United Nations Radio

Which came first the chicken or the egg, or in this case; the mind or consciousness? Yesterday, at the United Nations, eminent scientists debated how consciousness shapes the brain.

A collaboration across scientific disciplines aims to investigate the relationship between consciousness and the brain by exploring patients experiences when they go into cardiac arrest. Around the hospital, in critical care wards, images have been placed in areas not normally visible. The idea is, if a patient claims to have had an out of body experience, then they will be able to describe these hidden images. According to Dr Sam Parnia, hard evidence of an out of body experience could revolutionize the understanding of consciousness, because it means it could exist even if the brain was not working:

"And it would suggest that maybe the mind and consciousness is a separate, undiscovered scientific entity, something that is separate from the body and the brain and can continue to function when there is no brain activity."

This is Samantha Hoar reporting for UN radio

(Duration 00:56)