View source for Biology:Death

{{Short description|Irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism}}
{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}

[[File:Hendrick Andriezsoon - Vanitas.JPG|alt=A 17th century painting of various objects, the most prominent of which is a human skull.|thumb|The human [[Biology:Skull|skull]] is used universally as a symbol of death.]]

'''Death''' is the [[Physics:Irreversible process|irreversible]] cessation of all [[Biology:Biological process|biological functions]] that sustain an organism.<ref>{{Dictionary.com|death|access-date=2021-02-27}}</ref> For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including the brainstem.<ref>{{Citation |last=DeGrazia |first=David |title=The Definition of Death |date=2021 |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2021/entries/death-definition/ |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |edition=Summer 2021 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |access-date=2022-07-23 |archive-date=23 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723222746/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2021/entries/death-definition/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Parent |first1=Brendan |last2=Turi |first2=Angela |date=2020-12-01 |title=Death's Troubled Relationship With the Law |url=https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/deaths-troubled-relationship-law/2020-12 |journal=AMA Journal of Ethics |volume=22 |issue=12 |pages=1055–1061 |doi=10.1001/amajethics.2020.1055 |pmid=33419507 |s2cid=231300316 |issn=2376-6980 |access-date=23 July 2022 |archive-date=23 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723222837/https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/deaths-troubled-relationship-law/2020-12 |url-status=live |doi-access=free }}</ref> [[Medicine:Brain death|Brain death]] is sometimes used as a legal definition of death.<ref>{{Dictionary.com|brain death|access-date=2021-02-27}}</ref> The remains of a former organism normally begins to [[Medicine:Decomposition|decompose]] shortly after death.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hayman |first=Jarvis |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/945734521 |title=Human body decomposition |date=2016 |others=Marc Oxenham, Australian National University. School of Archaeology and Anthropology |isbn=978-0128037133 |location=Amsterdam |oclc=945734521}}</ref> Death is an inevitable process that eventually occurs in all organisms. Some organisms, such as ''[[Biology:Turritopsis dohrnii|Turritopsis dohrnii]]'', are biologically immortal. However, they can still die from means other than [[Biology:Senescence|aging]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Masamoto |first1=Yui |last2=Piraino |first2=Stefano |last3=Miglietta |first3=Maria Pia |date=1 December 2019 |title=Transcriptome Characterization of Reverse Development in Turritopsis dohrnii (Hydrozoa, Cnidaria) |journal=G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics |volume=9 |issue=12 |pages=4127–4138 |doi=10.1534/g3.119.400487 |pmid=31619459 |pmc=6893190 }}</ref>

Determining when someone has definitively died has proven difficult. Initially, death was defined as occurring when breathing and the heartbeat ceased, a status still known as [[Medicine:Clinical death|clinical death]].<ref name="US President's Commission -1981" /> However, the development of CPR meant it was no longer strictly irreversible.<ref name="US Department of the Army-1999" /> [[Medicine:Brain death|Brain death]] was the next option, but several definitions exist for this. Some people believe that all brain functions must cease. Some believe that even if the brainstem is still alive, the personality and identity are irretrievably lost, so therefore, the person should be entirely dead.<ref name="Zaner-2011" />

Death is generally applied to whole organisms; the similar process seen in individual components of an organism, such as cells or tissues, is [[Biology:Necrosis|necrosis]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Proskuryakov |first1=Sergey Y. |last2=Konoplyannikov |first2=Anatoli G |last3=Gabai |first3=Vladimir L |date=1 February 2003 |title=Necrosis: a specific form of programmed cell death? |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0014482702000277 |journal=Experimental Cell Research |volume=283 |issue=1 |pages=1–16 |doi=10.1016/S0014-4827(02)00027-7 |pmid=12565815 |via=Elsevier Science Direct |access-date=14 February 2023 |archive-date=13 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313092153/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0014482702000277 |url-status=live }}</ref> Something that is not considered an organism, such as a virus, can be physically destroyed but is not said to die, as a virus is not considered alive in the first place.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Louten |first=Jennifer |title=Essential Human Virology |publisher=Elsevier Science |date=2016 |isbn=978-0128011713 |pages=6}}</ref> As of the early 21st century, 56 million people die per year. The most common reason is [[Medicine:Cardiovascular disease|cardiovascular disease]], which is a disease that affects the heart.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Richtie |first1=Hannah |last2=Spooner |first2=Fiona |last3=Roser |first3=Max |date=February 2018 |title=Causes of death |url=https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#:~:text=Cardiovascular%20diseases%20are%20the%20leading,second%20biggest%20cause%20are%20cancers. |access-date=February 14, 2023 |journal=Our World in Data |archive-date=20 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180520193352/https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#:~:text=Cardiovascular%20diseases%20are%20the%20leading,second%20biggest%20cause%20are%20cancers. |url-status=live }}</ref>

Many cultures and religions have a concept of an [[Philosophy:Afterlife|afterlife]] that may hold the idea of [[Religion:Judgement (afterlife)|judgment]] of good and bad deeds in one's life. There are also different customs for honoring the body, such as a funeral, cremation, or [[Unsolved:Sky burial|sky burial]].<ref name="Newcomb-2019" />

A study known as [[Unsolved:Biogerontology|biogerontology]] seeks to eliminate death by natural aging in humans, often through the application of natural processes found in certain organisms.<ref name="Stambler-2017" /> However, as humans do not have the means to apply this to themselves, they have to use other ways to reach the maximum lifespan for a human, such as [[Biology:Calorie restriction|calorie reduction]], dieting, and exercise.<ref name="Fontana-2010" />

As of 2022, an estimated total of 109 billion humans have died, or roughly 93.8% of all humans to ever live.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Routley |first=Nick |date=2022-03-25 |title=How Many Humans Have Ever Lived? |url=https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/how-many-humans-have-ever-lived/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328104311/https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/how-many-humans-have-ever-lived/ |archive-date=2022-03-28 |access-date=2023-10-03 |website=Visual Capitalist}}</ref>

==Diagnosis==
[[File:All causes world map-Deaths per million persons-WHO2012.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Organization:World Health Organization|World Health Organization]] estimated number of deaths per million persons in 2012{{Div col|small=yes|colwidth=10em}}
{{legend|#ffff20|1.054–4.598}}{{legend|#ffe820|4.599–5.516}}{{legend|#ffd820|5.517–6.289}}{{legend|#ffc020|6.290–6.835}}{{legend|#ffa020|6.836–7.916}}{{legend|#ff9a20|7.917–8.728}}{{legend|#f08015|8.729–9.404}}{{legend|#e06815|9.405–10.433}}{{legend|#d85010|10.434–12.233}}{{legend|#d02010|12.234–17.141}}{{div col end}}]]

===Problems of definition===

The concept of death is the key to human understanding of the phenomenon.<ref name="MohammadSamir">{{cite journal |author1=Samir Hossain Mohammad |author2=Gilbert Peter | year = 2010 | title = Concepts of Death: A key to our adjustment | journal = Illness, Crisis and Loss | volume = 18 | issue = 1 }}</ref> There are many scientific approaches and various interpretations of the concept. Additionally, the advent of life-sustaining therapy and the numerous criteria for defining death from both a medical and legal standpoint have made it difficult to create a single unifying definition.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Veatch |first1=Robert M. |title=Defining Death: The Case for Choice |last2=Ross |first2=Lainie F. |date= 2016 |publisher=Georgetown University Press |isbn=978-1626163560 }}</ref>

==== Defining life to define death ====
One of the challenges in defining death is in distinguishing it from life. As a point in time, death seems to refer to the moment when life ends. Determining when death has occurred is difficult, as cessation of life functions is often not simultaneous across organ systems.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Crossing Over: How Science Is Redefining Life and Death |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/04/dying-death-brain-dead-body-consciousness-science/ |author=Henig, Robin Marantz |magazine=National Geographic |date=April 2016 |access-date=23 October 2017 |archive-date=1 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171101071129/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/04/dying-death-brain-dead-body-consciousness-science/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Such determination, therefore, requires drawing precise conceptual boundaries between life and death. This is difficult due to there being little consensus on how to define life.
[[File:StillLifeWithASkull.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Symbols of death in a painting: it shows a flower, a skull and an hourglass|A flower, a skull, and an hourglass stand for life, death, and time in this 17th-century painting by Philippe de Champaigne.]]

It is possible to define life in terms of consciousness. When consciousness ceases, an organism can be said to have died. One of the flaws in this approach is that there are many organisms that are alive but probably not conscious.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Animal Ethics |date=2023 |title=What beings are not conscious |url=https://www.animal-ethics.org/beings-conscious/#:~:text=Non%2Dsentient%20animals%20would%20then,and%20even%20engage%20in%20locomotion. |access-date=February 14, 2023 |website=Animal Ethics |archive-date=8 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108091811/https://www.animal-ethics.org/beings-conscious/#:~:text=Non%2Dsentient%20animals%20would%20then,and%20even%20engage%20in%20locomotion. |url-status=live }}</ref> Another problem is in defining consciousness, which has many different definitions given by modern scientists, psychologists and philosophers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Antony |first=Micheal V. |date=2001 |title=Is 'consciousness' ambiguous? |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/ANTICA#:~:text=It%20is%20widely%20assumed%20that,consciousness%2C%20to%20name%20a%20few. |journal=Journal of Consciousness Studies |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=19–44 |via=PhilPapers |access-date=14 February 2023 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306150630/https://philpapers.org/rec/ANTICA#:~:text=It%20is%20widely%20assumed%20that,consciousness%2C%20to%20name%20a%20few. |url-status=live }}</ref> Additionally, many religious traditions, including [[Religion:Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic]] and Dharmic traditions, hold that death does not (or may not) entail the end of consciousness. In certain cultures, death is more of a process than a single event. It implies a slow shift from one spiritual state to another.<ref>{{cite book|year=1991 |last1=Metcalf |first1=Peter |last2=Huntington |first2=Richard |title=Celebrations of Death: The Anthropology of Mortuary Ritual |publisher=Cambridge Press |place=New York}}{{page needed|date=January 2014}}</ref>

Other definitions for death focus on the character of cessation of organismic functioning and human death, which refers to irreversible loss of personhood. More specifically, death occurs when a living entity experiences irreversible cessation of all functioning.<ref name="DeGrazia-2017" /> As it pertains to human life, death is an irreversible process where someone loses their existence as a person.<ref name="DeGrazia-2017">{{Citation|last=DeGrazia|first=David|title=The Definition of Death|date=2017|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/death-definition/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Spring 2017|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2019-02-19|archive-date=18 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190318071254/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/death-definition/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Definition of death by heartbeat and breath ====
Historically, attempts to define the exact moment of a human's death have been subjective or imprecise. Death was defined as the cessation of [[Biology:Heart|heart]]beat (cardiac arrest) and breathing,<ref name="US President's Commission -1981">{{Cite book |last=United States. President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fd3sFRTejuIC |title=Defining Death: A Report on the Medical, Legal and Ethical Issues in the Determination of Death · Part 34 |publisher=The Commission |year=1981 |pages=63 |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=17 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230817193515/https://books.google.com/books?id=fd3sFRTejuIC |url-status=live }}</ref> but the development of CPR and prompt [[Engineering:Defibrillation|defibrillation]] have rendered that definition inadequate because breathing and heartbeat can sometimes be restarted.<ref name="US Department of the Army-1999">{{Cite book |last=United States Department of the Army |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YLdfpIvnkZQC&q=CPR |title=Leadership Education and Training (LET 1) |publisher=United States Department of the Army |year=1999 |pages=188 |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=17 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230817193517/https://books.google.com/books?id=YLdfpIvnkZQC&q=CPR |url-status=live }}</ref> This type of death where circulatory and respiratory arrest happens is known as the circulatory definition of death (CDD). Proponents of the CDD believe this definition is reasonable because a person with permanent loss of circulatory and respiratory function should be considered dead.<ref name="Bernat-2018">{{cite journal|last=Bernat|first=James L.|date=2018|title=Conceptual Issues in DCDD Donor Death Determination|journal=Hastings Center Report|volume=48|issue=S4|pages=S26–S28|doi=10.1002/hast.948|pmid=30584853|issn=1552-146X|doi-access=free}}</ref> Critics of this definition state that while cessation of these functions may be permanent, it does not mean the situation is irreversible because if CPR is applied fast enough, the person could be revived.<ref name="Bernat-2018"/> Thus, the arguments for and against the CDD boil down to defining the actual words "permanent" and "irreversible," which further complicates the challenge of defining death. Furthermore, events [[Causality|causally]] linked to death in the past no longer kill in all circumstances; without a functioning heart or lungs, life can sometimes be sustained with a combination of life support devices, organ transplants, and artificial pacemakers.

