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ST:TNG episode was probably correct about human brain

nommo#5819 nommo Member Posts: 1,105 Arc User
I came across this recent article & thought it was compelling.

http://www.businessinsider.com/star-trek-episode-knew-what-happens-to-our-brains-when-we-die-2018-4?amp;utm_medium=referral

I'll admit I had to look-up the word: ischemia.

Comments

  • allyoftheforceallyoftheforce Member Posts: 736 Arc User
    edited May 2018
    Funny read for you all.
    http://www.businessinsider.com/star-trek-episode-knew-what-happens-to-our-brains-when-we-die-2018-4?amp%3Butm_medium=referral

    Duplicate thread merged, albeit I put them in the wrong order by mistake. -- StarSword-C
    Post edited by starswordc on
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  • thecoffinflythecoffinfly Member Posts: 203 Arc User
    Fascinting.
  • nommo#5819 nommo Member Posts: 1,105 Arc User
    There's another thread covering this same topic, but without a specific description relating to the article. I saw where someone didn't read it because the link not functioning with an ad blocker so here is the text describing the information directly from the article. Clicking the link will ad some ST:TNG pictures as well. Enjoy for anyone interested.



    A few months ago, a team of neurologists published research that explains what happens to the brain as we die.
    In effect, it proved that the brain can remain "alive" for minutes after the heart stops.
    This process was actually well described in an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," which was first broadcasted in 1988.
    What happens to our brain in our last dying moments? Humans have been trying to answer this question for thousands of years, usually through the means of spirituality or science. However, it turns out that the answer was hiding in a 1980s episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" all along.

    Just a few months ago, a team of neurologists published some incredible research that explains what happens to the brain as we die. This kind of stuff has been observed in animals before, but never humans.

    In effect, it proved that the brain can remain "alive" for minutes after the heart stops. If there's no heart beating or blood pumping, the brain quickly becomes deprived of oxygen. So, within 20 to 40 seconds, "cerebral ischemia" kicks in and the neurons basically slip into "sleep mode" in a last-ditch attempt to conserve their dwindling energy. The brain is pretty much electrically inactive at this point, although the brain could still be brought back to life at this point (in theory, at least).

    Star Trek The NExt Generation
    "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was aired in 1988. CBS Television Distribution
    Then, after a few minutes, a wave of neuroelectrical activity and heat - known as a "brain tsunami" - flashes through the brain. The brain is unable to maintain the uneven distribution of ions between the inside and outside of nerve cells, so the neurons depolarize and let out a surge of electrochemical energy.


    VICE Germany recently chatted to lead author of the study, Dr Jens Dreier from Charité's Center for Stroke Research, about how this process was actually described in an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," which was first broadcasted in 1988. Even the study's researchers think the mechanism is strangely well illustrated in the episode.


    Following a run-in with Armus, an evil black sludge-monster thing, Lieutenant Tasha Yar is severely injured. Back in the starship's sickbay, the crew watch over Yar as she slowly dies. Just like the new scientific research explains, Commander Beverly Crusher notes that there is still hope to revitalize Lieutenant Yar, even though there is technically no brain activity.

    "Neurons are beginning to depolarize," another crew member adds, just like it's explained in the scientific research.

    It's bizarre stuff, but the scientists behind the new research are fairly certain the "Star Trek" producers are not time-traveling neurobiologists. In the spirit of Spock, there seems to be a much more logical explanation.


    "My best guess is that the creators of "Star Trek" must have found research at the time that detailed a similar process in animals," Dreier told VICE. "The first person to research these sort of brain waves was a Brazilian neurophysiologist who conducted studies on rabbits in the 1940s. All we've done is show it in humans."
  • starkaosstarkaos Member Posts: 11,557 Arc User
    So that is how the people in 31st Century New New York got the heads into the jars. Now how they got the heads of 20th Century Celebrities and Politicians in the first place and how they keep the heads alive in the jars is another problem.
  • nommo#5819 nommo Member Posts: 1,105 Arc User
    starkaos wrote: »
    So that is how the people in 31st Century New New York got the heads into the jars. Now how they got the heads of 20th Century Celebrities and Politicians in the first place and how they keep the heads alive in the jars is another problem.

    Futurama all the way. :)
  • lazarus51166lazarus51166 Member Posts: 646 Arc User
    Can't read it cause I refuse to turn off my ad blocker.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkXl4MsdEeU

    It amounts to saying 'we just proved that your brain doesn't instantly die when your heart stops, it survives for a few minutes'

    .....which is not news at all because this has been common knowledge for literally decades. it has to be one of the stupidest articles i've read in months
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