News on the brain front

Having written a feature about a body-less man, I’m always interested in learning about scientific advances concerning brains.

Previously, I’ve written about the Italian maverick planning to transplant a human head.

This week news out of Yale claims American scientists have revived pig brain activity for 36 hours.

Nenad Sestan is quoted as saying:

“That animal brain is not aware of anything, I am very confident of that. Hypothetically, somebody takes this technology, makes it better, and restores someone’s activity. That is restoring a human being. If that person has memory, I would be freaking out completely.”

Read more details here.

My take: this subject gets murky very quickly. Witness the ethical issues the scientists raise in Nature. Another questions whether a brain without stimuli would be torture. Heady stuff.