Mr Gazzaniga appeals, not wholly convincingly, to quantum mechanics and complexity to provide escape routes from the conclusion that, because the body is a biochemical system, what happens in the mind is physically determined.

ECONOMIST: Where there��s a will there��s a way

The strain affecting the patient was isolated and grown in the lab, and biochemical analysis found that the bacteria prevented the immune system responding as normal by "shooting the messenger".

BBC: NEWS | Health | How the flesh-eating bug attacks