Life after death mystery deepens as scientists find signs of consciousness in 'clinically dead' patients What happens after death remains one of humanity's greatest and most enduring mysteries.

Now, researchers have found signs of consciousness in patients whose hearts had stopped for several minutes, bringing scientists closer to uncovering the truth about life after death.

More than 140 patients, who were at risk of cardiac arrest, across 13 hospitals in the UK and Spain, volunteered for an experiment that would see music played through a speaker during the first two minutes of resuscitation if their hearts stopped.

After recovering, the survivors completed a ten-item memory test that mixed sounds played during resuscitation with others that had not been played.

The group hearing nature sounds, including rain and birdsong, and one hearing newly created melodies scored above chance, while a third group hearing the same melodies under different experimental conditions performed around guessing level.

The findings suggest that 'consciousness may be preserved even during states of reversible clinical death,' the team wrote.

Lower brain oxygen readings were also associated with better recall, raising further questions about how the mind processes information under extreme physical stress.

The findings lend support to the idea that consciousness can outlast the heartbeat, a possibility central to the debate over life after death. Scientists have found new clues about what happens moments after death The study focused on vivid experiences people remembered from periods when their medical condition suggested they should have been unconscious.

Here, 'clinical death' means the heart had stopped, but the person could still be revived. CPR can supply some blood to the brain, so cardiac arrest does not necessarily mean that all brain activity has ended.

The work involved teams from Comillas Pontifical University in Spain, Manchester Metropolitan University and Liverpool John Moores University in the UK.

The experiment used three groups, with sounds played through a speaker connected to a laptop during resuscitation. One group heard familiar natural noises, including birdsong, rain and crashing waves.

Another heard newly created melodies, designed to reduce the risk of patients confusing the experiment with something they remembered from earlier life. For both groups, a quantum computer helped decide whether each sound would be played or withheld.

It used entanglement, which links the computer's quantum bits, called qubits, so their measurement results are connected.

Those results acted as switches controlling sound playback, allowing researchers to test whether this method of selecting sounds was linked to better recall. A third group heard the new melodies through a system that did not use entanglement.

Afterward, survivors completed a ten-item recognition test containing five sounds that had been played and five that had not.

The first two groups averaged around six or seven correct answers out of ten, while the comparison group scored about five, the number expected from guessing.

The researchers found that lower brain oxygen readings were also associated with more intense near-death experiences and better recognition of sounds played during resuscitation.

That raises a puzzling question about how the brain processes information under extreme physical stress, when a patient appears unconscious and their circulation has severely deteriorated.

The paper points to earlier research that recorded bursts of organized activity in dying brains, including electrical patterns associated with conscious processing.

Such activity could potentially help explain experiences reported by some survivors, including seeing light, recalling scenes from their lives or feeling unusually clear-headed.

The authors suggested that a severely stressed brain might briefly preserve enough activity to support experiences or memories, even as its normal functions begin to fail.

For patients and families, the most immediate implication is that a lack of outward response may not tell the whole story about someone's experience.

The authors argue that medical teams should consider the possibility of residual awareness and communicate respectfully while trying to revive a patient.

'Respectful verbal communication is also warranted during resuscitation, as patients may later recall events or dialogue,' they wrote.

They also recommend asking survivors about unusual memories and offering psychological support when those experiences are distressing, helping patients discuss something that may feel profoundly meaningful or difficult to explain.