CBS News | Submitted by: epsas "To find out, the researchers decapitated both awake and anesthetized rats while measuring the electrical activity in the animals' brains with an EEG, or electroencephalograph... In both awake and anesthetized rats, the EEG went dead about 17 seconds after decapitation -- though the researchers noted that it was at a low enough level to suggest a lack of consciousness within 3.7 seconds. Then they noticed something strange: About a minute after decapitation, a slow, large electrical wave roiled through the rats' brains."
