• Question: In your opinion, do you believe that reanimation of a passed person possible? For example, Frankenstein.

    Asked by Senkoh to Alex, Laura, Lesley, Richard, vediacan on 16 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Richard Prince

      Richard Prince answered on 16 Jun 2015:

      Hi Senkoh
      That’s a really great question! I think it depends how long the person has been dead for. Once cells start to break down, then you probably wouldn’t want to be re-animated. Think about what happens when you have a stroke: brain cells start to die through lack of oxygen within a few minutes and then you end up paralysed!
      I have a strong interest in zombies though…. did you know there is a “pharmacological” explanation for them? It’s been suggested that the Haitian witch doctors who make zombies do it by paralysing the person with a puffer fish toxin called tetrodotoxin (TTX). TTX slows your heart and breathing so you appear dead. After you’ve been buried, they dig you up and give you more drugs (another toxin called scopolamine) to keep you stupified, and then use you as a slave. I get my first year students to write an essay on “How to make a zombie” – it teaches them loads of pharmacology and some neuroscience too!
      Best wishes
      Richard

    • Photo: Vedia Can

      Vedia Can answered on 16 Jun 2015:

      Hi Senkoh,

      Another fascinating question from you!!

      I believe that in the future reanimation of the passed person will be possible. However, for the person to remain as they were when they passed away, Scientists would need to preserve that person within minutes of death to ensure they remain the same; Frankenstein was a beautiful creation but it had its consequences too.

      Best Wishes,

      Vedia

    • Photo: Laura Newton

      Laura Newton answered on 16 Jun 2015:

      Hey!

      There are a growing number of companies that will freeze your body when you die so that in the future when society has discovered how to reawaken people they can unfreeze you. You have to pay a lot of money though!

      We can already freeze cells or bits of tissues in labs (in fact I do this very regularly!) in liquid nitrogen so that they stay in a suspended state and when we thaw them they can grow again. However, they are ‘alive’ when we freeze them.
      There are even some surgeries (that started around 2010) where doctors freeze people to the point that their hearts stop before they bring them around again after the surgery is done. Again though, these people are alive before they are frozen.

      So, it seems like we are getting closer to being able to do this. However, when someone dies it’s usually because a part of them breaks down, stops working or just wears out. So if you want to bring someone back who’s dead, you will need a way to cure whatever they died of first and then a way to restart life which could take a very long time.

      Thanks for your question!
      Laura

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