March 4, 2006: Near Death Experiences - Dr. Sam Parnia
Podcast: The Art Bell ArchivePublished On: Thu Dec 25 2025
Description: Art Bell welcomes Dr. Sam Parnia, a fellow in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Cornell University and founder of the Consciousness Research Group, for an in-depth exploration of what happens at the moment of death. Dr. Parnia explains that the brain ceases electrical activity within approximately 10 seconds of cardiac arrest, yet 10 to 20 percent of resuscitated patients report structured, lucid thought processes during clinical death.The conversation examines key features reported across near-death experiences, including feelings of peace, tunnels of light, encounters with deceased relatives, and life reviews in which individuals judge their own actions. Dr. Parnia notes these experiences span all cultures, religions, and ages, with references dating back to Plato and a 15th-century painting by Hieronymus Bosch. He emphasizes that identifying brain regions involved in an experience does not determine whether it is real, just as mapping the neurology of love does not prove love is a hallucination.Art and Dr. Parnia discuss the challenges of studying death scientifically, including limited funding and the rarity of out-of-body experiences near hidden visual targets. Callers share their own cardiac arrest encounters, while Art reads alarming reports on accelerating Antarctic ice loss and feedback loops in the Arctic.
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