==== Brain death ====
Today, where a definition of the moment of death is required, doctors and coroners usually turn to "brain death" or "biological death" to define a person as being dead;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Belkin |first=Gary Stuart |title=Death Before Dying: History, Medicine, and Brain Death. |publisher=[[Organization:Oxford University Press|Oxford University Press]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-0199898176 |pages=220}}</ref> people are considered dead when the electrical activity in their brain ceases.<ref>{{Cite web |last=New York State Department of Health |date=2011 |title=Guidelines for Determining Brain Death |url=https://www.health.ny.gov/professionals/hospital_administrator/letters/2011/brain_death_guidelines.htm |access-date=February 15, 2023 |website=New York State |archive-date=24 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120124021515/https://www.health.ny.gov/professionals/hospital_administrator/letters/2011/brain_death_guidelines.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> It is presumed that an end of electrical activity indicates the end of [[Philosophy:Consciousness|consciousness]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=National Health Service of the UK |date=September 8, 2022 |title=Overview: Brain death |url=https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/brain-death/#:~:text=Brain%20death%20(also%20known%20as,is%20legally%20confirmed%20as%20dead. |access-date=February 15, 2023 |website=National Health Service |archive-date=12 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081112175311/https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/brain-death/#:~:text=Brain%20death%20(also%20known%20as,is%20legally%20confirmed%20as%20dead. |url-status=live }}</ref> Suspension of consciousness must be permanent and not transient, as occurs during certain [[Biology:Non-rapid eye movement sleep|sleep]] stages, and especially a coma.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nitkin |first=Karen |date=September 11, 2017 |title=The Challenges of Defining and Diagnosing Brain Death |url=https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/articles/the-challenges-of-defining-and-diagnosing-brain-death#:~:text=Brain%20death%3A%20Irreversible%20cessation%20of,severe%20illness%20or%20brain%20injury. |access-date=February 15, 2023 |website=Johns Hopkins Medicine |archive-date=10 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010230354/https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/articles/the-challenges-of-defining-and-diagnosing-brain-death#:~:text=Brain%20death%3A%20Irreversible%20cessation%20of,severe%20illness%20or%20brain%20injury. |url-status=live }}</ref> In the case of sleep, Electroencephalogram ([[Biology:Electroencephalography|EEGs]]) are used to tell the difference.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Chernecky |first1=Cynthia C. |title=Laboratory Tests and Diagnostic Procedures |last2=Berger |first2=Barbara J. |year=2013 |publisher=Saunders |isbn=978-1455706945 |edition=6th }}</ref>

The category of "brain death" is seen as problematic by some scholars. For instance, Dr. Franklin Miller, a senior faculty member at the Department of Bioethics, National Institutes of Health, notes: "By the late 1990s... the equation of brain death with death of the human being was increasingly challenged by scholars, based on evidence regarding the array of biological functioning displayed by patients correctly diagnosed as having this condition who were maintained on mechanical ventilation for substantial periods of time. These patients maintained the ability to sustain circulation and respiration, control temperature, excrete wastes, heal wounds, fight infections and, most dramatically, to gestate fetuses (in the case of pregnant "brain-dead" women)."<ref name=Miller>{{cite journal|last=Miller|first=F.G.|title=Death and organ donation: back to the future|journal=Journal of Medical Ethics|date=October 2009 |volume=35 |issue=10 |pages=616–620 |doi=10.1136/jme.2009.030627 |pmid=19793942|doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[File:French - Pendant with a Monk and Death - Walters 71461.jpg|thumb|alt=Ivory pendant of a Monk's face. The left half of the pendant appears skeletal, while the right half appears living|French – 16th-/17th-century ivory pendant, Monk and Death, recalling mortality and the certainty of death (Walters Art Museum)]]

While "brain death" is viewed as problematic by some scholars, there are proponents of it{{Who|date=November 2023}} that believe this definition of death is the most reasonable for distinguishing life from death. The reasoning behind the support for this definition is that brain death has a set of criteria that is reliable and reproducible. Also, the brain is crucial in determining our identity or who we are as human beings. The distinction should be made that "brain death" cannot be equated with one in a vegetative state or coma, in that the former situation describes a state that is beyond recovery.<ref name="Magnus-2014">{{cite journal |last1=Magnus |first1=David C. |last2=Wilfond |first2=Benjamin S. |last3=Caplan |first3=Arthur L. |date=2014-03-06 |title=Accepting Brain Death |journal=New England Journal of Medicine |volume=370 |issue=10 |pages=891–894 |doi=10.1056/NEJMp1400930 |issn=0028-4793 |pmid=24499177}}</ref>

EEGs can detect spurious electrical impulses, while certain drugs, [[Medicine:Hypoglycemia|hypoglycemia]], [[Medicine:Hypoxia (medical)|hypoxia]], or [[Physics:Hypothermia|hypothermia]] can suppress or even stop brain activity temporarily;<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nicol |first1=A. U. |last2=Morton |first2=A. J. |date=June 11, 2020 |title=Characteristic patterns of EEG oscillations in sheep (Ovis aries) induced by ketamine may explain the psychotropic effects seen in humans. |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=10 |issue=1 |page=9440 |doi=10.1038/s41598-020-66023-8 |pmid=32528071 |pmc=7289807 |bibcode=2020NatSR..10.9440N }}</ref> because of this, hospitals have protocols for determining brain death involving EEGs at widely separated intervals under defined conditions.<ref>{{Cite web |last=New York Department of Health |date=December 5, 2011 |title=Guidelines for Determining Brain Death |url=https://www.health.ny.gov/professionals/hospital_administrator/letters/2011/brain_death_guidelines.htm#:~:text=Electroencephalography%20(EEG)%3A%20Brain%20death,criteria%20listed%20in%20Appendix%202. |access-date=February 15, 2023 |website=New York State |archive-date=24 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120124021515/https://www.health.ny.gov/professionals/hospital_administrator/letters/2011/brain_death_guidelines.htm#:~:text=Electroencephalography%20(EEG)%3A%20Brain%20death,criteria%20listed%20in%20Appendix%202. |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Neocortical brain death ====
People maintaining that only the neo-cortex of the brain is necessary for consciousness sometimes argue that only electrical activity should be considered when defining death. Eventually, the criterion for death may be the permanent and irreversible loss of [[Cognition|cognitive]] function, as evidenced by the death of the [[Biology:Cerebral cortex|cerebral cortex]]. All hope of recovering human thought and [[Social:Personality psychology|personality]] is then gone, given current and foreseeable medical technology.<ref name="Zaner-2011">{{Cite book |last=Zaner |first=Richard M. |title=Death: Beyond Whole-Brain Criteria |date=2011 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-9401077200 |edition=1st  |pages=77, 125}}</ref> Even by whole-brain criteria, the determination of brain death can be complicated.

==== Total brain death ====
At present, in most places, the more conservative definition of death&nbsp;(– irreversible cessation of electrical activity in the whole brain, as opposed to just in the neo-cortex&nbsp;– )has been adopted. One example is the Uniform Determination Of Death Act in the United States.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws |url=https://lchc.ucsd.edu/cogn_150/Readings/death_act.pdf |title=Uniform Determination of Death Act |last2=American Bar Association |last3=American Medical Association |year=1981 |access-date=15 February 2023 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326130414/https://lchc.ucsd.edu/cogn_150/Readings/death_act.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In the past, the adoption of this whole-brain definition was a conclusion of the President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research in 1980.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lewis|first1=Ariane|last2=Cahn-Fuller|first2=Katherine|last3=Caplan|first3=Arthur|date=March 2017|title=Shouldn't Dead Be Dead?: The Search for a Uniform Definition of Death|journal=The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics|volume=45|issue=1|pages=112–128|doi=10.1177/1073110517703105|pmid=28661278|s2cid=4388540|issn=1073-1105}}</ref> They concluded that this approach to defining death sufficed in reaching a uniform definition nationwide. A multitude of reasons was presented to support this definition, including uniformity of standards in law for establishing death, consumption of a family's fiscal resources for artificial life support, and legal establishment for equating brain death with death to proceed with organ donation.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sarbey|first=Ben|date=2016-12-01|title=Definitions of death: brain death and what matters in a person|journal=Journal of Law and the Biosciences|volume=3|issue=3|pages=743–752|doi=10.1093/jlb/lsw054|pmid=28852554|pmc=5570697}}</ref>

==== Problems in medical practice ====
Aside from the issue of support of or dispute against brain death, there is another inherent problem in this categorical definition: the variability of its application in medical practice. In 1995, the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) established the criteria that became the medical standard for diagnosing neurologic death. At that time, three clinical features had to be satisfied to determine "irreversible cessation" of the total brain, including coma with clear etiology, cessation of breathing, and lack of brainstem reflexes.<ref name="Bernat-2013">{{Cite journal|last=Bernat|first=James L.|date=March 2013|title=Controversies in defining and determining death in critical care|journal=Nature Reviews Neurology|volume=9|issue=3|pages=164–173|doi=10.1038/nrneurol.2013.12|pmid=23419370|s2cid=12296259|issn=1759-4766}}</ref> These criteria were updated again, most recently in 2010, but substantial discrepancies remain across hospitals and medical specialties.<ref name="Bernat-2013" />

==== Donations ====
The problem of defining death is especially imperative as it pertains to the dead donor rule, which could be understood as one of the following interpretations of the rule: there must be an official declaration of death in a person before starting organ procurement, or that organ procurement cannot result in the death of the donor.<ref name="Bernat-2018" /> A great deal of controversy has surrounded the definition of death and the dead donor rule. Advocates of the rule believe that the rule is legitimate in protecting organ donors while also countering any moral or legal objection to organ procurement. Critics, on the other hand, believe that the rule does not uphold the best interests of the donors and that the rule does not effectively promote organ donation.<ref name="Bernat-2018" />

===Signs===
{{main|Medicine:Stages of death}}

Signs of death or strong indications that a [[Biology:Endotherm|warm-blooded animal]] is no longer alive are:<ref>{{Cite web |last=Australian Department of Health and Aged Care |date=June 2021 |title=The physical process of dying |url=https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/the-physical-process-of-dying |access-date=February 15, 2023 |website=Health Direct |archive-date=1 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301223347/https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/the-physical-process-of-dying |url-status=live }}</ref>

* [[Medicine:Respiratory arrest|Respiratory arrest]] (no [[Physics:Breathing|breathing]])
* Cardiac arrest (no [[Heart rate|pulse]])
* [[Medicine:Brain death|Brain death]] (no neuronal activity)

The stages that follow after death are:<ref name="Dolinak-2005">{{Cite book |last1=Dolinak |first1=David |title=Forensic Pathology: Principles and Practice |last2=Matshes |first2=Evan |last3=Lew |first3=Emma O. |publisher=Elsevier Academic Press |isbn=978-0080470665 |date= 2005 |pages=526}}</ref>

* {{lang|la|[[Medicine:Pallor mortis|Pallor mortis]]}}, paleness which happens in 15–120 minutes after death
* {{lang|la|[[Physics:Algor mortis|Algor mortis]]}}, the reduction in body temperature following death. This is generally a steady decline until matching ambient temperature
* {{lang|la|[[Medicine:Rigor mortis|Rigor mortis]]}}, the limbs of the corpse become stiff (Latin ''rigor'') and difficult to move or manipulate
* {{lang|la|[[Medicine:Livor mortis|Livor mortis]]}}, a settling of the blood in the lower (dependent) portion of the body
* [[Biology:Putrefaction|Putrefaction]], the beginning signs of decomposition
* [[Medicine:Decomposition|Decomposition]], the reduction into simpler forms of matter, accompanied by a strong, unpleasant odor.
* [[Medicine:Skeletonization|Skeletonization]], the end of decomposition, where all soft tissues have decomposed, leaving only the skeleton.
* [[Biology:Fossil|Fossil]]ization, the natural preservation of the skeletal remains formed over a very long period
[[File:Postmortem interval changes (stages of death).png|thumb|center|upright=3|Timeline of postmortem changes (stages of death)]]

===Legal===

The death of a person has legal consequences that may vary between jurisdictions. Most countries follow the whole-brain death criteria, where all functions of the brain must have completely ceased. However, in other jurisdictions, some follow the brainstem version of brain death.<ref name="Bernat-2013" /> Afterward, a [[Social:Death certificate|death certificate]] is issued in most jurisdictions, either by a doctor or by an administrative office, upon presentation of a doctor's declaration of death.<ref>{{Cite book |last=World Health Organization |title=Medical Certification of Cause of Death: Instructions for Physicians on Use of International Form of Medical Certificate of Cause of Death |publisher=[[Organization:World Health Organization|World Health Organization]] |year=1979 |isbn=978-9241560627}}</ref>

===Misdiagnosis===
[[File:Wiertz burial.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''The Premature Burial'', Antoine Wiertz's painting of a man buried alive, 1854]]

There are many anecdotal references to people being declared dead by physicians and then "coming back to life," sometimes days later in their coffin or when embalming procedures are about to begin. From the mid-18th century onwards, there was an upsurge in the public's fear of being mistakenly buried alive<ref>{{Harvnb|Bondeson|2001|p=77}}</ref> and much debate about the uncertainty of the signs of death. Various suggestions were made to test for signs of life before burial, ranging from pouring vinegar and pepper into the corpse's mouth to applying red hot pokers to the feet or into the [[Biology:Rectum|rectum]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Bondeson|2001|pp=56,&nbsp;71.}}</ref> Writing in 1895, the physician J.C. Ouseley claimed that as many as 2,700 people were buried prematurely each year in England and Wales, although some estimates peg the figure to be closer to 800.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bondeson|2001|p=239}}</ref>

In cases of electric shock, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for an hour or longer can allow stunned [[Biology:Nerve|nerve]]s to recover, allowing an apparently dead person to survive. People found unconscious under icy water may survive if their faces are kept continuously cold until they arrive at an emergency room.<ref name=Limmer>{{cite book |title=Brady Emergency Care AHA |publisher=Prentice Hall |isbn=978-0131593909 |author1=Limmer, Dan |author2=O'Keefe, Michael F. |author3=Bergeron, J. David |author4=Grant, Harvey |author5=Murray, Bob |author6=Dickinson, Ed |edition=10th Updated |date=21 December 2006 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/emergencycare0000unse }}</ref><!--original citation:Limmer, D. et al. (2006). Emergency care (AHA update, Ed. 10e). Prentice Hall.--><!--guessed it was this:https://www.amazon.com/Brady-Emergency-Care-Updated-Edition/dp/0131593900/ --> This "diving response," in which [[Biology:Metabolism|metabolic activity]] and oxygen requirements are minimal, is something humans share with [[Biology:Cetacea|cetacea]]ns called the mammalian diving reflex.<ref name=Limmer />

