It has ethical implications beyond those of most other studies.

And yet, neuroscientists at Yale School of Medicine have discovered a cocktail of drugs that, when administered to a recently deceased brain, seem to reignite some cellular functions.

Within this controversial study, one question stands out ahead of all others.

Can scientists bring us back from the dead?

This experiment, which wouldn’t be out of place in the lab of Mary Shelley’s Dr Frankenstein, researchers obtained a pig’s head that would have otherwise been sadly discarded at an abattoir.

And, despite the head and the brain no longer being attached to the poor pig’s body, when they administered preserving agents to the head – long after the pig’s heart had stopped beating, lungs had stopped breathing, and blood flow had consequently ceased – scans showed that activity in the creature’s brain restarted.

Those apparent signs of life in the pig’s brain suggested new possibilities for resuscitation (or, more sinisterly, reanimation).

However, Yale School of Medicine scientists are taking precautions around the staggering moral and ethical implications of their study, as Yale neuroscientist Zvonimir Vrselja explained in a report by New Scientist:

“We are trying to be transparent and very careful because there’s so much value that can come out of this.”

Because, if we can bring animals – or later, people – back from the dead, who knows what would happen next? In terms of trauma and suffering, the consequences could be abhorrent.

And though their drug, BrainEx, shows that brains can be reignited – even, in the case of the pig, four hours after death – the ethical question remains. Should they be?

Even in a world in which animal lives are not valued so highly as humans, ethical guidelines were followed to ensure that the deceased pig did not suffer. He (or she) would not wake up as a result of the drugs, to the distressing knowledge that they had been decapitated, as Vrselja explained:

“We had to develop new methods to make sure no electrical activity is occurring in an organized way that might reflect any kind of consciousness.”

While the moral and ethical questions are, slowly but surely, being answered, the scientists are grappling with more ethically comfortable uses for their research.

And there are two alternative suggestions that put the drugs to good use, whilst still allowing us all to sleep comfortably at night. Firstly, the team are developing treatments for degenerative brain conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Secondly, their preserving agents could be pioneered in the protection of donor organs.

They might not be as radical as bringing a brain back to life, but they are certainly easier to stomach.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read a story that reveals Earth’s priciest precious metal isn’t gold or platinum and costs over $10,000 an ounce!