European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing
July 1, 2026
L Pina Astete, M I Munoz Gomez, A Tur Sainz et al.
In a Spanish multicenter study of 24 patients who survived cardiac arrest, only one patient (4.2%) reported a near-death experience as defined by a score of 7 or higher on the Greyson Near-Death Experience Scale. Most patients had no memories from the cardiac arrest period. The single NDE case showed mainly affective components. The study confirms that NDEs occur at a low rate consistent with previous international research, and the Greyson Scale is a useful tool for identifying them, though such recollections are rare. Larger studies are needed to explore associated factors and implications.
Nursing in Critical Care
July 1, 2026
Kailai Gu, Jingying Huang, Jin Yang et al.
About 15% of intensive care unit survivors report near-death experiences, which involve cognitive, affective, supernatural, and transcendental dimensions. These experiences produce vivid, stable long-term memories and increase spiritual needs, but their effects on psychosocial states and death attitudes vary. The Greyson near-death experience scale is the main assessment tool but has limitations. Understanding near-death experiences requires better assessment tools and integration of neurobiological and psychological frameworks. Identifying and supporting patients with these experiences is important for psychological recovery and long-term prognosis.
Zygon
June 24, 2026
Paul H. Carr
Near-death experiences (NDEs) occur across cultures among people revived from clinical death, regardless of personal beliefs. The experiences of doctors Eben Alexander and Tony Cicoria are highlighted alongside thousands of cases researched by Pim Van Lommel and Jeffrey Long. Van Lommel argues that current medical, philosophical, and psychological views on the brain-consciousness relationship are too narrow for proper understanding, asserting that humans cannot be reduced to their constituent parts. Long studied 834 NDEs and concluded they lead to enhanced belief in divinity and the afterlife, decreased fear of death, and increased compassion.
Scientific Reports
June 24, 2026
Hanjui Chang, J Y Li, Daewon Kang et al.
Multi-modal physiological monitoring—integrating EEG and ECG from critical care settings—reveals that during the out-of-body sensation phase of near-death experiences, EEG shows increased gamma waves and decreased alpha waves while ECG exhibits arrhythmia, confirming coordinated brain–heart changes. In parallel, optimizing brain-computer interface manufacturing via the Multi-Strategy Differential Evolution algorithm reduced average node displacement from 0.289 mm to 0.021 mm (92.73% optimization), volume shrinkage from 10.162% to 6.39%, and voltage difference from 5.78 V to 0.42 V. This cross-disciplinary approach supports end-of-life care, resuscitation protocols, and consciousness research.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 21, 2026
Gabriel Cohen
Time presents a paradox: physical laws are time-symmetric, but conscious experience is directional, and the Wheeler-DeWitt equation of quantum gravity lacks time entirely. Near-death experiences (NDEs) may offer an empirical window into this regime. The phenomenological sequence reported in NDEs—from temporal distortion through dissolution of spatial boundaries to absence of sequential time—structurally corresponds to the sequence predicted by general relativity for an observer approaching a black hole event horizon, as described by the Schwarzschild metric. Two falsifiable predictions are derived: time distortion in NDEs should correlate with NDE depth following gravitational time dilation near the Schwarzschild radius, and the neurophysiological signature should show an initial surge of high-frequency gamma coherence followed by collapse to minimal activity. Both predictions are testable with existing data.
June 17, 2026
Pascal Michael
preprint
Alien abduction reports are widespread but scientifically disputed. This review draws on neuroscience and psychology to explain possible mechanisms: sleep paralysis, REM intrusion, activity in the temporoparietal junction, caudate-putamen connectivity, serotonin 5-HT2A receptor modulation, and thanatosis physiology. Psychological factors like dissociation, false memory, fantasy proneness, and past trauma increase susceptibility. Neural and phenomenological parallels with psychedelic and near-death experiences suggest shared mechanisms. Predictive processing offers a unified framework accounting for the phenomenon's ubiquity and cultural variation, though each model has limitations. A small probability exists that a confluence of neurocognitive factors, cultural memetics, and altered states explains striking reports, but many may still elude integrated explanation. Further research is needed to clarify the ontological nature of this exceptional human experience.
Вестник Московского Университета. Серия 20: Педагогическое образование
June 16, 2026
Olga V. Gordeeva
Near-death experiences (NDEs) reported by Russians in the 19th and 20th centuries closely resemble modern accounts, suggesting a culturally transmitted model of NDE. Russian folklore, specifically the genres of bylichki and byvalschiny—oral stories about obmiraniya (a state near death where a person visits another world)—may preserve this model. Analysis of 55 such stories collected in the 1970s–1990s from the European part of the Soviet Union found many classic NDE elements: inexpressibility, peace, a path to another world with boundary crossing, darkness and movement, light, meeting others, heaven/hell/neutral places, an authoritative loving being, life review, a second boundary, decision to return (often by an authority figure), return,...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 13, 2026
Haiqing Wan
A purely logic-deductive framework proposes that conscious awareness operates in discrete, indivisible units, constructing reality through successive perceptual frames. During near-death experiences, higher-order cognitive inhibition lifts, allowing the raw historical frame sequence to be replayed without interpolation, matching the panoramic, discrete-flash character of NDE life reviews. The model deduces that subjective spacetime arises from moment-to-moment conscious sampling of quantum potentialities. Falsifiable predictions include that NDE life reviews should exhibit discrete frame jumps with no interpolated information between frames, and the theory would be falsified if patients under clinically flat EEG can accurately recall external events during that period. If supported, this framework would provide indirect phenomenological evidence for the von Neumann–Wigner interpretation of quantum measurement.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 11, 2026
Acharya Pt Dr Avdhesh Kumarr
Exceptional Human Experiences—including Near-Death Experiences, Reincarnation Memories, Deathbed Visions, Terminal Lucidity, Shared Death Experiences, and Mystical Consciousness—are reported across cultures and eras. This monograph reviews historical accounts, empirical studies, cross-cultural perspectives, and theoretical models from psychology, neuroscience, medicine, philosophy, and religious studies. It proposes the Unified Exceptional Human Experiences Theory (UEHET), an interdisciplinary framework that treats these phenomena as interconnected categories sharing recurring phenomenological features and transformative outcomes. The framework integrates biological, psychological, social, cultural, existential, and potentially unexplored factors without endorsing a single explanatory model, aiming to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and future research on consciousness, identity, and human transformation.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 9, 2026
Acharya Pt Dr Avdhesh Kumarr
This interdisciplinary analysis compares rebirth reports and near-death experiences (NDEs) by examining empirical findings, psychological interpretations, neuroscientific explanations, and survival-based hypotheses from psychology, neuroscience, medicine, philosophy, and religious studies. It identifies structural similarities and differences between alleged past-life memories and NDEs, while evaluating methodological challenges such as memory distortion, cultural influence, suggestibility, verification difficulties, and observer bias. Many features of these phenomena can be interpreted through established psychological and biological frameworks, yet certain aspects raise unresolved questions about the nature of consciousness and personal identity. The paper advocates for interdisciplinary collaboration and outlines future research directions including standardized methodologies, longitudinal studies, cross-cultural analysis, and advances in neuroimaging and data science.