As medical technologies advance, ideas about when death occurs may have to be reevaluated in light of the ability to restore a person to vitality after longer periods of apparent death (as happened when CPR and defibrillation showed that cessation of heartbeat is inadequate as a decisive indicator of death). The lack of electrical brain activity may not be enough to consider someone scientifically dead. Therefore, the concept of information-theoretic death has been suggested as a better means of defining when true death occurs, though the concept has few practical applications outside the field of [[Physics:Cryonics|cryonics]].<ref name="InfoDeath">{{cite web |last=Merkle |first=Ralph |title=Information-Theoretic Death |url=http://www.merkle.com/definitions/infodeath.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809190714/http://www.merkle.com/definitions/infodeath.html |archive-date=9 August 2016 |access-date=4 June 2016 |website=merkle.com |quote="A person is dead according to the information-theoretic criterion if the structures that encode memory and personality have been so disrupted that it is no longer possible in principle to recover them. If inference of the state of memory and personality are feasible in principle, and therefore restoration to an appropriate functional state is likewise feasible in principle, then the person is not dead."}}</ref>

== Causes ==

The leading cause of human death in developing countries is [[Medicine:Infectious disease|infectious disease]]. The leading causes in developed countries are [[Medicine:Atherosclerosis|atherosclerosis]] (heart disease and stroke), cancer, and other diseases related to obesity and aging. By an extremely wide margin, the largest unifying cause of death in the developed world is biological aging,<ref name="doi10.2202/1941-6008.1011" /> leading to various complications known as [[Biology:Aging-associated diseases|aging-associated diseases]]. These conditions cause loss of [[Homeostasis|homeostasis]], leading to cardiac arrest, causing loss of [[Chemistry:Oxygen|oxygen]] and nutrient supply, causing irreversible deterioration of the brain and other [[Biology:Tissue|tissues]]. Of the roughly 150,000 people who die each day across the globe, about two thirds die of age-related causes.<ref name="doi10.2202/1941-6008.1011" /> In industrialized nations, the proportion is much higher, approaching 90%.<ref name="doi10.2202/1941-6008.1011" /> With improved medical capability, [[Biology:Dying|dying]] has become a condition to be managed.

In developing nations, inferior sanitary conditions and lack of access to modern medical technology make death from infectious diseases more common than in developed countries. One such disease is [[Medicine:Tuberculosis|tuberculosis]], a bacterial disease that killed 1.8 million people in 2015.<ref name="WHO2004data">{{cite web |publisher=[[Organization:World Health Organization|WHO]] |url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs104/en/index.html |title=Tuberculosis Fact sheet N°104 – Global and regional incidence |date=March 2006 |access-date=6 October 2006 |archive-date=30 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230232509/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs104/en/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Medicine:Malaria|Malaria]] causes about 400–900 million cases of fever and 1–3M deaths annually.<ref>{{cite web|author=Chris Thomas, Global Health/Health Infectious Diseases and Nutrition |url=http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/mch/ch/techareas/malaria_brief.html |title=USAID's Malaria Programs |publisher=Usaid.gov |date=2 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040126050719/http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/mch/ch/techareas/malaria_brief.html |archive-date=26 January 2004 |url-status=dead |access-date=19 September 2016}}</ref> The AIDS death toll in Africa may reach 90–100 million by 2025.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/mar/04/aids |title=Aids could kill 90 million Africans, says UN |newspaper={{wipe|The Guardian}} |date=4 March 2005 |location=London |access-date=23 May 2010 |archive-date=29 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829025536/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/mar/04/aids |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/03/AR2006060300229.html |title=AIDS Toll May Reach 100 Million in Africa |newspaper={{wipe|The Washington Post}} |date=4 June 2006 |first=Terry |last=Leonard |access-date=26 December 2013 |archive-date=17 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217223543/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/03/AR2006060300229.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to Jean Ziegler, the United Nations Special Reporter on the Right to Food, 2000 – Mar 2008, mortality due to [[Medicine:Malnutrition|malnutrition]] accounted for 58% of the total mortality rate in 2006. Ziegler says worldwide, approximately 62 million people died from all causes and of those deaths, more than 36 million died of hunger or diseases due to deficiencies in micronutrients.<ref>Jean Ziegler, ''L'Empire de la honte'', Fayard, 2007 {{ISBN|978-2253121152}} p. 130.{{clarify|reason=The publisher and date given do not match ISBN listings. If Fayard was the publisher, the year should be 2005. Otherwise, the publisher must be LGF, Librairie générale française. Different versions can mean different pages (potentially even chapters) that we are referencing.|date=January 2014}}</ref>

[[File:Lewis Hine, Newsies smoking at Skeeter's Branch, St. Louis, 1910.jpg|thumb|American children smoking in 1910. [[Chemistry:Tobacco smoking|Tobacco smoking]] caused an estimated 100 million deaths in the 20th century.<ref name=who />]]

Tobacco smoking killed 100&nbsp;million people worldwide in the 20th century and could kill 1&nbsp;billion people worldwide in the 21st century, a [[Organization:World Health Organization|World Health Organization]] report warned.<ref name=who>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/tobacco/mpower/mpower_report_full_2008.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308173338/http://www.who.int/tobacco/mpower/mpower_report_full_2008.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 March 2008 |title=WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008 |year=2008 |publisher=[[Organization:World Health Organization|WHO]] |access-date=26 December 2013}}</ref>

Many leading developed world causes of death can be postponed by diet and physical activity, but the accelerating incidence of disease with age still imposes limits on human [[Biology:Longevity|longevity]]. The evolutionary cause of aging is, at best, only beginning to be understood. It has been suggested that direct intervention in the aging process may now be the most effective intervention against major causes of death.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Olshansky |first1=S. Jay |last2=Perry |first2=Daniel |last3=Miller |first3=Richard A. |last4=Butler |first4=Robert N. |title=Longevity dividend: What should we be doing to prepare for the unprecedented aging of humanity? |journal=The Scientist |volume=20 |pages=28–36 |year=2006}}</ref>

Selye proposed a unified non-specific approach to many causes of death. He demonstrated that [[Medicine:Stress|stress]] decreases the adaptability of an organism and proposed to describe adaptability as a special resource, ''adaptation energy''. The animal dies when this resource is exhausted.<ref name="SelyeAE2">Selye, H. (1938). Experimental evidence supporting the conception of "adaptation energy", Am. J. Physiol. 123 (1938), 758–765.</ref> Selye assumed that adaptability is a finite supply presented at birth. Later, Goldstone proposed the concept of production or income of adaptation energy which may be stored (up to a limit) as a capital reserve of adaptation.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Goldstone B |year=1952 |title=The general practitioner and the general adaptation syndrome |journal=South African Medical Journal |volume=26 |issue=6 |pages=106–109|pmid=14913266}}</ref> In recent works, adaptation energy is considered an internal coordinate on the "dominant path" in the model of adaptation. It is demonstrated that oscillations of well-being appear when the reserve of adaptability is almost exhausted.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Gorban A. N. |author2=Tyukina T. A. |author3=Smirnova E.V. |author4=Pokidysheva L. I. |year=2016 |title=Evolution of adaptation mechanisms: adaptation energy, stress, and oscillating death |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287251014 |doi=10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.12.017 |pmid=26801872 |journal=J. Theor. Biol. |volume=405 |issue=21 |pages=127–139 |arxiv=1512.03949 |bibcode=2016JThBi.405..127G |s2cid=9173426 |access-date=9 April 2016 |archive-date=3 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003101141/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287251014 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Édouard Manet - Le Suicidé (ca. 1877).jpg|thumb|left|''Le Suicidé'' by Édouard Manet depicts a man who has recently committed suicide via a firearm.]]

In 2012, suicide overtook car crashes as the leading cause of human injury deaths in the U.S., followed by poisoning, falls, and murder.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-suicide-americans-car.html |title=Suicide now kills more Americans than car crashes: study |newspaper=Medical Express |first=Steven |last=Reinberg |date=September 20, 2012 |access-date=15 October 2012 |archive-date=6 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006051702/http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-suicide-americans-car.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Accidents and disasters, from [[Physics:Nuclear and radiation accidents and incidents|nuclear disasters]] to [[Physics:Structural integrity and failure|structural collapses]], also claim lives. One of the deadliest incidents of all time is the Failure of the 1975 Banqiao Dam Failure, with varying estimates, up to 240,000 dead.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mufson |first=Steven |date=February 22, 1995 |title=RIGHTS GROUP WARNS CHINA ON DAM PROJECT |newspaper={{wipe|The Washington Post}} |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/02/22/rights-group-warns-china-on-dam-project/313cd050-af56-4c2a-bf45-a00392e3d380/ |access-date=February 17, 2023 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306151637/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/02/22/rights-group-warns-china-on-dam-project/313cd050-af56-4c2a-bf45-a00392e3d380/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Other incidents with high death tolls are; the Wanggongchang explosion when a gunpowder factory ended up with 20,000 deaths,<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Liang |first1=Guojian |last2=Deng |first2=Lang |date=April 29, 2013 |title=Solving a Mystery of 400 Years-An Explanation to the "explosion" in Downtown Beijing in the Year of 1626 |url=https://www.allbestessays.com/essay/Solving-a-Mystery-of-400-Years-An-Explanation-to/47238.html |access-date=February 17, 2023 |website=AllBestEssays |archive-date=20 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220133510/https://www.allbestessays.com/essay/Solving-a-Mystery-of-400-Years-An-Explanation-to/47238.html |url-status=live }}</ref> a collapse of a wall of Circus Maximus killing 13,000 people,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Humphrey |first=John H. |title=Roman Circuses: Arenas for Chariot Racing |date=1986 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520049215 |pages=80, 102, 126–129}}</ref> and the Chernobyl disaster killing between 95 and 4,000 people.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sovacool |first=Benjamin K. |date=May 2008 |title=The costs of failure: A preliminary assessment of major energy accidents, 1907–2007 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301421508000529 |journal=Energy Policy |volume=36 |issue=5 |pages=1802–1820 |doi=10.1016/j.enpol.2008.01.040 |via=Elsevier Science Direct |access-date=17 February 2023 |archive-date=17 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230217195652/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301421508000529 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sovacool |first=Benjamin K. |date=August 2010 |title=A Critical Evaluation of Nuclear Power and Renewable Electricity in Asia |url=https://content.csbs.utah.edu/~mli/Economies%205430-6430/Sovacool-Nuclear%20Power%20and%20Renewable%20Electricity%20in%20Asia.pdf |journal=Journal of Contemporary Asia |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=369–400 |doi=10.1080/00472331003798350 |s2cid=154882872 |via=Routledge |access-date=17 February 2023 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306150720/https://content.csbs.utah.edu/~mli/Economies%205430-6430/Sovacool-Nuclear%20Power%20and%20Renewable%20Electricity%20in%20Asia.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Natural disasters kill around 45,000 people annually, although this number can vary to millions to thousands on a per decade basis. Some of the deadliest natural disasters are the 1931 China Floods, which killed and estimated 4 million people, although, estimates widely vary,<ref>{{Cite web |last=CBC Arts |date=August 30, 2010 |title=The World's Worst Natural Disasters: Calamities of the 20th and 21st centuries |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/the-world-s-worst-natural-disasters-1.743208 |access-date=February 17, 2023 |website=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |archive-date=19 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110119154212/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/the-world-s-worst-natural-disasters-1.743208 |url-status=live }}</ref> the 1887 Yellow River Flood, which killed an estimated 2 million people in China,<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Means |first1=Tiffany |last2=Pappas |first2=Stephanie |date=March 3, 2022 |title=10 of the deadliest natural disasters in history |url=https://www.livescience.com/33316-top-10-deadliest-natural-disasters.html |access-date=February 17, 2023 |website=LiveScience |archive-date=2 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130702232018/https://www.livescience.com/33316-top-10-deadliest-natural-disasters.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and the 1970 Bhola Cyclone, killing 500,000 people in {{wipe|Pakistan}}.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 13, 2017 |title="The 16 deadliest storms of the last century" |url=https://www.businessinsider.in/science/the-16-deadliest-storms-of-the-last-century/slidelist/60486966.cms |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107131218/https://www.businessinsider.in/science/the-16-deadliest-storms-of-the-last-century/slidelist/60486966.cms |archive-date=January 7, 2022 |access-date=February 17, 2023 |website=Business Insider India}}</ref>

In animals, [[Earth:Predation|predation]] can be a common cause of death. Livestock have a 6% death rate from predation. However, younger animals are more susceptible to predation. For example, 50% of young foxes die to [[Biology:Bird of prey|birds]], [[Biology:Bobcat|bobcat]]s, [[Biology:Coyote|coyote]]s, and [[Biology:Cannibalism|other foxes]] as well. Young bear cubs in the Yellowstone National Park only have a 40% chance to survive to adulthood from other bears and predators.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dohner |first=Janet Vorwald |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/970604110 |title=The encyclopedia of animal predators : learn about each predator's traits and behaviors : identify the tracks and signs of more than 50 predators : protect your livestock, poultry, and pets |date=2017 |isbn=978-1612127057 |location=North Adams, Massachusetts |oclc=970604110 |access-date=17 February 2023 |archive-date=18 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818082350/https://www.worldcat.org/title/970604110 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Autopsy ===
[[File:Rembrandt - The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp.jpg|thumb|alt=A painting of an autopsy, by Rembrandt, entitled "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp"|An autopsy is portrayed in ''The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp'', by Rembrandt.]]

