Dead could be brought 'back to life' in groundbreaking project

[editor]

A groundbreaking trial to see if it is possible to regenerate the brains of dead people, has won approval from health watchdogs.

A biotech company in the US has been granted ethical permission to recruit 20 patients who have been declared clinically dead from a traumatic brain injury, to test whether parts of their central nervous system can be brought back to life.

Scientists will use a combination of therapies, which include injecting the brain with stem cells and a cocktail of peptides, as well as deploying lasers and nerve stimulation techniques which have been shown to bring patients out of comas.

The trial participants will have been certified dead and only kept alive through life support. They will be monitored for several months using brain imaging equipment to look for signs of regeneration, particularly in the upper spinal cord - the lowest region of the brain stem which controls independent breathing and heartbeat.

The team believes that the brain stem cells may be able to erase their history and re-start life again, based on their surrounding tissue – a process seen in the animal kingdom in creatures like salamanders who can regrow entire limbs.

Dr Ira Pastor, the CEO of Bioquark Inc. said: “This represents the first trial of its kind and another step towards the eventual reversal of death in our lifetime.

Dead could be brought 'back to life' in groundbreaking project

 

[Pickman's model]

Perhaps these so-called scientists could benefit from reading the island of Dr moreau

 

[8den]

 

[ffsear]

Bit sinister, but i always wonder if when David Attonborough passes away, will he be replaced as narrator completely? Or would they pass someone elses voice through a load of filters to make it sounds like his?

Or is that completely wrong? Hungover and not sure where the line is today!

 

[JimW]

Bit sinister, but i always wonder if when David Attonborough passes away, will he be replaced as narrator completely? Or would they pass someone elses voice through a load of filters to make it sounds like his?

Or is that completely wrong? Hungover and not sure where the line is today!

Must be so much archive of him you could make a virtual one with the vocab to say pretty much anything wildlife or Malthusianism related.

 

[two sheds]

 

[ffsear]

Must be so much archive of him you could make a virtual one with the vocab to say pretty much anything wildlife or Malthusianism related.

True, combined with the technology they have to make posh spice sing in tune, there must be a way!

 

[ice-is-forming]

Like something out of a CS Lewis novel

 

[hot air baboon]

..."groundbreaking" ...sounds omenous..

 

[andysays]

Dr "Ira Pastor", the CEO of Bioquark Inc. recently

 

[Bonfirelight]

Awesome news.
I look forward to zombie David Bowie's comeback tour in 2025.

 

[DotCommunist]

the chief scientist on this project looks familiar:

 

[Lord Camomile]

 

[Virtual Blue]

Dead could be brought 'back to life' in groundbreaking project

That's awesome.

 

[Sirena]

Some might wonder if it's a step too far. Some might think that resurrecting the dead might be an act of arrogance, offensive to the gods. Some might think it disturbs the natural order of things: of life, death and decay which provides the food for new life.

Remember Asclepius, he of the staff twined with serpents:, the demi-god, son of Apollo. Taught the arts of medicine by the wise Chiron, he became so proficient that, eventually, he was able to raise people from the dead.

Hades felt cheated and complained to Zeus, who saw that the natural order of things was being imperilled and he killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt!

 

[laptop]

That aside, will Trump be Patient Zero?

 

[Vintage Paw]

I'm usually gung-ho about stuff like this.

But...

I can't help but fret about whether these patients, should it be somewhat successful, be trapped in their comas, more or less brain dead but not quite as parts of their central nervous system comes back 'online' as it were, and they start to be conscious of pain, not to mention the potential for mental and emotional distress that they may or may not be able to understand.

Gawd, I mean the possibilities... this is clearly an area calling out for research, particularly now we're understanding more about stem cell stuff, but... I'm a bit shocked they've been given the go ahead tbh.

Interesting they say the patients will be 'recruited' - how on earth do you recruit someone who is brain dead

 

[Vintage Paw]

It stands to reason of course that the practical implications go beyond the headline-grabbing "bringing people back from the dead" and would be far more likely to result in various other regenerative therapies that can be used on the very much alive and well.

 

[irf520]

Stargate SG1 season 6 episode 6 ...

 

[NoXion]

Considering how massively fucking dickish the gods are, I'm not at all averse to humans "playing God". We can't possibly fuck it up any worse than the deities have already. It's just the priests being worried that science will leave them out of a job.

 

[weltweit]

My mum was pronounced dead because of brain stem death, she was connected to all sorts of machines to keep her ticking over but once these were switched off she passed away immediately. While it would be great to experiment in this area I think I also understand why people might have second thoughts. On balance I am for it though.

 

[mather]

Considering how massively fucking dickish the gods are, I'm not at all averse to humans "playing God". We can't possibly fuck it up any worse than the deities have already. It's just the priests being worried that science will leave them out of a job.

If the gods are such dicks as you put it, why on earth should we emulate their behaviour by playing god ourselves?

Also many people have reservations over issues like this, not just priests. I'm sick and tired of this bullshit narrative that religion is all bad and science is all good, that all priests are out to pull the wool over our eyes but scientists have nothing but the most noble of intentions in the things they do. Nonsense like this comes up everytime these issues get discussed, most likely because the arguments the 'science can do no wrong brigade' deploy are not as solid as they would have us believe, hence they usually reduce the debate to this low level.

 

[HAL9000]

I suspect its a leap beyond what can be done with current technology, what might be more useful is

extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)

it saved this person

Emergency personnel arrived on the scene, but they too could detect no vital signs in the man who had been in sub-zero temperatures for approximately 12 hours at the time

Man Froze 'To Death,' And It Ended Up Saving His Life

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

I do wonder about the ethics of this. How, for instance, are they going to recruit 20 patients? It's not like you can ask their permission. That leaves asking desperate family members, grabbing anything for miracle.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

My mum was pronounced dead because of brain stem death, she was connected to all sorts of machines to keep her ticking over but once these were switched off she passed away immediately. While it would be great to experiment in this area I think I also understand why people might have second thoughts. On balance I am for it though.

What an awful thing for you and your family to have to go through.

 

[Gromit]

Okay I'll do it. You can't have this thread without mention of:

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

That aside, was Trump Patient Zero?

Fyp. Would explain a lot.

 

[twentythreedom]

Someone needs to define "dead" once and for all (well for the purpose of this thread at least)

 

[Gromit]

Someone needs to define "dead" once and for all (well for the purpose of this thread at least)

Stewart Lee's career now that the Beeb isn't propping him up any more.

 

[Jon-of-arc]

I do wonder about the ethics of this. How, for instance, are they going to recruit 20 patients? It's not like you can ask their permission. That leaves asking desperate family members, grabbing anything for miracle.

Presumably they will get lots of people to agree to "volunteer" to be subjects in the event of their deaths and the "lucky" first 20 viable (ie they died in such a way that would accommodate the experiment) candidates are the subjects.