What happen to our brain in our last dying moments ? human race have been seek to serve this enquiry for thousands of years , usually through the means of otherworldliness or   skill . However , it turns out that the response was hiding in a 1980s episode ofStar Trek : The Next Generationall along .

Just a few calendar month ago , a team of neurologist publishedsome incredible researchthat excuse what chance to the brain as   we become flat . This kind of stuff has been observed in animate being before , but never man .

In event , it try out that the brain can stay   active for minutes after the heart stops . If there ’s no heart beating or blood pumping , the brain quickly becomes deprive of O . So , within 20 to 40 seconds , “ cerebral ischaemia ” kick in and the neuron basically fall away into “ sleep mode ” in a last - ditch attempt to economise their dwindling energy . The brain is fairly much   electrically passive at this point , although it could still be " brought back to life " ( in theory , at least ) .

Then , after a few minutes , a undulation of neuroelectrical action and heat   –   known as a " brain tsunami " – ostentation through the encephalon . The Einstein is unable to maintain the uneven distribution of ions between the inside and outside of nerve cells , so the neurons depolarize and allow out a surge of electrochemical energy .

VICE Germanyrecently chatted to lead writer of the bailiwick ,   Dr Jens Dreier from Charité ’s Center for Stroke Research , about how this process was actually depict   in an episode ofStar Trek : The NextGeneration , which was first broadcasted in 1988.Even the subject ’s   researcher think the mechanism is strangely well illustrate in the installment .

“ Neurons are beginning to depolarise , ” another gang member summate , just like it ’s excuse in the scientific research .

It ’s bizarre poppycock , but the scientist behind the new inquiry   are evenhandedly sure theStar Trekproducers are not time - jaunt neurobiologist . In the tone of Spock , there seems to be a much more logical account .

“ My best guess is that the creators ofStar Trekmust have found research at the time that detail a standardized cognitive operation in animate being , ” Dreier toldVICE . “ The first person to explore these sort of brain waves was a Brazilian neurophysiologist who conducted cogitation on cony in the forties . All we ’ve done is show it in humans . ”