An [[Medicine:Autopsy|autopsy]], also known as a ''postmortem examination'' or an ''obduction'', is a [[Medicine:Medical procedure|medical procedure]] that consists of a thorough examination of a human corpse to determine the cause and manner of a person's death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present. It is usually performed by a specialized [[Medicine:Physician|medical doctor]] called a pathologist.<ref name="Johns Hopkins Medical-2019">{{Cite web |last=Johns Hopkins Medical |title=Autopsy |url=https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/autopsy |access-date=February 15, 2023 |website=Johns Hopkins Medical |date=19 November 2019 |archive-date=26 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200626040047/https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/autopsy |url-status=live }}</ref>

Autopsies are either performed for legal or medical purposes.<ref name="Johns Hopkins Medical-2019" /> A forensic autopsy is carried out when the cause of death may be a criminal matter, while a clinical or academic autopsy is performed to find the medical cause of death and is used in cases of unknown or uncertain death, or for research purposes.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Maryland Department of Health |title=Forensic Autopsy |url=https://health.maryland.gov/ocme/Pages/Forensic-Autopsy.aspx#:~:text=A%20forensic%20autopsy%20is%20a,or%20contributed%20to%20the%20death. |access-date=February 15, 2023 |website=Maryland Department of Health |archive-date=4 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004011340/https://health.maryland.gov/ocme/Pages/Forensic-Autopsy.aspx#:~:text=A%20forensic%20autopsy%20is%20a,or%20contributed%20to%20the%20death. |url-status=live }}</ref> Autopsies can be further classified into cases where external examination suffices, and those where the body is dissected and an internal examination is conducted.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Madea |first1=Buckhard |last2=Rothschild |first2=Markus |date=June 1, 2010 |title=The Post Mortem External Examination |url=https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/77978 |journal=Deutsches Ärzteblatt International |language=de |volume=103 |issue=33 |pages=575–586; quiz 587–588 |doi=10.3238/arztebl.2010.0575 |pmid=20830284 |pmc=2936051 |access-date=16 February 2023 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306150726/https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/77978 |url-status=live }}</ref> Permission from next of kin may be required for internal autopsy in some cases.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Duke University School of Medicine |title=Autopsy Pathology |url=https://pathology.duke.edu/divisions/anatomic-pathology/autopsy-pathology#:~:text=The%20immediate%20family%20should%20be,brother%20or%20sister%20or%20guardian. |access-date=February 15, 2023 |website=Duke Department of Pathology |archive-date=28 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220628224102/https://pathology.duke.edu/divisions/anatomic-pathology/autopsy-pathology#:~:text=The%20immediate%20family%20should%20be,brother%20or%20sister%20or%20guardian. |url-status=live }}</ref> Once an internal autopsy is complete the body is generally reconstituted by sewing it back together.<ref name="Dolinak-2005" />

A necropsy, which is not always a medical procedure, was a term previously used to describe an unregulated postmortem examination. In modern times, this term is more commonly associated with the corpses of animals.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Fadden |first1=Melissa |last2=Peaslee |first2=Jennifer |date=March 19, 2019 |title=What's a Necropsy? The Science Behind this Valuable Diagnostic Tool. |url=https://cwhl.vet.cornell.edu/article/whats-necropsy-science-behind-valuable-diagnostic-tool |access-date=February 15, 2023 |publisher=Cornell University |archive-date=4 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604070211/https://cwhl.vet.cornell.edu/article/whats-necropsy-science-behind-valuable-diagnostic-tool |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Death before birth ==
Death before birth can happen in several ways: [[Medicine:Stillbirth|stillbirth]], when the [[Biology:Fetus|fetus]] dies before or during the delivery process; [[Medicine:Miscarriage|miscarriage]], when the embryo dies before independent survival; and abortion, the artificial termination of the pregnancy. Stillbirth and miscarriage can happen for various reasons, while abortion is carried out purposely.

=== Stillbirth ===
{{Main|Medicine:Stillbirth}}
Stillbirth can happen right before or after the delivery of a fetus. It can result from [[Medicine:Birth defect|defects]] of the fetus or [[Medicine:Risk factor|risk factor]]s present in the mother. Reductions of these factors, [[Medicine:Caesarean section|caesarean section]]s when risks are present, and early detection of birth defects have lowered the rate of stillbirth. However, 1% of births in the United States end in a stillbirth.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Goldenberg |first1=Rl |last2=Kirby |first2=R |last3=Culhane |first3=Jf |date=2004-08-01 |title=Stillbirth: a review |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/jmf.16.2.79.94 |journal=The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine |language=en |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=79–94 |doi=10.1080/jmf.16.2.79.94 |s2cid=218875617 |issn=1476-7058}}</ref>

=== Miscarriage ===
{{Main|Medicine:Miscarriage}}
A miscarriage is defined by the [[Organization:World Health Organization|World Health Organization]] as, "The expulsion or extraction from its mother of an embryo or fetus weighing 500g or less." Miscarriage is one of the most frequent problems in pregnancy, and is reported in around 12–15% of all [[Medicine:Pregnancy|clinical pregnancies]]; however, by including pregnancy losses during [[Medicine:Menstruation|menstruation]], it could be up to 17–22% of all pregnancies. There are many risk-factors involved in miscarriage; consumption of [[Biology:Caffeine|caffeine]], tobacco, alcohol, drugs, having a previous miscarriage, and the use of abortion can increase the chances of having a miscarriage.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Garcı́a-Enguı́danos |first1=A |last2=Calle |first2=M.E |last3=Valero |first3=J |last4=Luna |first4=S |last5=Domı́nguez-Rojas |first5=V |date=May 10, 2002 |title=Risk factors in miscarriage: a review |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0301211501006133 |journal=European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology |language=en |volume=102 |issue=2 |pages=111–119 |doi=10.1016/S0301-2115(01)00613-3 |pmid=11950476 |access-date=21 February 2023 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306150730/https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0301211501006133 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Abortion ===
{{Main|Medicine:Abortion}}
An abortion may be performed for many reasons, such as pregnancy from rape, financial constraints of having a child, teenage pregnancy, and the lack of support from a [[Philosophy:Significant other|significant other]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Finer |first1=Lawrence B. |last2=Frohwirth |first2=Lori F. |last3=Dauphinee |first3=Lindsay A. |last4=Singh |first4=Sushella |last5=Moore |first5=Ann M. |date=September 1, 2005 |title=Reasons U.S. Women Have Abortions: Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives |url=https://www.guttmacher.org/journals/psrh/2005/reasons-us-women-have-abortions-quantitative-and-qualitative-perspectives |journal=Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health |volume=37 |issue=5 |pages=100–118 |doi=10.1363/3711005 |doi-broken-date=23 January 2024 |via=Guttmacher Institute |access-date=21 February 2023 |archive-date=25 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230725161614/https://www.guttmacher.org/journals/psrh/2005/reasons-us-women-have-abortions-quantitative-and-qualitative-perspectives |url-status=live }}</ref> There are two forms of abortion: a medical abortion and an in-clinic abortion or sometimes referred to as a surgical abortion. A medical abortion involves taking a pill that will terminate the pregnancy no more than 11 weeks past the last [[Medicine:Menstrual cycle|period]], and an in-clinic abortion involves a medical procedure using suction to empty the uterus; this is possible after 12 weeks, but it may be more difficult to find an operating doctor who will go through with the procedure.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Attia |date=November 21, 2019 |title=What are the different types of abortion? |url=https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/ask-experts/what-are-the-different-types-of-abortion |access-date=February 21, 2023 |website=Planned Parenthood |language=en |archive-date=3 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503201622/https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/ask-experts/what-are-the-different-types-of-abortion |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Senescence ==
{{main|Biology:Senescence}}
[[File:Kameldornbaum Sossusvlei.jpg|thumb|Dead [[Biology:Vachellia erioloba|camel thorn tree]] within Sossusvlei]]

Senescence refers to a scenario when a living being can survive all calamities but eventually dies due to causes relating to old age. Conversely, premature death can refer to a death that occurs before old age arrives, for example, human death before a person reaches the age of 75.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The top five causes of premature death |url=https://familyserviceshub.havering.gov.uk/kb5/havering/directory/advice.page?id=6ShWTMD1aSU |access-date=2023-08-15 |website=familyserviceshub.havering.gov.uk |archive-date=21 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921235905/https://familyserviceshub.havering.gov.uk/kb5/havering/directory/advice.page?id=6ShWTMD1aSU |url-status=live }}</ref> Animal and plant cells normally reproduce and function during the whole period of natural existence, but the aging process derives from the deterioration of cellular activity and the ruination of regular functioning. The aptitude of cells for gradual deterioration and mortality means that cells are naturally sentenced to stable and long-term loss of living capacities, even despite continuing metabolic reactions and viability. In the United Kingdom, for example, nine out of ten of all the deaths that occur daily relates to senescence, while around the world, it accounts for two-thirds of 150,000 deaths that take place daily.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hayflick |first1=Loeonard |url=https://search.issuelab.org/resource/has-anyone-ever-died-of-old-age.html |title=Has Anyone Ever Died of Old Age? |last2=Moody |first2=Harry R. |publisher=Internation Longevity Center–USA |date=2003 |access-date=16 February 2023 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306150733/https://search.issuelab.org/resource/has-anyone-ever-died-of-old-age.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Almost all animals who survive external hazards to their biological functioning eventually die from [[Biology:Senescence|biological aging]], known in life sciences as "senescence." Some organisms experience [[Biology:Negligible senescence|negligible senescence]], even exhibiting [[Biology:Biological immortality|biological immortality]]. These include the jellyfish ''[[Biology:Turritopsis dohrnii|Turritopsis dohrnii]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jellyfishfacts.net/turritopsis-nutricula-immortal-jellyfish.html |title=Turritopsis nutricula (Immortal jellyfish) |publisher=Jellyfishfacts.net |access-date=18 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013163459/http://www.jellyfishfacts.net/turritopsis-nutricula-immortal-jellyfish.html |archive-date=13 October 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> the [[Biology:Hydra (genus)|hydra]], and the [[Biology:Planarian|planarian]]. Unnatural causes of death include suicide and [[Earth:Predation|predation]]. Of all causes, roughly 150,000 people die around the world each day.<ref name="doi10.2202/1941-6008.1011">{{cite journal|last=Aubrey D.N.J |first=de Grey |title=Life Span Extension Research and Public Debate: Societal Considerations |journal=Studies in Ethics, Law, and Technology |volume=1 |issue=1, Article 5 |year=2007 |url=http://www.sens.org/files/pdf/ENHANCE-PP.pdf |doi=10.2202/1941-6008.1011 |access-date=20 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013163622/http://www.sens.org/files/pdf/ENHANCE-PP.pdf |archive-date=13 October 2016|citeseerx=10.1.1.395.745 |s2cid=201101995 |quote=roughly 150,000 deaths that occur each day across the globe}}</ref> Of these, two-thirds die directly or indirectly due to senescence, but in industrialized countries – such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany – the rate approaches 90% (i.e., nearly nine out of ten of all deaths are related to senescence).<ref name="doi10.2202/1941-6008.1011" />

Physiological death is now seen as a process, more than an event: conditions once considered indicative of death are now reversible.<ref>{{cite web|last=Crippen |first=David |website=Scientific American Surgery, Critical Care, April 2005 |url=http://www.sciamsurgery.com/sciamsurgery/institutional/payPerAdd.action?chapterId=part08_ch10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060624132446/http://www.acssurgery.com/abstracts/acs/acs0812.htm |archive-date=24 June 2006 |title=Brain Failure and Brain Death |access-date=9 January 2007}}</ref> Where in the process, a dividing line is drawn between life and death depends on factors beyond the presence or absence of [[Medicine:Vital signs|vital signs]]. In general, [[Medicine:Clinical death|clinical death]] is neither necessary nor sufficient for a determination of [[Social:Legal death|legal death]]. A patient with working heart and lungs determined to be [[Medicine:Brain death|brain dead]] can be pronounced legally dead without clinical death occurring.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Burkle |first1=Christopher M. |last2=Sharp |first2=Richard R. |last3=Wijdicks |first3=Eelco F. |date=October 14, 2014 |title=Why brain death is considered death and why there should be no confusion |journal=Neurology |volume=83 |issue=16 |pages=1464–1469 |doi=10.1212/WNL.0000000000000883 |pmid=25217058 |pmc=4206160 }}</ref>

== Life extension ==
{{Main|Philosophy:Life extension}}
Life extension refers to an increase in [[Maximum life span|maximum]] or [[Biology:Life expectancy|average lifespan]], especially in humans, by slowing or reversing [[Biology:Senescence|aging processes]] through anti-aging measures. Aging is the most common cause of death worldwide. Aging is seen as inevitable, so according to Aubrey de Grey little is spent on research into anti-aging therapies, a phenomenon known as [[Philosophy:Pro-aging trance|pro-aging trance]].<ref name="doi10.2202/1941-6008.1011" />

