The news article you cite is a bit over dramatic- the distinction between clinical and brain death has been around for a while. None of what is in there is really news, although it might be somewhat remarkable if they found activity 10 minutes out; then again, this is research from the medical community, which as others have pointed out is often quite methodologically flawed.

You too are being slightly too generous towards scientific journalism- a typical non-scientific audience wouldn't make the distinction between clinical and brain death, and the reporter likely wasn't either.