Scientists May Have Figured Out Why Dead Brains Don't Always Rot
fahrbot-bot shares a report from Smithsonian Magazine: The brain is one of the first organs to begin decomposing after death. Yet archaeologists have discovered more than 4,400 preserved human brains around the world, some of which have remained intact for the last 12,000 years. In hundreds of cases, the brain was the only soft tissue left among otherwise skeletal remains. But how and why do…
The brain is among the first organs to decompose following death. Archaeologists have discovered over 4,400 preserved human brains worldwide, some of which have remained intact for 12,000 years. Typically, the soft tissue vanishes, leaving only bones. The reason behind these anomalies has puzzled scientists for years. Now, a team of researchers claims they may have unraveled the mystery.
According to their study published in the August 7 issue of the Journal of Proteome Research, specific environmental conditions can lead to preservation rather than decay. When a brain is placed in a wet, oxygen-starved environment, the decaying processes that usually cause tissue degradation can have an opposite effect. Study co-author Alexandra Seviour, a paleobiologist at the University of Oxford, explains to Live Science that the same reactions that degrade tissue can also bond the breakdown products together into a much tougher material.
This discovery comes from experiments conducted on 72 mouse carcasses. The researchers believe that free radicals, highly reactive, unstable molecules that break down brain proteins in oxygen-rich environments, instead react and bond with nearby proteins under low-oxygen conditions. This results in the brain tissue becoming tougher and more resistant to decomposition.
The findings suggest that decay and preservation are not opposites but can be mechanisms under certain chemical constraints.
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