The brains of dead pigs have been somewhat revived by scientists hours after the animals were killed in a slaughterhouse.
The Yale University research team is careful to say that none of the brains regained the kind of organized electrical activity associated with consciousness or awareness. Still, the experiment described Wednesday in the journal Nature showed that a surprising amount of cellular function was either preserved or restored.
The implications of this study have staggered ethicists, as they contemplate how this research should move forward and how it fits into the current understanding of what separates the living from the dead.
Read this story and all our reporting for free — forever.
Sign up for our newsletter to support WABE’s mission of delivering independent, in-depth journalism — and hand-picked NPR stories that matter to Atlanta.
We will never share your email address with others. How does your newsletter sign-up support WABE and Public Media...
