Scientists revive organs in dead pigs, challenging definition of death
- While the discovery raises hopes for a range of future life-saving medical uses in humans, it could also mean we need to update our ideas about death itself
- Some of the ostensibly dead animals startled researchers with sudden head movements during the experiment, raising ethical questions about the procedure
Scientists announced on Wednesday they have restored blood flow and cell function throughout the bodies of pigs that were dead for an hour, in a breakthrough experts say could mean we need to update the definition of death itself.
The discovery raised hopes for a range of future medical uses in humans, the most immediate being that it could help organs last longer, potentially saving the lives of thousands of people worldwide in need of transplants.
However it could also spur debate about the ethics of such procedures – particularly after some of the ostensibly dead pigs startled the scientists by making sudden head movements during the experiment.
The US-based team stunned the scientific community in 2019 by managing to restore cell function in the brains of pigs hours after they had been decapitated.
For the latest research, published in the journal Nature, the team sought to expand this technique to the entire body.