The Big Chill

I was fascinated to read this Newsweek Article, by Jerry Adler, from the July 23, 2007 edition, on the latest low-tech weapon doctors are using to snatch the recently dead back into the world of the living. Cooling the body, or sending it in to hypothermia, seems to increase one's chances substantially. Doctor's just aren't sure why:

This is a story about what happens when your heart stops: about new research into how brain cells die and how something as simple as lowering body temperature may keep them alive—research that could ultimately save as many as 100,000 lives a year. And it's about the mind as well, the visions people report from their deathbeds and the age-old questions about what, if anything, outlives the body. Read more. (SFW=Safe for Work)