University of Yale: brain living without body

Yale: A team of scientists recently revealed that they had successfully experimented with hundreds of experimental animals and managed to keep their brain alive for 36 hours after their death.

Researcher Nenad Sestan, who is head of the Yale University team of scientists, revealed the nature of the research at a meeting at the National Institutes of Health last month. The subject of his lecture was an attempt to discuss ethical concerns about further research into the human brain.

The researchers, in a nutshell, managed to cut the heads of the animals (pigs) and keep their brains alive without being connected to the body.

Through a delicate, complex process, they managed to keep the mind alive by connecting it to a closed system called "BrainEX." This system supplies artificial blood and oxygen to areas of the brain and thus keeps it alive.

Researchers are reportedly planning to create a full atlas of connections between human brain cells, a very large business that has never been done to date. This could lead to an absolute understanding of the human brain.

The research itself may be able to change everything. We may need to change the way we think about death, consciousness, souls, and even what it means to be human.

Sestan told the NIH that it is possible that brains could be kept alive indefinitely and that they could take steps to restore awareness. But he said it was "uncharted territory" at the moment.

Naturally in terms of ethics there are too many concerns.

What if someone wakes up in an environment of complete sensory deprivation? If scientists find that "normal" brain activity can continue outside the body, would it not be a form of illegal imprisonment to keep someone "alive" in this state?

So there are dozens of concerns that should be discussed before we start cutting people's heads to change their bodies, and rather the path to immortality should begin somewhere else.

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