A biotech company based in Philadelphia has gotten approval to try reawakening nervous systems in patients who've been declared clinically dead, a move one doctor called "another step towards the eventual reversal of death in our lifetime."
The trial, which will take place in India, will involve 20 patients who are brain dead and have been kept on life support, according to The Telegraph.
Scientists will try a combination of new therapies, including stem cell injections into the brain, lasers and nerve stimulation techniques that have worked to awaken comatose patients.
The test subjects will be monitored for a few months as researchers look for signs of regeneration in the central nervous system, and particularly the upper spinal cord, which controls breathing and heartbeat.
"This represents the first trial of its kind and another step towards the eventual reversal of death in our lifetime," Dr. Ira Pastor of Bioquark said, according to the London paper.
Some fish and amphibians can regenerate their brains after major injuries — and the hope is that the trial treatments will spark that sort of regeneration process in humans, according to Discovery.
I've heard about this the other day, but was too lazy to make it a thread. Wow. Cryonics is really a reality now. I'll see you all when I wake up in year 3000.
