• Question: Can humans be brought back to life?

    Asked by LRab to Ashley, Bernard, Carsten, MariaMagdalena, Monique on 9 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Ashley Hughes

      Ashley Hughes answered on 9 Nov 2015:

      As I’ve settled in for a long night in the lab I guess I will answer this!

      As for if it is possible, I’m not sure, I guess it would depend on timescale. It is possible for the emergancy services to ‘bring you back to life’ after only breifly dieing, however I suspect you are after somewhat of a more long term solution.

      For starters, if it were possible, one would have to work out how to maintain the health of the cells in the brain otherwise the dead person wouldn’t have any memories at all, never mind the ability to speak and generally function.

      The real question is though….would you want to? Consider a person being brought back to life 50 years after they’ve died! Most of their friends would be dead, the world would be a different place where you wouldn’t fit in and generally nature dictates we all must die. It is a great ethical question really, and one you could have a think about – what are the pros and cons of such a discovery 🙂

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