Disembodied pig brains could be the next great revolution in neuroscience. Find out how scientists kept a pig's brain alive while separated from its body.
      • HACKthePRISONS@kolektiva.social
        77·
        9 months ago

        i think torture is when the pain is the goal of the procedure with the goal of punishing the victim or forcing them to comply. since this was just a scientific inquiry with no (apparent) malice, i’d say it is definitively not torture.

        • PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world
          43·
          9 months ago

          In that case, let me pull out your fingernails for the purpose measuring whether they are all equally well attached. Don’t worry, they’ll grow back.

          …still doesn’t sound like torture to you?

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    331·
    9 months ago

    Find out how scientists kept a pig’s brain alive while separated from its body.

    Do I have to?

  • Sasha@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    358·
    9 months ago

    HOLY SHIT THIS IS THE MOST AWFUL THING I’VE READ ABOUT CAN WE NOT PLEASE

    Why can’t we just fucking treat animals nicely instead of doing insane shit to them, I’m literally going to go and throw up now

    • lennybird@lemmy.worldEnglish
      36·
      9 months ago

      Sometimes I kind of wish a superior alien race would come down and do exactly the same shit to us as we do to cattle, pigs, chickens, lab rats & mice, etc.

      • Grimy@lemmy.world
        14·
        9 months ago

        We did it to ourselves during WW2. It’s not a good look no matter who the victims are or who does it.

        In any case, animal testing is sometimes a necessary evil (not you, cosmetic industry). It was also asleep during the whole thing which makes it a bit better.

        • lennybird@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          9 months ago

          I feel there’s a bit of dissonance between these two points.

          Yeah, completely agree it’s not right no matter who does it. From Japan to Germany, to the US forgiving such actions to garner the knowledge gained from these inhumane studies.

          My alien quip was merely to invoke some sense of perspective and empathy by seeing how absurd and how quickly people would turn around and go, “This is so cruel!” after they become the victims.

          And somehow I doubt people would be assuaged by, “well at least you look like your detached brain is sleeping” or, “Don’t worry; it’s a necessary evil for the greater good of our species.”

  • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
    251·
    9 months ago

    “They found that brain activity remained largely unaltered as compared to ordinary conditions.”

    Fucking hell, hope that does not mean the pig was still conscious of some sorts. This is a nightmare

    • ExLisper@linux.communityEnglish
      4·
      9 months ago

      Wait till you learn about locked-in syndrome…

      There’s no pain involved. This is simply an extreme case of sensory deprivation. After 5 hours it can be stressful but it’s not really suffering.

    • mkhopper@lemmy.world
      57·
      9 months ago

      But what is animal consciousness in terms of being self-aware? Pigs are damn smart, but I’m not sure they’re on the list of animals that exhibit self-awareness.

      Also, the article merely states that blood flow to the brain was interrupted, not that the head was removed, which, I’m guessing, is why brain activity was largely unchanged.
      If the head was still attached to the spine, then I would assume that all the nerves were still functioning normally. As normal as they would in an anesthetized pig that is, with no interference from outside stimulus. In this study, the animal was quietly sleeping. I can’t imagine any reputable doctor of science today doing such a thing to a conscious animal or human.

      And, in one of the linked articles, it talks about how this research can further work on better life saving techniques for humans by developing much better blood and oxygen machines used during complicated surgeries.
      So long as the animal is treated respectfully, I have no issue in using animals for research that help human medicine.

  • CobblerScholar@lemmy.world
    22·
    9 months ago

    Kinda horrifying but also makes me hope things like this lead to advances in medicine that can allow sci fi shit like a totally body transplant or being able to take the brain out, work on it like a car engine and pop it back in

    • roastedDeflator@kbin.social
      83·
      9 months ago

      Yeah no wonder. I’m one of those that read half of it, just because some titles are misleading. Well it’s clearly not one of those.

      If those scientists tried stuff on themselves, I wouldn’t object.
      Doing these stuff to other creatures and also trying to justify them… NO. JUST NO.

      • platypus_plumba@lemmy.world
        41·
        9 months ago

        Truly, truly disgusting.

        What did they do with their brain after they were done with their bullshit experiment?

        Or did they just leave it alive as long as possible, letting it die in panic?

        • Scubus@sh.itjust.works
          23·
          9 months ago

          Well for one, I doubt it was panicking since it was asleep.

          For two, I’d imagine they reconnected the blood vessels and then the pig was perfectly fine aside from scarring.

          Had you read the article, as previously mentioned, you would know point 1 and be able to imply point 2

          Edit: article was possibly edited, I’m 95% sure it stated the pig was unconscious. As commented below, there is reason to believe they did not bother to fix the pigs afterwards.

          • WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            7·
            9 months ago

            The way the article said they disconnected it after 5 hours, having already shut off all natural blood flow to the brain, and considering that it seems that the brain was completely disconnected from all bodily input as one of the variables of the experiment, I honestly believe all of those pigs died at the end.

            They did not say the pigs were asleep in the article, they said that brain function was seen to be mostly normal. I hope that means that, disconnected from all input, the brain was unable to experience conscious panic, but my spidey sense tells me that probably isn’t the case.

            Horrific experiment that hopefully yields very useful results and doesn’t need to be repeated. With any luck, one of the benefits of AI may be modeling things like this so we don’t have to do it for real.

          • platypus_plumba@lemmy.world
            31·
            9 months ago

            Where did they say the pig was asleep?

            Where did they say that the pig was fine after the experiment?

            What makes you think those 2 things?

            You’re assuming things that aren’t explicitly stated. For me, even if your conditions are met, the experiment is still disgusting. Would you allow them to do it to you? No? Why not? So why is it acceptable to pull that shit on a other sentient being?

            • Scubus@sh.itjust.works
              1·
              9 months ago

              I’m convinced the article was edited, I definitely remember it saying they were asleep when I read it previously.

              They didn’t state the pig was fine, but they did state that the experiment could’ve continued. And since all they did was remove natural blood flow, all they would have to do is restore natural blood flow. Hence why I thought that.

              As for your final point, no, in it’s current state I would not accept this procedure, however now that it has been tested and confirmed to work I don’t see any harm in allowing them to do it to me. I also plan to sign up for neuralink as soon as it’s commercially available.

              Do I think they should be doing this? No. Do I think that hooking a pig up to an artificial heart is as horrific as people are making it out be? No.

    • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
      6·
      9 months ago

      I can see rare and extreme medical uses for this. Potentially lifesaving if something in the body threatens the brain, and it’s something that can be repaired, but you don’t have time because of potential brain damage.

      Also, I’ve been cursed with a weird nervous system so maybe they can give me a robot body in the future

  • Zip2@feddit.uk
    91·
    9 months ago

    One small step closer to brain transplants for Trump supporters though.

    • fidodo@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      9 months ago

      I’ve read animal farm so I’m worried they’d be just as bad but also smarter.

  • phoneymouse@lemmy.world
    71·
    9 months ago

    Cool, so your body is going to die, they can pull your brain out and then move it into another body.

    • Cort@lemmy.world
      3·
      9 months ago

      I suppose that’s a better position to be in rather than the brain whose body you’re now inhabiting

  • underwire212@lemm.ee
    4·
    9 months ago

    One of the most faithful adaptations is the 2004 two-episode miniseries (streaming now on Peacock) starring Alec Newman as the good doctor and Luke Goss as the Creature.

    Are these articles just advertisements now?

  • Transporter Room 3@startrek.website
    31·
    9 months ago

    I’m sure this won’t lead to a matrix-style utilization of brains to be a giant literal neural network (lol Duracell batteries) in an apocalyptic future…