August 2025
A BBC article gives an unusually fair description of what science knows about Near-Death Experiences (NDEs). Brain-based explanations are referenced, but the nonphysical view also gets full attention.
SCREEN SHOT BBC
“What is it like to die? The reassuring science of near-death experiences” in BBC Science Focus magazine open-mindedly covers a topic considered controversial in mainstream materialist science.
The article starts off on a personal note as writer Christian Jarrett, who is a cognitive neuroscientist, remembers when neuropsychologist Peter Fenwick visited his psychology class in the 1990s. Fenwick, who passed last year, was a prominent scientist in the NDE field.
Jarrett particularly recalls that Fenwick said NDEers could describe distant objects and events they could not have seen unless their consciousness had separated from their bodies. “Something about his erudite, understated delivery sent shivers down my spine”, writes Jarrett.
The article notes that recent studies show NDEs are common and have been documented since ancient times. “My reaction has always been scepticism tinged with wonder. It’s hard to listen to accounts of people who’ve had these experiences and not be moved“, writes Jarrett, who tells about conversations he has had with experiencers. The accounts include several recurring elements, such as Out-of-Body Experiences, seeing a bright light, entering a tunnel, undertaking a life review and feeling a deep sense of peace and relief.
The (still dominating) physicalist camp in the neuroscientific community explains the whole phenomenon with subtle but measurable brain activity when death is near. Jarrett references a 2024 study from the University of Michigan, which has been widely reported in the media (see FJN post about it here). But he also talks to Belgian NDE researcher Charlotte Martial, who cautions against the Michigan study since the patients didn’t survive. We don’t know if they even experienced an NDE.
Another researcher who is sceptical of the purely brain-based explanations is Janice Holden, president of the International Association of Near Death Studies (IANDS). In particular, brain activity can’t explain “‘verified perceptions’ from NDEs, such as the ability for the dying person to witness events located elsewhere”, Holden tells Jarrett.
NDEs also seem to have a profound psychological impact on those who have had them. It is not possible to induce NDEs, but scientists who want to learn more about the psychological consequences now use virtual reality, according to the BBC article. In one study, a virtual Out-of-Body Experience led to a reduced fear of death.
Anders Bolling
