Scientists restore brain circulation and cellular function in post-mortem pig brains

In a recently published study in Nature, researchers have reported that circulation and cellular activity were restored in a pig’s brain for 4 hours after its death – a finding that not only raises ethical and legal questions about the nature of death and consciousness, but also challenges the long-held assumptions about the irreversible nature of the cessation of some brain functions after death. The research team obtained the brain of a post-mortem pig from a meatpacking plant, where it was then isolated and circulated with a specially designed chemical solution. Many of the basic cellular functions that scientists once...