Death rattle of a decapitated brain

 "When people were guillotined in the French revolution, witnesses reported that sometimes the eyes on the decapitated heads would blink, or lips would twitch.

Enthralled audiences wondered: was the victim still conscious? Such speculation about the precise moment of death has now been revived by an ethics experiment that uses the guillotine once more.

Anton Coenen, Tineke van Rijn and their colleagues at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands think their study may have pinpointed the boundary between life and death. That is a big claim, but even if it does not pan out, the research has still revealed a crucial step in the process of brain death. It also hints at ways to resuscitate patients who are currently beyond saving."
via New Scientist/continue reading