Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: I'm Lauren Volke Bomb and today's question is would you
Speaker 1: really stay conscious after being decapitated? Let's look first at
Speaker 1: what consciousness is. The molecular biologist Francis Crick, one half
Speaker 1: of the research team who discovered the structure of DNA
Speaker 1: later in his career, came up with what he called
Speaker 1: the astonishing hypothesis. It is crudely put, the idea that
Speaker 1: every aspect of human consciousness, from affinity for one's family,
Speaker 1: to a belief in God to the experience of the
Speaker 1: color green, is merely the result of electrical activity in
Speaker 1: our brain's neural networks. As he wrote in You're Nothing
Speaker 1: but a Pack of neurons, at the basis of our
Speaker 1: conscious experience are chemicals called neurotransmitters. These chemicals generate electrical
Speaker 1: signals that form the means by which neurons communicate with
Speaker 1: one another and ultimately form neural networks. When we stimulate
Speaker 1: these networks, we experience the physical sensations and emotions that
Speaker 1: make up our lives. We store these as memories to
Speaker 1: be recalled when the neural networks that store them are
Speaker 1: activated once more. The idea may be a bit glum,
Speaker 1: but it forms the basis of the idea that the
Speaker 1: electrical activity in the brain is the detectable trace of
Speaker 1: our conscious experience by correlation, then so long as we
Speaker 1: can detect this electrical activity through the use of technology
Speaker 1: like the e G which measures brain waves, we can
Speaker 1: assume that a person is experiencing consciousness. This is what
Speaker 1: makes a two thousand eleven study from the Netherlands so troubling.
Speaker 1: The researchers were trying to determine whether decapitation, which is
Speaker 1: a common method of uthanizing lab rats, is humane. They
Speaker 1: connected an EEG machine to the brains of rats, decapitated them,
Speaker 1: and recorded the electrical activity in the brain after the event.
Speaker 1: The researchers found that for about four seconds after being
Speaker 1: separated from the body, the rats brains continue to generate
Speaker 1: electrical activity between the thirteen to one hurts frequency band,
Speaker 1: which is associated with consciousness and cognition a k A. Thinking.
Speaker 1: This finding suggests the brain can continue to produce thoughts
Speaker 1: and experienced sensations for at least several seconds following decapitation
Speaker 1: in rats. Anyway, Yet, the annals of medicine following the
Speaker 1: invention of the guillotine have some very interesting scientific observations
Speaker 1: of human decapitation. Let's look at what happens when one
Speaker 1: loses one's head. The circulatory system delivers oxygen and other
Speaker 1: necessary particles via blood to the brain so that the
Speaker 1: brain can carry out its necessary functions. Deprived of oxygen
Speaker 1: or blood, the brain's function deteriorates rapidly. Circulation takes place
Speaker 1: in a closed system based on a pressurized environment. Blood
Speaker 1: is pumped in and out of the heart and past
Speaker 1: the lungs, where it's refreshed once more. Decapitation opens this
Speaker 1: closed system irrevocably, causing a full and massive drop in
Speaker 1: blood pressure, leaving the brain starved of both blood and oxygen.
Speaker 1: Depending on how the head is removed from the body,
Speaker 1: this loss of blood and ultimately consciousness can take longer
Speaker 1: in some modes of decapitation than in others. Several blows
Speaker 1: to the back of the neck with a sword or
Speaker 1: axe can lead to blood loss before the head is
Speaker 1: fully severed from the body, but the design of the guillotine,
Speaker 1: the execution method of choice during the French Revolution, made
Speaker 1: severing the head cleaner and quicker. The blade and weight
Speaker 1: assembly of the guillotine weighed more than a hundred seventy
Speaker 1: five pounds that's eight ks, and was dropped from a
Speaker 1: height of fourteen feet or just over four meters from
Speaker 1: ground level onto the back of the victim's neck. Moreover,
Speaker 1: the guillotine's blade was set within a track leading in
Speaker 1: a direct line down to the back of the victim's neck.
