After you die, your eyes continue to see for up to five hours

[frauenfelder]

Originally published at: After you die, your eyes continue to see for up to five hours | Boing Boing

…

[Mindysan33]

@frauenfelder

the finding suggests that brain death might be reversible

[ChuckV]

@frauenfelder

brain death might be reversible

There’s hope for me yet!

[Mindysan33]

Can we apply these techniques to the hardcore MAGA folks?

[ashe]

@frauenfelder

photosensitive neuron cells in the retina can still respond to light and communicate with each other up to five hours after death

Herbert West is not impressed.

[anothernewbbaccount]

In eyes obtained up to five hours after an organ donor’s death, these cells responded to bright light, coloured lights and even very dim flashes of light.

So how long after death do donated eyes remain useful for awaiting recipients? Must be less than 5 hours, I guess.

[Mister44]

the finding suggests that brain death might be reversible

So there is hope for MTG. Baddum ching.

So does this bode well for things like eye transplants for blind people or people with damaged eyes?

Obligatory.

[zuludaddy]

…and then the zombie plague began.

[FGD135]

@Mindysan33

Can we apply these techniques to the hardcore MAGA folks?

I somehow doubt this can work on the brainless.

[Mindysan33]

[MikeTheBard]

Are people just figuring this out? I’ve known for forever that pupils die late.

[iknownuurthing]

So could we get a couple of after-death movies if we put one of the little airplane screens in the lids of coffins?

Just because I died, don’t mean I wanna be bored.

[Papasan]

That explains a lot.

[Tamsin_Bailey]

This could not possibly go wrong in any way whatsoever.

[anothernewbbaccount]

@MikeTheBard

I’ve known for forever that pupils die late.

That joke wins today’s internet.

It couldn’t be any cornea!

[fuzzyfungus]

It is, of course, fascinating to see it actually demonstrated; but, given our experience with the viability of other tissues, whether for transplant or culture purposes, and the fact that some parts of the metabolism are distributed and thus (briefly) available even after general circulatory failure, would we expect the tissue to just immediately stop entirely?

Honestly, if there’s anything that could make me run screaming into the arms of some flavor of vitalism it would be exactly that: all the cells dying simultaneously at the time of death. That would be unbelievably spooky. The vestigial bits of metabolism and various contingency pathways flickering frantically to cope as the infrastructure shuts down, like supermarkets just after the end of the world, is what you’d expect from things made of meat.

This research is obviously a great deal more intricate and precise; but finding activity in a dying retina if you look closely enough differs in technical virtuosity rather than in principle from our man Luigi Galvani poking dead frogs with electrodes and seeing that the muscles were still up for some action a fair while after death.

[atteSmythe]

Hm, but what about the other way?

[morcheeba]

So, Wild Wild West was accurate!

That, is a Man's, Head. Quality & Clear, Clip from Wild Wild West

[BakaNeko]

Deadly Friend (1986) - Official Trailer

[Tamsin_Bailey]

@fuzzyfungus

The vestigial bits of metabolism and various contingency pathways flickering frantically to cope as the infrastructure shuts down, like supermarkets just after the end of the world, is what you’d expect from things made of meat.

Great, death is going to feel like I’m experiencing supply issues.