Boy visits heaven

[Faith No More]

Strongly suggest continuation of consciousness? That sentence strongly suggests your need to interpret NDE's as a continuation of consciousness.

Here are some link's for you.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/...n-dioxide/

http://news.discovery.com/human/-neurosc...10923.html

A new article published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences by neuroscientist Dean Mobbs, of the University of Cambridge's Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, and Caroline Watt, of the University of Edinburgh, finds that "contrary to popular belief, research suggests that there is nothing paranormal about these experiences. Instead, near-death experiences are the manifestation of normal brain function gone awry, during a traumatic, and sometimes harmless, event."

Can't get to the original article, because it costs money.

And here is an article with several theories.

http://www.near-death.com/experiences/experts01.html