AUGUST is the silly season for news. With politicians on holiday, and acres of newsprint, screen-space and airtime to fill, desperate editors will reach for anything that might keep the reader’s, viewer’s or listener’s attention. Occasionally, though, such stories touch on deep questions. That may be the case for a widely reported study by researchers at the University of Michigan which shows that dying rats could be undergoing something similar to the strange near-death experiences of some people whose hearts have stopped beating, but whom medical intervention has then revived.

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