FOR A BRIEF time after their hearts stop beating, electrical activity that some scientists have linked to consciousness in humans continues in the brains of rats — a finding that could shed light on reports of near-death experiences in humans, and opens new possibilities for studying consciousness.

"People have just assumed that, after the heart stops, when the brain has very little oxygen or glucose, then the brain should not function," said neurophysiologist Jimo Borjigin of the University of Michigan, leader of an experiment described August 12 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Higher brain function may require less oxygen and energy than many scientists had thought, Borjigin said.

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