The average lifespan is determined by vulnerability to accidents and age or lifestyle-related afflictions such as cancer or [[Medicine:Cardiovascular disease|cardiovascular disease]]. Extension of lifespan can be achieved by good diet, exercise, and avoidance of hazards such as [[Chemistry:Tobacco smoking|smoking]]. Maximum lifespan is determined by the rate of aging for a species inherent in its [[Biology:Gene|gene]]s. A recognized method of extending maximum lifespan is [[Biology:Calorie restriction|calorie restriction]].<ref name="Fontana-2010">{{Cite journal |last1=Fontana |first1=Luigi |last2=Partridge |first2=Linda |last3=Longo |first3=Valter L. |date=April 16, 2010 |title=Extending Healthy Life Span—From Yeast to Humans |journal=Science |volume=328 |issue=5976 |pages=321–326 |doi=10.1126/science.1172539 |pmid=20395504 |pmc=3607354 |bibcode=2010Sci...328..321F }}</ref> Theoretically, the extension of the maximum lifespan can be achieved by reducing the rate of aging damage, by [[Engineering:Tissue engineering|periodic replacement of damaged tissues]], [[Engineering:Nanobiotechnology|molecular repair]] or rejuvenation of deteriorated cells and tissues.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Blagosklonny |first=Mikhail V. |date=December 1, 2021 |title=No limit to maximal lifespan in humans: how to beat a 122-year-old record |journal=Oncoscience |volume=2021 |issue=8 |pages=110–119 |doi=10.18632/oncoscience.547 |pmid=34869788 |pmc=8636159 }}</ref>

A United States poll found religious and irreligious people, as well as men and women and people of different economic classes, have similar rates of support for life extension, while Africans and Hispanics have higher rates of support than white people. 38% said they would desire to have their aging process cured.<ref>{{cite web |date=6 August 2013 |title=Living to 120 and Beyond: Americans' Views on Aging, Medical Advances and Radical Life Extension |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2013/08/06/living-to-120-and-beyond-americans-views-on-aging-medical-advances-and-radical-life-extension/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918232422/http://www.pewforum.org/2013/08/06/living-to-120-and-beyond-americans-views-on-aging-medical-advances-and-radical-life-extension/ |archive-date=18 September 2016 |access-date=19 September 2016 |website=Pew Research Center |publisher=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project}}</ref>

Researchers of life extension can be known as "biomedical gerontologists." They try to understand aging, and develop treatments to reverse aging processes, or at least slow them for the improvement of health and maintenance of youthfulness.<ref name="Stambler-2017">{{Cite journal |last=Stambler |first=Ilia |date=October 1, 2017 |title=Recognizing Degenerative Aging as a Treatable Medical Condition: Methodology and Policy |journal=Aging and Disease |volume=8 |issue=5 |pages=583–589 |doi=10.14336/AD.2017.0130 |pmid=28966803 |pmc=5614323 }}</ref> Those who use life extension findings and apply them to themselves are called "life extensionists" or "longevists." The primary life extension strategy currently is to apply anti-aging methods to attempt to live long enough to benefit from a cure for aging.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moshakis |first=Alex |date=June 23, 2019 |title=How to live forever: meet the extreme life-extensionists |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/jun/23/how-to-live-forever-meet-the-extreme-life-extensionists-immortal-science |access-date=February 16, 2023 |website=The Guardian |archive-date=23 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190623103052/https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/jun/23/how-to-live-forever-meet-the-extreme-life-extensionists-immortal-science |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Cryonics ===
{{Main||Physics:Cryonics}}
[[File:Cryo surgery.jpg|thumb|Technicians prepare a body for cryopreservation in 1985.]]

Cryonics (from Greek κρύος 'kryos-' meaning 'icy cold') is the [[Engineering:Cryopreservation|low-temperature preservation]] of animals, including humans, who cannot be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future.<ref>{{cite news |last=McKie |first=Robin |date=13 July 2002 |title=Cold facts about cryonics |newspaper={{wipe|The Guardian}} |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2002/jul/14/medicalscience.science |url-status=live |access-date=1 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708232125/https://www.theguardian.com/education/2002/jul/14/medicalscience.science |archive-date=8 July 2017 |quote=Cryonics, which began in the Fifties, is the freezing – usually in liquid nitrogen – of human beings who have been legally declared dead. The aim of this process is to keep such individuals in a state of refrigerated limbo so that it may become possible in the future to resuscitate them, cure them of the condition that killed them, and then restore them to functioning life in an era when medical science has triumphed over the activities of the Banana Reaper}}</ref><ref name="alcor What is Cryonics">{{cite web |title=What is Cryonics? |url=http://alcor.org/AboutCryonics/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203002857/http://alcor.org/AboutCryonics/index.html |archive-date=3 December 2013 |access-date=2 December 2013 |website=Alcor Foundation |quote="Cryonics is an effort to save lives by using temperatures so cold that a person beyond help by today's medicine might be preserved for decades or centuries until a future medical technology can restore that person to full health."}}</ref>

[[Engineering:Cryopreservation|Cryopreservation]] of people and other large animals, is not reversible with current technology. The stated rationale for cryonics is that people who are considered dead by current legal or medical definitions, may not necessarily be dead according to the more stringent 'information-theoretic' definition of death.<ref name="InfoDeath" /><ref name="Whetstine L et al. 2005 538–542">{{cite journal |vauthors=Whetstine L, Streat S, Darwin M, Crippen D |year=2005 |title=Pro/con ethics debate: When is dead really dead? |journal=Critical Care |volume=9 |issue=6 |pages=538–42 |doi=10.1186/cc3894 |pmc=1414041 |pmid=16356234 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Some scientific literature is claimed to support the feasibility of cryonics.<ref name="pmid18321197">{{cite journal |first=Ben |last=Best |year=2008 |title=Scientific justification of cryonics practice |journal=[[Unsolved:Rejuvenation Research|Rejuvenation Research]] |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=493–503 |doi=10.1089/rej.2008.0661 |pmc=4733321 |pmid=18321197}}</ref> Medical science and cryobiologists generally regard cryonics with skepticism.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lovgren |first=Stefan |date=18 March 2005 |title=Corpses Frozen for Future Rebirth by Arizona Company |newspaper=National Geographic |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/03/0318_050318_cryonics.html |url-status=dead |access-date=15 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714141729/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/03/0318_050318_cryonics.html |archive-date=14 July 2014 |quote=Many cryobiologists, however, scoff at the idea...}}</ref>

== Location ==
[[File:Hugo Sundström - Kallio with Mannerheim.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Kyösti Kallio (middle), the fourth President of the Republic of Finland, had a fatal heart attack a few seconds after this photograph was taken by Hugo Sundström on December 19, 1940, at Helsinki railway station in Helsinki, Finland.<ref>Aladár Paasonen (1974). Marsalkan tiedustelupäällikkönä ja hallituksen asiamiehenä (Marshall's chief of intelligence and Government's official. In Finnish). Weilin, Göös, Helsinki</ref><ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.kansallisbiografia.fi/english/?id=629 | title= Kallio, Kyösti (1873–1940) President of Finland | first= Kari | last= Hokkanen | publisher= Biografiakeskus, Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura | access-date= 2013-01-10 | archive-date= 22 February 2014 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140222215305/http://www.kansallisbiografia.fi/english/?id=629 | url-status= live }}</ref>]]

Around 1930, most people in Western countries died in their own homes, surrounded by family, and comforted by clergy, neighbors, and doctors making house calls.<ref name="isbn0-8018-1762-5">{{cite book|last=Ariès |first=Philippe |title=Western attitudes toward death: from the Middle Ages to the present |url=https://archive.org/details/westernattitudes00phil |url-access=registration |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |year=1974 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/westernattitudes00phil/page/87 87–89] |isbn=978-0801817625}}</ref> By the mid-20th century, half of all Americans died in a hospital.<ref name="isbn0-679-41461-4">{{cite book |last=Nuland |first=Sherwin B. |author-link=Sherwin B. Nuland |title=How we die: Reflections on life's final chapter |publisher=A.A. Knopf |location=New York |year=1994 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/howwediereflecti00nula/page/254 254–255] |isbn=978-0679414612 |url=https://archive.org/details/howwediereflecti00nula/page/254 }}</ref> By the start of the 21st century, only about 20 to 25% of people in developed countries died outside of a medical institution.<ref name="isbn0-679-41461-4" /><ref name="pmid16299059">{{cite journal|last1=Ahmad |first1=S. |last2=O'Mahony |first2=M.S. |title=Where older people die: a retrospective population-based study |journal=QJM |volume=98 |issue=12 |pages=865–870 |date=December 2005 |pmid=16299059 |doi=10.1093/qjmed/hci138|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="pmid11535743">{{cite journal|vauthors=Cassel CK, Demel B |title=Remembering death: public policy in the USA |journal=J R Soc Med |volume=94 |issue=9 |pages=433–436 |date=September 2001 |pmid=11535743 |pmc=1282180|doi=10.1177/014107680109400905 }}</ref> The shift from dying at home towards dying in a professional medical environment has been termed the "Invisible Death."<ref name="isbn0-679-41461-4" /> This shift occurred gradually over the years until most deaths now occur outside the home.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Invisible Death|last1=Ariès|first1=P|pages=105–115|journal=The Wilson Quarterly|volume=5|issue=1|jstor=40256048|year=1981|pmid=11624731}}</ref>

== Psychology ==

Death studies is a field within [[Social:Psychology|psychology]].<ref name="oxforddeathpsych">{{Cite encyclopedia |last1=Solomon |first1=Sheldon |last2=Piven |first2=J.S. |title=Death and Dying |encyclopedia=Oxford Bibliographies Online |doi=10.1093/obo/9780199828340-0144 |date=2017-05-09 |orig-year=first published 2014 |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199828340/obo-9780199828340-0144.xml |url-access=subscription |publisher=Oxford University |access-date=11 August 2021 |archive-date=22 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210622105010/https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199828340/obo-9780199828340-0144.xml |url-status=live}}</ref> To varying degrees people inherently fear death, both the process and the eventuality; it is hard wired and part of the 'survival instinct' of all animals.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-03-24 |title=Study into who is least afraid of death {{!}} University of Oxford |url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2017-03-24-study-who-least-afraid-death |access-date=2023-11-02 |website=www.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref> Discussing, thinking about, or planning for their deaths causes them discomfort. This fear may cause them to put off financial planning, preparing a will and testament, or requesting help from a hospice organization.

[[Philosophy:Mortality salience|Mortality salience]] is the awareness that death is inevitable. However, [[Philosophy:Self-esteem|self-esteem]] and culture are ways to reduce the [[Medicine:Anxiety|anxiety]] this effect can cause.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Harmon-Jones |first1=Eddie |last2=Simon |first2=Linda |last3=Greenburg |first3=Jeff |last4=Pyszczynski |first4=Tom |last5=Solomon |first5=Sheldon |last6=McGregor |first6=Holly |date=1997 |title=Terror management theory and self-esteem: Evidence that increased self-esteem reduced mortality salience effects. |url=https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0022-3514.72.1.24Journa |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |volume=72 |issue=1 |pages=24–36 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.72.1.24 |pmid=9008372 |s2cid=32261410 |via=APA PsycNet |access-date=17 February 2023 |archive-date=17 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230217175057/https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037/0022-3514.72.1.24Journa |url-status=live }}</ref> The awareness of someone's own death can cause a deepened bond in their [[In-group and out-group|in-group]] as a defense mechanism. This can also cause the person to become very judging. In a study, two groups were formed; one group was asked to reflect upon their mortality, the other was not, afterwards, the groups were told to set a bond for a prostitute. The group that did not reflect on death had an average of $50, the group who was reminded about their death had an average of $455.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pyszczynski |first=Thomas A. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/49719188 |title=In the wake of 9/11 : the psychology of terror |date=2003 |publisher=American Psychological Association |others=Jeff Greenberg, Sheldon Solomon |isbn=1557989540 |location=Washington, DC |oclc=49719188 |access-date=17 February 2023 |archive-date=18 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818072349/https://www.worldcat.org/title/49719188 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Different people have different responses to the idea of their deaths. Philosopher [[Biography:Galen Strawson|Galen Strawson]] writes that the death that many people wish for is an instant, painless, unexperienced annihilation.<ref name="Strawson-2018">{{Cite book |last=Strawson |first=Galen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c_9MDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA72 |title=Things that Bother Me: Death, Freedom, the Self, Etc |date=2018 |publisher=New York Review of Books |isbn=978-1681372204 |pages=72–73 |language=en |access-date=2 July 2019 |archive-date=30 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730003828/https://books.google.com/books?id=c_9MDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA72 |url-status=live}}</ref> In this unlikely scenario, the person dies without realizing it and without being able to fear it. One moment the person is walking, eating, or sleeping, and the next moment, the person is dead. Strawson reasons that this type of death would not take anything away from the person, as he believes a person cannot have a legitimate claim to ownership in the future.<ref name="Strawson-2018" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Strawson |first=Galen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z2XODQAAQBAJ&pg=PT108 |title=The Subject of Experience |date=2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0198777885 |pages=108–110 |language=en |access-date=2 July 2019 |archive-date=31 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731135737/https://books.google.com/books?id=z2XODQAAQBAJ&pg=PT108 |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Society and culture ==
[[File:Hertig Karl skymfande Klaus Flemings lik, målning av Albert Edelfelt från 1878.jpg|thumb|alt=A duke insulting the corpse of Klaus Fleming|The regent duke Charles (later king Charles IX of Sweden) insulting the corpse of Klaus Fleming. Albert Edelfelt, 1878]]
[[File:Placid death.JPG|thumb|alt=A naturally mummified body (from Guanajuato)|Dead bodies can be mummified either naturally, as this one from Guanajuato, or by intention, as those in ancient Egypt.]]

