Schrödinger’s pig: Porcine brains which are neither dead nor alive have opened up possibility of third state of being | The Indian Express

Schrödinger’s pig: Porcine brains which are neither dead nor alive have opened up possibility of third state of being | The Indian Express

By Editorial |Updated: April 19, 2019 9:01:25 am

Schrödinger’s pig: Porcine brains which are neither dead nor alive have opened up possibility of third state of being

This group of researchers found pig brains removed from the cranium and supplied with an artificial circulatory fluid still going four hours after death. Cells remained healthy and metabolism proceeded.

While cranks the world over will take this as evidence that they were right about resurrection and zombies, the usual electrical activity of the brain, signalling awareness, was not recorded.

Thanks to some pigs sacrificed and resurrected in the cause of science, a death sentence hangs over traditional thinking about life, consciousness, and whether shuffling off the mortal coil is a one-way process. Published on April 17 in the journal Nature by the researchers Zvonimir Vrselja, Stefano G Daniele et al, the fateful sentence reads: “The isolated, intact large mammalian brain possesses an under-appreciated capacity for restoration of micro circulation and molecular and cellular activity after a prolonged post-mortem interval.” This is a learned way of saying that the scientists were wrong, pulp writers were right and a return from death is possible. At least in the brain cells of slaughtered pigs.