Speaker 1: There's a rumor that this superior execution technology led to
Speaker 1: at least one case of apparent consciousness after decapitation. Executions
Speaker 1: in eighteenth century France were public affairs, and executioners customarily
Speaker 1: showed the head of the victim to the assembled crowd
Speaker 1: that sometimes performed some gesture of disrespect as well, as
Speaker 1: was the case with Charlotte Corday, a woman executed by
Speaker 1: guillotine in seventeen ninety three after she assassinated the revolutionary
Speaker 1: leader Jean Paul Moran. After her head was severed, the
Speaker 1: executioner smacked its cheeks while he held it aloft, to
Speaker 1: the astonishment of the crowd. Corday's cheeks flushed and her
Speaker 1: facial expression changed into quote unequivocal marks of indignation. Most recently,
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty nine, an army veteran reported that following
Speaker 1: a car accident that he was in with a friend,
Speaker 1: the decapitated head of his friend changed facial expressions quote
Speaker 1: first of shock or confusion, then to terror or grief.
Speaker 1: Both King Charles the First and Queen Anne Boleyn are
Speaker 1: reported to have showed signs of trying to speak following
Speaker 1: their beheadings by executioner's swords rather than the guillotine, And
Speaker 1: when in seventeen ninety five a German researcher by the
Speaker 1: name of St. Summering spoke out against the use of
Speaker 1: the guillotine, he cited reports of decapitated heads that have
Speaker 1: ground their teeth and that the face of one decapitated
Speaker 1: person grimaced horribly when a physician inspecting the head poked
Speaker 1: the spinal canal with his finger. But perhaps most famous
Speaker 1: was the study conducted in nineteen o five of the
Speaker 1: head of an executed criminal. Over the course of twenty
Speaker 1: five to thirty seconds of observation, the physician warded managing
Speaker 1: to get the head to open its eyes and undeniably
Speaker 1: focus them on the doctors twice by calling the executed
Speaker 1: man's name. Some say that none of this proves consciousness.
Speaker 1: The movement seen in the phase could be the result
Speaker 1: of the voluntary muscles that control the lips and eyes
Speaker 1: merely being in spasm after a sort of short circuit,
Speaker 1: or from the relic of electrical activity. This is likely
Speaker 1: true for the rest of the body, but the head
Speaker 1: has the distinction of housing the brain, which is the
Speaker 1: seat of consciousness. The brain receives no drama from a
Speaker 1: clean decapitation, and may therefore continue to function until blood
Speaker 1: loss causes unconsciousness and death. We know that chickens often
Speaker 1: walk around for several seconds after decapitation. The Dutch rat
Speaker 1: study mentioned earlier suggests a length of perhaps four seconds.
Speaker 1: Other studies of small animals have found up to twenty
Speaker 1: nine seconds, but any amount of time would be horrific.
Speaker 1: Take a moment to count off four seconds while you
Speaker 1: look around the room. You'll likely find you can take
Speaker 1: in quite a bit visually and orally during that time. However,
Speaker 1: we may never fully know if a human remains conscious
Speaker 1: after the head is lost. As author Alan Bellows points out,
Speaker 1: further scientific observation of human decapitation is unlikely. Today's episode
Speaker 1: was written by Josh Clark and produced by Tyler Clang Josh,
Speaker 1: who you may have heard on a little show called
Speaker 1: Stuff You Should Know, has a new podcast coming out
Speaker 1: called The End of the World. If you enjoy slightly glum,
Speaker 1: but nonetheless fascinating discussions like the one from today's episode,
Speaker 1: go check it out. The first episode of the End
Speaker 1: of the World drops November seven, and the trailer is
Speaker 1: up everywhere you get your podcasts, and of course, for
Speaker 1: more on this and lots of other curious topics, visit
Speaker 1: our home planet, how Stuff works dot com.