In society, the nature of death and humanity's [[Philosophy:Mortality salience|awareness of its mortality]] has, for millennia, been a concern of the world's religious traditions and [[Philosophy:Philosophy|philosophical inquiry]]. Including belief in [[Unsolved:Resurrection|resurrection]] or an [[Philosophy:Afterlife|afterlife]] (associated with [[Religion:Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic religions]]), [[Philosophy:Reincarnation|reincarnation]] or rebirth (associated with Dharmic religions), or that consciousness permanently ceases to exist, known as [[Unsolved:Eternal oblivion|eternal oblivion]] (associated with [[Philosophy:Secular humanism|Secular humanism]]).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fuKB8MPMdG4C&pg=PA18|title=Handbook to the Afterlife|last1=Heath|first1=Pamela Rae|last2=Klimo|first2=Jon|publisher=North Atlantic Books|date=2010|page=18|isbn=978-1556438691|access-date=12 April 2012|archive-date=6 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306223706/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=fuKB8MPMdG4C&lpg=PA18&pg=PA18|url-status=live}}</ref>

Commemoration ceremonies after death may include various mourning, funeral practices, and ceremonies of honoring the deceased.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Victoria |title=Celebrating Life Customs Around the World: From Baby Showers to Funerals [3 Volumes] |date= 2016 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1440836596}}</ref> The physical remains of a person, commonly known as a ''corpse'' or ''body'', are usually interred whole or cremated, though among the world's cultures, there are a variety of other methods of [[Medicine:Disposal of human corpses|mortuary disposal]].<ref name="Newcomb-2019">{{Cite web |last=Newcomb |first=Tim |date=October 17, 2019 |title=7 Unique Burial Rituals Across the World |url=https://www.britannica.com/list/7-unique-burial-rituals-across-the-world |access-date=February 16, 2023 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |archive-date=1 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200401042544/https://www.britannica.com/list/7-unique-burial-rituals-across-the-world |url-status=live }}</ref> In the English language, blessings directed towards a dead person include ''[[Religion:Rest in peace|rest in peace]]'' (originally the [[Social:Latin|Latin]], ''requiescat in pace'') or its initialism RIP.

Death is the center of many traditions and organizations; customs relating to death are a feature of every culture around the world. Much of this revolves around the care of the dead, as well as the [[Philosophy:Afterlife|afterlife]] and the disposal of bodies upon the onset of death. The [[Medicine:Disposal of human corpses|disposal of human corpses]] does, in general, begin with the last offices before significant time has passed, and ritualistic ceremonies often occur, most commonly interment or cremation. This is not a unified practice; in [[Place:Tibet|Tibet]], for instance, the body is given a [[Unsolved:Sky burial|sky burial]] and left on a mountain top. Proper preparation for death and techniques and ceremonies for producing the ability to transfer one's spiritual attainments into another body ([[Philosophy:Reincarnation|reincarnation]]) are subjects of detailed study in Tibet.<ref>{{Harvnb|Mullin|1998|p=}}{{page needed|date=January 2014}}</ref> Mummification or embalming is also prevalent in some cultures to retard the rate of [[Medicine:Decomposition|decay]].<ref name="Brenner-2014">{{Cite journal |last=Brenner |first=Erich |date=January 18, 2014 |title=Human body preservation – old and new techniques |journal=Journal of Anatomy |volume=224 |issue=3 |pages=316–344 |doi=10.1111/joa.12160 |pmid=24438435 |pmc=3931544 |s2cid=30067467 }}</ref>

Some parts of death in culture are legally based, having laws for when death occurs, such as the receiving of a death certificate, the settlement of the deceased estate, and the issues of [[Social:Inheritance|inheritance]] and, in some countries, inheritance taxation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dimond |first=Bridgit |title=Legal Aspects of Death |publisher=Quay Books |year=2008 |isbn=978-1856423335 |edition=6th}}</ref>

Capital punishment is also a culturally divisive aspect of death. In most jurisdictions where capital punishment is carried out today, the death penalty is reserved for premeditated murder, espionage, treason, or as part of military justice. In some countries, sexual crimes, such as [[Social:Adultery|adultery]] and sodomy, carry the death penalty, as do religious crimes, such as apostasy, the formal renunciation of one's religion. In many retentionist countries, drug trafficking is also a capital offense. In China, human trafficking and serious cases of corruption are also punished by the death penalty. In militaries around the world, courts-martial have imposed death sentences for offenses such as cowardice, desertion, [[Insubordination|insubordination]], and mutiny.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shotatdawn.org.uk/|title=Shot at Dawn, campaign for pardons for British and Commonwealth soldiers executed in World War I|publisher=Shot at Dawn Pardons Campaign|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004030535/http://www.shotatdawn.org.uk/|archive-date=4 October 2006|access-date=20 July 2006}}</ref>

Death in warfare and suicide attack also have cultural links, and the ideas of ''dulce et decorum est pro patria mori,'' which translates to "It is sweet and proper to die for one's country," mutiny punishable by death, such as in the United States,<ref>{{Cite book |last=United States Department of the Army |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bk8sAAAAYAAJ |title=Military Judges' Benchbook: Part 1 |publisher=United States Department of the Army |year=1982 |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=17 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230817194026/https://books.google.com/books?id=Bk8sAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> grieving relatives of dead soldiers and death notification are embedded in many cultures.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hassankhani |first1=Hadi |last2=Haririan |first2=Hamidreza |last3=Porter |first3=Joanne E. |last4=Heatson |first4=Sondra |date=March 1, 2018 |title=Cultural aspects of death notification following cardiopulmonary resuscitation |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jan.13558 |journal=Journal of Advanced Nursing |volume=74 |issue=7 |pages=1564–1572 |doi=10.1111/jan.13558 |pmid=29495080 |s2cid=3700635 |via=Wiley Online Library |access-date=16 February 2023 |archive-date=16 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216164949/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jan.13558 |url-status=live }}</ref> Recently in the western world, with the increase in terrorism following the [[Religion:September 11 attacks|September 11 attacks]], but also further back in time with suicide bombings, kamikaze missions in [[Social:World War II|World War II]], and suicide missions in a host of other conflicts in history, death for a cause by way of suicide attack, and martyrdom have had significant cultural impacts.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carducci |first=Bernardo J. |title=The Psychology of Personality: Viewpoints, Research, and Applications |date=2009 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=978-1405136358 |edition=2nd }}</ref>

Suicide, in general, and particularly euthanasia, are also points of cultural debate. Both acts are understood very differently in different cultures.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Math |first1=Suresh Bada |last2=Chaturvedi |first2=Santosh K. |date=December 2012 |title=Euthanasia: Right to life vs right to die |journal=Indian Journal of Medical Research |volume=136 |issue=6 |pages=899–902 |pmid=23391785 |pmc=3612319 }}</ref> In Japan, for example, ending a life with honor by seppuku was considered a desirable death,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Masataka |first=Kosaka |date=March 2005 |title=The Showa Era (1926–1989) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20025315 |journal=Daedalus |volume=119 |issue=3 |pages=24–27 |doi=10.1162/daed.2005.134.issue-2 |issn=0011-5266 |jstor=20025315 |via=JSTOR |access-date=16 February 2023 |archive-date=11 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411172208/https://www.jstor.org/stable/20025315 |url-status=live }}</ref> whereas according to traditional Christian and Islamic cultures, suicide is viewed as a sin.

[[File:Muerte-Blanca 6.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Religion:Santa Muerte|Santa Muerte]], the personification of death in Mexican tradition<ref>{{cite book|last=Chesnut|first=R. Andrew|year=2018|orig-year=2012|title=Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ul0vDwAAQBAJ|edition=Second|location=New York City|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=6|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199764662.001.0001|isbn=978-0190633325|lccn=2011009177|access-date=2021-12-02|archive-date=30 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130193313/https://books.google.com/books?id=ul0vDwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>]]

[[Social:Death (personification)|Death is personified]] in many cultures, with such symbolic representations as the [[Social:Death (personification)|Grim Reaper]], [[Unsolved:Azrael|Azrael]], the Hindu god [[Unsolved:Yama|Yama]], and [[Physics:Father Time|Father Time]]. In the west, the Grim Reaper, or figures similar to it, is the most popular depiction of death in western cultures.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McKenna |first=Amy |date=August 17, 2016 |title=Where Does the Concept of a "Grim Reaper" Come From? |url=https://www.britannica.com/story/where-does-the-concept-of-a-grim-reaper-come-from |access-date=February 16, 2023 |website=Britannica |archive-date=18 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818231426/https://www.britannica.com/story/where-does-the-concept-of-a-grim-reaper-come-from |url-status=live }}</ref>

In Brazil, death is counted officially when it is registered by existing family members at a cartório, a government-authorized registry. Before being able to file for an official death, the deceased must have been registered for an official birth at the cartório. Though a Public Registry Law guarantees all Brazilian citizens the right to register deaths, regardless of their financial means of their family members (often children), the Brazilian government has not taken away the burden, the hidden costs, and fees of filing for a death. For many impoverished families, the indirect costs and burden of filing for a death lead to a more appealing, unofficial, local, and cultural burial, which, in turn, raises the debate about inaccurate mortality rates.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Nations|first1=Marilyn K.|last2=Amaral|first2=Mara Lucia|title=Flesh, Blood, Souls, and Households: Cultural Validity in Mortality Inquiry|journal=Medical Anthropology Quarterly|date=September 1999|volume=5|issue=3|pages=204–220|doi=10.1525/maq.1991.5.3.02a00020}}</ref>

Talking about death and witnessing it is a difficult issue in most cultures. Western societies may like to treat the dead with the utmost material respect, with an official embalmer and associated rites.<ref name="Brenner-2014" /> Eastern societies (like India) may be more open to accepting it as a ''fait accompli'', with a funeral procession of the dead body ending in an open-air burning-to-ashes.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/62133001 |title=Encyclopedia of Hinduism |date=2008 |publisher=Routledge |others=Denise Cush, Catherine A. Robinson, Michael York |isbn=978-0700712670 |location=London |oclc=62133001 |access-date=16 February 2023 |archive-date=18 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818073354/https://www.worldcat.org/title/62133001 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Origins of death ===
{{Main|Religion:Origin of death}}

The [[Religion:Origin of death|origin of death]] is a theme or myth of how death came to be. It is present in nearly all cultures across the world, as death is a universal happening.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book |last=Green |first=James W. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/835765644 |title=Beyond the good death : the anthropology of modern dying |date=2008 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0812202076 |location=Philadelphia |oclc=835765644 |access-date=22 February 2023 |archive-date=18 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818073400/https://www.worldcat.org/title/835765644 |url-status=live }}</ref> This makes it an [[Astronomy:Origin myth|origin myth]], a myth that describes how a feature of the natural or social world appeared.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/9944508 |title=Sacred narrative, readings in the theory of myth |date=1984 |publisher=University of California Press |editor-first1=Alan |editor-last1=Dundes |isbn=0520051564 |location=Berkeley |oclc=9944508}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/34516050 |title=Myth and method |date=1996 |publisher=University Press of Virginia |editor-first1=Laurie L. |editor-last1=Patton |editor-first2=Wendy |editor-last2=Doniger |isbn=0813916569 |location=Charlottesville |oclc=34516050 |access-date=22 February 2023 |archive-date=18 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818073346/https://www.worldcat.org/title/34516050 |url-status=live }}</ref> There can be some similarities between myths and cultures. In North American mythology, the theme of a man who wants to be immortal and a man who wants to die can be seen across many Indigenous people.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boas |first=Franz |date=October 1917 |title=The Origin of Death |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/534498 |journal=The Journal of American Folklore |volume=30 |issue=118 |pages=486–491 |doi=10.2307/534498 |jstor=534498 |via=JSTOR |jstor-access=free |access-date=22 February 2023 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306150920/https://www.jstor.org/stable/534498 |url-status=live }}</ref> In Christianity, death is the result of the [[Religion:Fall of man|fall of man]] after eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.<ref name="auto"/> In [[Religion:Greek mythology|Greek mythology]], the opening of Pandora's box releases death upon the world.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lang |first=Andrew |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/269027849 |title=Modern mythology |date=2007 |publisher=Echo Library |isbn=978-1406816723 |location=Middlesex |oclc=269027849 |access-date=22 February 2023 |archive-date=18 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818073857/https://www.worldcat.org/title/269027849 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Consciousness ==
{{Main|Philosophy:Consciousness after death}}

Much interest and debate surround the question of what happens to one's consciousness as one's body dies. The belief in the permanent loss of consciousness after death is often called ''[[Unsolved:Eternal oblivion|eternal oblivion]]''. The belief that the [[Philosophy:Stream of consciousness (psychology)|stream of consciousness]] is preserved after physical death is described by the term ''[[Philosophy:Afterlife|afterlife]]''. Neither is likely to be confirmed without the ponderer having to die.

Near-death experiences are the closest thing people have to an afterlife that we know. Some people who have had [[Biology:Near-death experience|near-death experience]]s (NDEs) report that they have seen the afterlife while they were dead. Seeing a being of light and talking with it, [[Unsolved:Life review|life flashing before the eyes]], and the confirmation of cultural beliefs of the afterlife are all themes that happen during the moments they are dead.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Greyson |first1=Bruce |title=The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation |last2=James |first2=Debbie |last3=Holden |first3=Janice Miner |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0313358654 |date= 2009}}</ref>

== In biology ==
[[File:Earthworm.jpg|thumb|[[Biology:Earthworm|Earthworm]]s are soil-dwelling detritivores.]]

