat from the flames causes the body to decompose into ash and fumes. The body gets progressively disordered as it decomposes, with the molecules and atoms that comprise its tissues becoming increasingly disorderly. In other words, the energy we have continues to live on as our atoms are repurposed throughout space, even if it means after passing.

Rounding off, the science behind death has always intrigued the interests of many, as it’s still left almost undiscovered despite today’s scientific and research advancements, especially in brain activity. In an attempt to decode, theorize, and explain death scientifically, society hopes to peek into the scientific inquiry of the afterlife, too, even just a glance.

The whole concept of death may cage us in a fret—but with knowledge of what transpires after death, we may be well-equipped to accept this collective, inevitable experience, at least in perfect timing—and realize that, perhaps, death is something humane.