Scientists have restored some activity within the brains of pigs that had been slaughtered hours before, raising hopes for some medical advances and questions about the definition of death.
Yale University researchers reported in the journal Nature that scientists took these brains, they put them in a lab, they pumped six hours of treatment through it — artificial blood through it and they found signs of functioning going on in these dead brains.
Particular brain cells would respond normally when you stimulated them, there were other signs that could restore some function in there…. They did not restore a whole brain. These brains could not think, they could not feel, but within them, you could see little signs of activity.
Further work might lead to new therapies for stroke and other conditions, as well as a new tool for studying the brain.(The Associated Press)