After death, the remains of a former organism become part of the [[Biology:Biogeochemical cycle|biogeochemical cycle]], during which animals may be consumed by a predator or a [[Earth:Scavenger|scavenger]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Falkowski |first=Paul G. |title=Biogeochemical Cycles |date=2001-01-01 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0122268652000328 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Biodiversity |pages=437–453 |editor-last=Levin |editor-first=Simon Asher |place=New York |publisher=Elsevier |language=en |doi=10.1016/b0-12-226865-2/00032-8 |isbn=978-0122268656 |access-date=2022-08-23 |archive-date=9 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230209233608/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0122268652000328 |url-status=live }}</ref> Organic material may then be further decomposed by [[Biology:Detritivore|detritivore]]s, organisms that recycle [[Earth:Detritus|detritus]], returning it to the environment for reuse in the food chain, where these chemicals may eventually end up being consumed and assimilated into the cells of an organism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wetzel |first=Robert |title=Limnology: Lake and River Ecosystems |date= 2001 |publisher=Elsevierda |isbn=978-0127447605 |edition=3rd |pages=700}}</ref> Examples of detritivores include [[Biology:Earthworm|earthworm]]s, woodlice, and [[Biology:Millipede|millipede]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lindsey-Robbins |first1=Josephine |last2=Vázquez-Ortega |first2=Angélica |last3=McCluney |first3=Kevin |last4=Pelini |first4=Shannon |date=December 13, 2019 |title=Effects of Detritivores on Nutrient Dynamics and Corn Biomass in Mesocosms |journal=Insects |volume=10 |issue=12 |pages=453 |doi=10.3390/insects10120453 |pmid=31847249 |pmc=6955738 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

[[Biology:Microorganism|Microorganism]]s also play a vital role, raising the temperature of the decomposing matter as they break it down into yet simpler molecules.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rousk |first1=Johannes |last2=Bengston |first2=Per |date=March 14, 2014 |title=Microbial regulation of global biogeochemical cycles |journal=Frontiers in Microbiology |volume=5 |page=103 |doi=10.3389/fmicb.2014.00103 |pmid=24672519 |pmc=3954078 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Not all materials need to be fully decomposed. Coal, a fossil fuel formed over vast tracts of time in [[Earth:Swamp|swamp]] ecosystems, is one example.<ref>{{Cite book |last=George |first=McGhee |title=Carboniferous Giants and Mass Extinction: The Late Paleozoic Ice Age World |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-0231180979 |pages=98–102}}</ref>

=== Natural selection ===
{{Main|Biology:Competition|Biology:Natural selection}}

The contemporary evolutionary theory sees death as an important part of the process of [[Biology:Natural selection|natural selection]]. It is considered that organisms less [[Biology:Adaptation|adapted]] to their environment are more likely to die, having produced fewer offspring, thereby reducing their contribution to the [[Biology:Gene pool|gene pool]]. Their genes are thus eventually bred out of a population, leading at worst to [[Biology:Extinction|extinction]] and, more positively, making the process possible, referred to as [[Biology:Speciation|speciation]]. Frequency of reproduction plays an equally important role in determining species survival: an organism that dies young but leaves numerous offspring displays, according to [[Biography:Charles Darwin|Darwinian]] criteria, much greater fitness than a long-lived organism leaving only one.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gregory |first=T. Ryan |date=June 2009 |title=Understanding Natural Selection: Essential Concepts and Common Misconceptions |journal=Evolution: Education and Outreach |language=en |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=156–175 |doi=10.1007/s12052-009-0128-1 |doi-access=free |issn=1936-6434 |s2cid=4508223}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Haldane |first=J. B. S. |date=December 1957 |title=The cost of natural selection |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02984069 |journal=Journal of Genetics |volume=55 |issue=3 |pages=511–524 |doi=10.1007/BF02984069 |s2cid=32233460 |via=SpringerLink |access-date=16 February 2023 |archive-date=17 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230817195526/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02984069 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Death also has a role in [[Biology:Competition|competition]], where if a species out-competes another, there is a risk of death for the population, especially in the case where they are directly fighting over resources.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Case |first1=Ted J. |last2=Gilpin |first2=Micheal E. |date=August 1, 1974 |title=Interference Competition and Niche Theory |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=71 |issue=8 |pages=3073–3077 |bibcode=1974PNAS...71.3073C |doi=10.1073/pnas.71.8.3073 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=388623 |pmid=4528606 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Extinction ===
{{Main|Biology:Extinction}}
[[File:ExtinctDodoBird.jpeg|thumb|upright|alt=Painting of a dodo|A [[Biology:Dodo|dodo]], the bird that became a byword in the English language for the extinction of a species<ref name="Diamond">{{cite book|last=Diamond |first=Jared M. |title=Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies |edition=illustrated, reprint |publisher=W.W. Norton |year=1999 |isbn=978-0393317558 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/gunsgermssteelfa00diam/page/43 43–44] |chapter=Up to the Starting Line|title-link=Guns, Germs, and Steel }}</ref>]]

Death plays a role in [[Biology:Extinction|extinction]], the cessation of existence of a species or group of [[Biology:Taxon|taxa]], reducing [[Biology:Biodiversity|biodiversity]], due to extinction being generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that species (although the [[Biology:Population bottleneck|capacity to breed and recover]] may have been lost before this point). Because a species' potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Purvis |first1=Andy |last2=Jones |first2=Kate E. |last3=Mace |first3=Georgina M. |date=November 10, 2000 |title=Extinction |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/1521-1878(200012)22:12%3C1123::AID-BIES10%3E3.0.CO;2-C |journal=[[Biology:BioEssays|BioEssays]] |volume=22 |issue=12 |pages=1123–1133 |doi=10.1002/1521-1878(200012)22:12<1123::AID-BIES10>3.0.CO;2-C |pmid=11084628 |s2cid=221463059 |via=Wiley Online Library |access-date=16 February 2023 |archive-date=16 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216194700/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/1521-1878(200012)22:12%3C1123::AID-BIES10%3E3.0.CO;2-C |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Evolution of aging and mortality ===
{{Main|Biology:Evolution of ageing}}

Inquiry into the evolution of aging aims to explain why so many living things and the vast majority of animals weaken and die with age. However, there are exceptions, such as ''[[Biology:Hydra (genus)|Hydra]]'' and the jellyfish ''[[Biology:Turritopsis dohrnii|Turritopsis dohrnii]]'', which research shows to be [[Biology:Biological immortality|biologically immortal]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=National Institute on Aging |date=2020 |title=The National Institute on Aging: Strategic Directions for Research, 2020–2025 |url=https://www.nia.nih.gov/about/aging-strategic-directions-research |access-date=February 16, 2023 |website=National Institute on Aging |archive-date=4 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604212742/https://www.nia.nih.gov/about/aging-strategic-directions-research |url-status=live }}</ref>

Organisms showing only asexual reproduction, such as bacteria, some [[Biology:Protist|protist]]s, like the euglenoids and many amoebozoans, and unicellular organisms with [[Biology:Sexual reproduction|sexual reproduction]], [[Biology:Colony|colonial]] or not, like the volvocine algae ''[[Biology:Pandorina|Pandorina]]'' and ''[[Biology:Chlamydomonas|Chlamydomonas]],'' are "immortal" at some extent, dying only due to external hazards, like being eaten or meeting with a fatal accident. In multicellular organisms and also in [[Biology:Multinucleate|multinucleate]] ciliates<ref>Beukeboom, L. & Perrin, N. (2014). ''The Evolution of Sex Determination''. Online Chapter 2: [http://global.oup.com/booksites/content/9780199657148/ The diversity of sexual cycles] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112034751/http://global.oup.com/booksites/content/9780199657148/ |date=12 November 2014 }}, p. 12. Oxford University Press.</ref> with a [[Biology:Weismann barrier|Weismannist development]], that is, with a division of labor between mortal somatic (body) cells and "immortal" [[Biology:Germ cell|germ (reproductive) cells]], death becomes an essential part of life, at least for the somatic line.<ref name=Gilbert>{{cite book|last=Gilbert |first=S.F. |year=2003 |title=Developmental biology |edition=7th |place=Sunderland, Mass |publisher=Sinauer Associates |pages=34–35 |isbn=978-0878932580}}</ref>

The ''[[Biology:Volvox|Volvox]]'' algae are among the simplest organisms to exhibit that division of labor between two completely different cell types, and as a consequence, include the death of somatic line as a regular, genetically regulated part of its [[Biology:Biological life cycle|life history]].<ref name=Gilbert /><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1007/s00497-010-0158-4 |pmid=21174128 |pmc=3098969 |title=Evolution of reproductive development in the volvocine algae |last=Hallmann |first=A. |journal=Sexual Plant Reproduction |date=June 2011 |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=97–112}}</ref>

=== Grief in animals ===
Animals have sometimes shown grief for their partners or "friends." When two [[Biology:Chimpanzee|chimpanzee]]s form a bond together, [[Social:Intimate relationship|sexual]] or [[Social:Platonic love|not]], and one of them dies, the surviving chimpanzee will show signs of grief, ripping out their hair in anger and starting to cry; if the body is removed, they will resist, they will eventually go quiet when the body is gone, but upon seeing the body again, the chimp will return to a violent state.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brown |first=Arthur E. |date=March 1879 |title=Grief in the Chimpanzee |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2448772 |journal=The American Naturalist |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=173–175 |doi=10.1086/272298 |jstor=2448772 |via=JSTOR |jstor-access=free |access-date=17 February 2023 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306151143/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2448772 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Death of abiotic factors ===
Some [[Earth:Abiotic component|non-living]] things can be considered dead. For example, a [[Earth:Volcano|volcano]], batteries, electrical components, and stars are all nonliving things that can "die," whether from destruction or cessation of function.

A [[Earth:Volcano|volcano]], a break in the earth's crust that allows [[Earth:Lava|lava]], ash, and gases to escape, has three states that it may be in, active, dormant, and extinct. An [[Earth:Active volcano|active volcano]] has recently or is currently erupting; in a dormant volcano, it has not erupted for a significant amount of time, but it may erupt again; in an extinct volcano, it may be cut off from the supply of its lava and will never expected to erupt again, so the volcano can be considered to be dead.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Volcanoes |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/volcanoes/ |access-date=2023-02-17 |website=education.nationalgeographic.org |language=en |archive-date=26 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526020944/https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/volcanoes |url-status=live }}</ref>

A [[Physics:Electric battery|battery]] can be considered dead after the charge is fully used up. [[Engineering:Electronic component|Electrical components]] are similar in this fashion, in the case that it may not be able to be used again, such as after a spill of water on the components,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Baylakoğlu |first1=İlknur |last2=Fortier |first2=Aleksandra |last3=Kyeong |first3=San |last4=Ambat |first4=Rajan |last5=Conseil-Gudla |first5=Helene |last6=Azarian |first6=Michael H. |last7=Pecht |first7=Michael G. |date=October 28, 2021 |title=The detrimental effects of water on electronic devices |journal=E-Prime – Advances in Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Energy. |volume=1 |issue=10 |pages=1016 |doi=10.1016/j.prime.2021.100016 |s2cid=245746859 |issn=2772-6711 |doi-access=free }}</ref> the component can be considered dead.

[[File:Keplers supernova.jpg|thumb|[[Astronomy:Kepler's Supernova|Kepler's Supernova]], after the death of what could have been a white dwarf]]

Stars also have a life-span and, therefore, can die. After it starts to run out of fuel, it starts to expand, this can be analogous to the star aging. After it exhausts all fuel, it may explode in a [[Astronomy:Supernova|supernova]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Croswell |first=Ken |date=2020-01-21 |title=A massive star dies without a bang, revealing the sensitive nature of supernovae |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=117 |issue=3 |pages=1240–1242 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1920319116 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=6983415 |pmid=31964780|doi-access=free }}</ref> collapse into a [[Astronomy:Black hole|black hole]], or turn into a [[Astronomy:Neutron star|neutron star]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Heger |first1=A. |last2=Fryer |first2=C. L. |last3=Woosley |first3=S. E. |last4=Langer |first4=N. |last5=Hartmann |first5=D. H. |date=July 2003 |title=How Massive Single Stars End Their Life |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/375341 |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |language=en |volume=591 |issue=1 |pages=288–300 |doi=10.1086/375341 |arxiv=astro-ph/0212469 |bibcode=2003ApJ...591..288H |s2cid=15539500 |issn=0004-637X |access-date=21 February 2023 |archive-date=20 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230720110657/https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/375341 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Religious views ==
=== Buddhism ===

In Buddhist doctrine and practice, death plays an important role. Awareness of death motivated [[Biography:Gautama Buddha|Prince Siddhartha]] to strive to find the "deathless" and finally attain enlightenment. In Buddhist doctrine, death functions as a reminder of the value of [[Philosophy:Human beings in Buddhism|having been born as a human being]]. Being reborn as a human being is considered the only state in which one can attain enlightenment. Therefore, death helps remind oneself that one should not take life for granted. The belief in rebirth among Buddhists does not necessarily remove death anxiety since all existence in the cycle of rebirth is considered filled with [[Philosophy:Dukkha|suffering]], and being reborn many times does not necessarily mean that one progresses.<ref name="Blum 2004">{{Cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Encyclopedia%20of%20Buddhism_2%20Vols_%20Buswell.pdf|last=Blum|first=Mark L.|editor1-last=Buswell|editor1-first=Robert E.|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Buddhism|volume=1|title=Death|date=2004|publisher=Macmillan Reference, Thomson Gale|location=New York|isbn=978-0028657202|page=203|access-date=15 February 2018|archive-date=29 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629160542/http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Encyclopedia%20of%20Buddhism_2%20Vols_%20Buswell.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Death is part of several key Buddhist tenets, such as the [[Philosophy:Four Noble Truths|Four Noble Truths]] and [[Philosophy:Pratītyasamutpāda|dependent origination]].<ref name="Blum 2004" />

=== Christianity ===
[[File:Paradiso Canto 31.jpg|thumb|In Dante's [[Unsolved:Paradiso (Dante)|Paradiso]], Dante is with Beatrice, staring at the highest heavens.]]

