consciousness

14 Stories

Consciousness May Occur After Heart, Brain Flatline

Brain signals support idea of near-death experiences amid cardiac arrest: study

(Newser) - Their hearts and brains had flatlined. Yet as doctors tried to revive their "technically dead" patients, some of those patients were aware of what was going on. One patient recalled people placing electrodes on their chest and feeling the subsequent shock, per the National Post . Others "were able...

Jamie Lynn's Daughter 'Awake and Talking' After Accident

8-year-old Maddie didn't seem to suffer neurologically after Louisiana ATV accident

(Newser) - Jamie Lynn Spears and the rest of her family are likely breathing a cautious sigh of relief after her 8-year-old daughter regained consciousness Tuesday following an ATV accident over the weekend in which she almost drowned, People reports. Maddie Aldridge's mom, dad (Spears' ex Casey Aldridge), and stepdad (Spears'...

Man in Lake Felt Something Brush His Foot, Is Now Hero

That 'something' was a 3-year-old

(Newser) - Angelo Mondragon is officially a father of three. In his heart, he's a father of four. The 32-year-old Colorado man was in waist-deep water while swimming at Windsor Lake north of Denver on Sunday afternoon when he felt something brush against his feet, reports CBS Denver . It wasn't...

Sleep Drug Helps Car-Crash Victim Start Speaking Again

Docs say man regained speech after being given drug normally used as sedative

(Newser) - A 43-year-old car-crash victim in Italy who fell into a "minimally conscious state" to the point where he could no longer speak suddenly started chatting again after receiving a sedative, LiveScience reports. A study published in November in Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience said it's the first case showing...

Scientists Able to ID 'Aware' Vegetative Patients

Cambridge study finds 'signs of hidden awareness' in unresponsive patients

(Newser) - A new study offers a potential way to identify comatose patients who might be "covertly aware." University of Cambridge researchers studied the brain waves of 32 coma patients—including "minimally conscious" patients who could, say, squeeze a finger on command; "vegetative" patients who were unmoving; and...

Embrace Your Inner Zombie

 Embrace Your Inner Zombie 
OPINION
May 21, 2012 1:20 AM CDT

Embrace Your Inner Zombie

Auto-pilot zombies can set free the rest of us, muses philosopher

(Newser) - Maybe so many of us love zombie movies because we are, at heart, zombies. That's a view considered by philosopher Alva Noë, who on NPR notes that we seem to be partial to the idea that we aren't really the authors of what we do but function pretty...

Awareness Detected in 'Vegetative' Patients

Study results could provide new hope for patients thought to be unresponsive

(Newser) - A new study could have a life-changing impact on patients thought to be in a “vegetative” state: Three such patients displayed signs of full consciousness in a simple test. “It sure looks as if there’s not just a little bit of consciousness but a lot” in these...

Tiger Lost Consciousness; Wife Helped Free Him

Investigation on hold until after golfer gets some rest

(Newser) - Tiger Woods was unconscious for 6 minutes after his SUV collided with a fire hydrant and tree near his Florida mansion early this morning, and his wife heard the crash and helped free him from the vehicle. Elin Nordegren, a former model, used a golf club—she presumably had quite...

Coma Doc Checking Dozens of New Cases

Belgian searches for more victims of 'locked-in' syndrome

(Newser) - The Belgian neurologist who discovered that a patient thought to have been in a coma was actually conscious for 23 years has been checking dozens of other patients for signs of awareness. And he has discovered consciousness in some of the 50 patients he checks annually with his state-of-the-art equipment,...

Coma Man Was Conscious for 23 Years
Coma Man Was Conscious
for 23 Years
Nov 23, 2009 3:30 AM CST

Coma Man Was Conscious for 23 Years

'I was witness to my own suffering,' says Belgian

(Newser) - A man believed to be in a coma for 23 years following a car accident was actually conscious but completely paralyzed. "I dreamed myself away," said Belgian Rom Houben, now 49. A doctor finally made the correct diagnosis and discovered Houben's brain was completely normal and functioning. With...

Hasan Awake, Talking


 Hasan 
 Awake, 
 Talking 
fORT HOOD SHOOTING
Nov 9, 2009 10:26 AM CST

Hasan Awake, Talking

Ft. Hood suspect has been off life support since Saturday

(Newser) - A US Army hospital spokesman says Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, suspected in the deadly shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, is conscious and able to talk. The spokesman says Hasan remains in stable condition, and has been up and verbal since Saturday, when he came off a ventilator.

Rock-Throwing Chimp 'Proves' He Can Plan

(Newser) - A male chimp in Sweden has stirred excitement by storing a cache of stones to hurl at visitors, the BBC reports. Santino, a chimpanzee in a zoo north of Stockholm, proves that animals can prepare for future events, said scientist Mathias Osvath. "These observations convincingly show that our fellow...

Darwin Skeptics Separate Mind From Gray Matter

Debate focuses on whether the brain and mind function in tandem

(Newser) - To undermine Darwinian theories about the emergence of life, skeptics have a new weapon in mind: the brain, NPR reports. They’re challenging the notion that a cluster of cells could produce such high-level mental processes as consciousness and free will. “It doesn’t hang together,” says one...

Sleight of Hand Gets the Academic Treatment

Magicians break code for benefit of science

(Newser) - Magicians got in on the act at this summer’s Magic of Consciousness conference, hobnobbing with—and even tricking—cognitive scientists as they helped dissect their own profession. The New York Times visits Las Vegas, where master illusionists were welcomed for what one scientist calls "their specific interest in...

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