While there are different sects of Christianity with different branches of belief, the overarching ideology on death grows from the knowledge of the afterlife. After death, the individual will undergo a separation from mortality to immortality; their soul leaves the body entering a realm of spirits. Following this separation of body and spirit (death), [[Unsolved:Resurrection|resurrection]] will occur.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=September 1915|title=A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians. Alfred Plummer|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/475371|journal=The Biblical World|volume=46|issue=3|pages=192|doi=10.1086/475371|issn=0190-3578|access-date=14 November 2021|archive-date=18 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818073857/https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/475371|url-status=live}}</ref> Representing the same transformation [[Biography:Jesus|Jesus Christ]] embodied after his body was placed in the tomb for three days, each person's body will be resurrected, reuniting the spirit and body in a perfect form. This process allows the individual's soul to withstand death and transform into life after death.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Resurrection – Resurrection of Christ |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2468-483x_smuo_com_003831 |doi=10.1163/2468-483x_smuo_com_003831 |access-date=2021-11-14 |website=Sacramentum Mundi Online |archive-date=18 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818073859/https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/sacramentum-mundi/*-COM_003831 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Hinduism===
[[File:Reincarnation_AS.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Illustration depicting Hindu beliefs about reincarnation]]
<!-- Due to the multitude of interpretations of religious scriptures, they are almost never used to directly substantiate a claim. Secondary sources must be used, with neutrality in mind. See WP:RSPSCRIPTURE. -->

In [[Religion:Hindu texts|Hindu texts]], death is described as the individual eternal spiritual ''[[Philosophy:Jiva|jiva-atma]]'' (soul or conscious self) exiting the current temporary material body. The soul exits this body when the body can no longer sustain the conscious self (life), which may be due to mental or physical reasons or, more accurately, the inability to act on one's ''[[Philosophy:Kama#In Hinduism|kama]]'' (material desires).<ref>{{Cite book |last=The Hindu Kama Shastra Society |url=https://archive.org/stream/kamasutraofvatsy00vatsuoft#page/8/mode/2up |title=The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana |publisher=University of Toronto Archives |year=1925 |pages=8–11, 172 }}</ref> During conception, the soul enters a compatible new body based on the remaining merits and demerits of one's ''[[Philosophy:Karma#In Hinduism|karma]]'' (good/bad material activities based on ''[[Philosophy:Dharma#Hinduism|dharma]]'') and the state of one's mind (impressions or last thoughts) at the time of death.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yadav |first=Richa |title=Hinduism and Tribal Religions |chapter=Rebirth (Hinduism) |date=March 24, 2018 |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-94-024-1036-5_316-1#:~:text=According%20to%20Hinduism%2C%20a%20soul,through%20many%20births%20and%20deaths. |series=Encyclopedia of Indian Religions |pages=1–4 |doi=10.1007/978-94-024-1036-5_316-1 |isbn=978-9402410365 |via=Springer Live |access-date=16 February 2023 |archive-date=16 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216214123/https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-94-024-1036-5_316-1#:~:text=According%20to%20Hinduism%2C%20a%20soul,through%20many%20births%20and%20deaths. |url-status=live }}</ref>

Usually, the process of [[Philosophy:Reincarnation#Hinduism|reincarnation]] makes one forget all memories of one's previous life. Because nothing really dies and the temporary material body is always changing, both in this life and the next, death means forgetfulness of one's previous experiences.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sharma |first=Arvind |date=March 1996 |title=THE ISSUE OF MEMORY AS A PRAMĀṆA AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR THE CONFIRMATION OF REINCARNATION IN HINDUISM |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23447913 |journal=Journal of Indian Philosophy |publisher=Springer |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=21–36 |doi=10.1007/BF00219274 |jstor=23447913 |s2cid=170767668 |via=JSTOR |access-date=17 February 2023 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306151143/https://www.jstor.org/stable/23447913 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Islam===

The Islamic view is that death is the separation of the soul from the body as well as the beginning of the afterlife.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Smith |first1=Jane Idleman |title=From Death to Resurrection: Classical Islam |date=2002-12-12 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/0195156498.003.0002 |work=The Islamic Understanding of Death and Resurrection |pages=31–62 |publisher=Oxford University PressNew York |access-date=2022-12-06 |last2=Haddad |first2=Yvonne Yazbeck |doi=10.1093/0195156498.003.0002 |isbn=0195156498 |archive-date=18 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818073946/https://academic.oup.com/book/12533/chapter-abstract/162285205?redirectedFrom=fulltext |url-status=live }}</ref> The afterlife, or ''[[Religion:Akhirah|akhirah]],'' is one of the six main beliefs in Islam. Rather than seeing death as the end of life, Muslims consider death as a continuation of life in another form.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Puchalski |first1=Christina M. |last2=O’Donnell |first2=Edward |date=July 2005 |title=Religious and spiritual beliefs in end of life care: how major religions view death and dying |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/j.trap.2005.06.003 |journal=Techniques in Regional Anesthesia and Pain Management |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=114–121 |doi=10.1053/j.trap.2005.06.003 |issn=1084-208X |access-date=6 December 2022 |archive-date=18 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818073901/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1084208X05000443?via%3Dihub |url-status=live }}</ref> In Islam, life on earth right now is a short, temporary life and a testing period for every soul. True life begins with the Day of Judgement when all people will be divided into two groups. The righteous believers will be welcomed to ''[[Religion:Jannah|janna]]'' (heaven), and the disbelievers and evildoers will be punished in ''[[Religion:Jahannam|jahannam]]'' (hellfire).<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/68963889 |title=The Qurʼan : an encyclopedia |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |others=Oliver Leaman |isbn=0203176448 |location=London |oclc=68963889 |access-date=6 December 2022 |archive-date=23 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200623014330/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/68963889 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Muslims believe death to be wholly natural and predetermined by God. Only God knows the exact time of a person's death.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tayeb |first1=Mohamad A. |last2=Al-Zamel |first2=Ersan |last3=Fareed |first3=Muhammed M. |last4=Abouellail |first4=Hesham A. |date=May 2010 |title=A "good death": perspectives of Muslim patients and health care providers |journal=Annals of Saudi Medicine |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=215–221 |doi=10.4103/0256-4947.62836 |pmid=20427938 |pmc=2886872 |issn=0256-4947 |doi-access=free }}</ref> [[Religion:Quran|The Quran]] emphasizes that death is inevitable, no matter how much people try to escape death, it will reach everyone. (Q50:16) Life on earth is the one and only chance for people to prepare themselves for the life to come and choose to either believe or not believe in God, and death is the end of that learning opportunity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Campo |first=Juan Eduardo |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/191882169 |title=Encyclopedia of Islam |date=2009 |publisher=Facts On File |isbn=978-0816054541 |location=New York |oclc=191882169 |access-date=6 December 2022 |archive-date=30 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200530000352/https://www.worldcat.org/title/encyclopedia-of-islam/oclc/191882169 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Judaism ===

There are a variety of beliefs about the afterlife within Judaism, but none of them contradict the preference for life over death. This is partially because death puts a cessation to the possibility of fulfilling any commandments.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Raphael |first=Simcha Paull |url=https://www.neshamah.net/images/jewish-views-of-the-afterlife.pdf |title=Jewish Views of the Afterlife |date=May 2021 |access-date=17 February 2023 |archive-date=11 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230611160727/https://neshamah.net/images/jewish-views-of-the-afterlife.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Language ==
The word "death" comes from [[Social:Old English|Old English]] ''dēaþ'', which in turn comes from Proto-Germanic *''dauþuz'' (reconstructed by etymological analysis). This comes from the Proto-Indo-European stem *''dheu-'' meaning the "process, act, condition of [[Biology:Dying|dying]]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=death|title=Death|website=Online Etymology Dictionary|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013162848/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=death|archive-date=13 October 2016|url-status=live|access-date=5 November 2013}}</ref>

The concept and symptoms of death, and varying degrees of delicacy used in discussion in public forums, have generated numerous scientific, legal, and socially acceptable terms or euphemisms. When a person has died, it is also said they have "passed away", "passed on", "expired", or "gone", among other socially accepted, religiously specific, slang, and irreverent terms.

As a formal reference to a dead person, it has become common practice to use the participle form of "decease", as in "the deceased"; another noun form is "decedent".

Bereft of life, the dead person is a "corpse", "[[Medicine:Cadaver|cadaver]]", "body", "set of remains" or, when all flesh is gone, a "[[Biology:Skeleton|skeleton]]". The terms "[[Earth:Carrion|carrion]]" and "carcass" are also used, usually for dead non-human animals. The ashes left after a cremation are lately called "cremains".

== See also ==
<!-- See guidelines for "See also" sections here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Layout#%22See_also%22_section (MOS:SEEALSO) -->
<!-- Please do not add links already in the body of the text. -->
<!-- Please keep entries in alphabetical order. -->
{{Div col|colwidth=18em}}
* Deathbed
* Death drive
* Death row
* Death trajectory
* Dying declaration
* [[Biology:End-of-life care|End-of-life care]]
* [[Unsolved:Eschatology|Eschatology]]
* Faked death
* [[Finance:Karōshi|Karōshi]]
* Last rites
* List of expressions related to death
* [[Religion:Spiritual death|Spiritual death]]
* Survivalism (life after death)
* Taboo on the dead
* [[Medicine:Thanatology|Thanatology]]
{{div col end}}
<!-- Please keep entries in alphabetical order. -->

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Bondeson |first=Jan |title=Buried Alive: the Terrifying History of our Most Primal Fear |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |date=2001 |isbn=978-0393049060 |url=https://archive.org/details/buriedalive00janb}}
* {{cite book |last=Mullin |first=Glenn H. |date=2008 |title=Living in the Face of Death: The Tibetan Tradition |orig-date=1998 |publisher=Snow Lion Publications |location=Ithaca, New York |isbn=978-1559393102 |ref={{harvid|Mullin|1998}}}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book|chapter=On Death |title=The four last things: death, judgment, hell, heaven|year=1899|publisher= Benziger Brothers|first=Martin of|last=Cochem|}}
* {{cite book|chapter=Considerations on Death|title=St. Vincent's Manual|year=1856|publisher=John Murphy & Co.|author=Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.}}
* {{cite book|title=Preparation for Death|year=1868|publisher=Rivingtons|author=Liguori, Alphonsus}}
* {{cite book|author-last=Marques|author-first=Susana Moreira|translator-last=Sanches|translator-first=Julia|title=Now and At the Hour of Our Death|publisher=And Other Stories|date= 2015|language=en|isbn=978-1908276629}}
* {{cite book|chapter=On Death|title=Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon|year=1879|publisher=Thomas Tegg & Sons|first=Jean-Baptiste|last=Massillon|}}
* {{cite news|work=Slate|title=How One Photographer Overcame His Fear of Death by Photographing It (Walter Schels' ''Life Before Death'')|last=Rosenberg|first=David|date=17 August 2014|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2014/08/17/walter_schels_life_before_death_includes_portraits_of_people_before_and.html}}
* {{cite book|author=Sachs, Jessica Snyder|year=2001|title=Corpse: Nature, Forensics, and the Struggle to Pinpoint Time of Death|publisher=Perseus Publishing|type=270 pages|isbn=978-0738203362|url=https://archive.org/details/corpsenaturefore00sach}}
* {{cite book |title=Modern Death: How Medicine Changed the End of Life |first=Haider |last=Warraich |publisher=St. Martin's Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1250104588}}

== External links ==
<!-- wikt=    Wiktionary           | q=       WikiQuote
     commons= Wikimedia Commons    | s=       WikiSource
     b=       WikiBooks            | v=       WikiVersity
     n=       WikiNews             | mw=      MediaWiki -->
* {{curlie|Society/Death}}
* [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/death/#2 "Death"] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
* {{cite web|website=BenBest.com|url=http://www.benbest.com/lifeext/causes.html|author=Best, Ben|title=Causes of Death|access-date=10 June 2016}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiTUvqjTqDk "Death" (video; 10:18)] by Timothy Ferris, producer of the [[Astronomy:Voyager Golden Record|Voyager Golden Record]] for [[Organization:NASA|NASA]]. 2021
* {{cite web|url=http://www.elijahwald.com/origin.html|author=Wald, George|title=The Origin of Death}} A biologist explains life and death in different kinds of organisms, in relation to evolution.
* {{cite web|url=http://rack1.ul.cs.cmu.edu/is/deathtypes/doc.scn?rp=_n |title=Causes of Death 1916|author=U.S. Census|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040918133848/http://rack1.ul.cs.cmu.edu/is/deathtypes/doc.scn?rp=_n|archive-date=18 September 2004|url-status=dead}} How the medical profession categorized causes of death.
* {{cite web|url=https://www.lensculture.com/wschels|archive-date=11 October 2014|title=Before and After Death|website=LensCulture.com|author1=Schels, Walter|author2=Lakotta, Beate|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011190734/https://www.lensculture.com/wschels|url-status=dead}} Interviews with people dying in hospices, and portraits of them before and shortly after, death.
{{Humandevelopment}}
{{Death}}

[[Category:Senescence]]

{{Sourceattribution|Death}}