How a Chunk of Human Brain Survived Intact For 2600 Years (sciencemag.org) 32
sciencehabit quotes Science magazine:
Nearly 2600 years ago, a man was beheaded near modern-day York, U.K. -- for what reasons, we still don't know -- and his head was quickly buried in the clay-rich mud. When researchers found his skull in 2008, they were startled to find that his brain tissue, which normally rots rapidly after death, had survived for millennia -- even maintaining features such as folds and grooves.
Now, researchers think they know why. Using several molecular techniques to examine the remaining tissue, the researchers figured out that two structural proteins -- which act as the "skeletons" of neurons and astrocytes -- were more tightly packed in the ancient brain. In a yearlong experiment, they found that these aggregated proteins were also more stable than those in modern-day brains. In fact, the ancient protein clumps may have helped preserve the structure of the soft tissue for ages, the researchers report today in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
Now, researchers think they know why. Using several molecular techniques to examine the remaining tissue, the researchers figured out that two structural proteins -- which act as the "skeletons" of neurons and astrocytes -- were more tightly packed in the ancient brain. In a yearlong experiment, they found that these aggregated proteins were also more stable than those in modern-day brains. In fact, the ancient protein clumps may have helped preserve the structure of the soft tissue for ages, the researchers report today in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
Old brains ... (Score:4, Funny)
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Chew on that one for a while, zoomers.
You meant zombies, right?
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why can't more zoomers die in a swamp? amirite boomers? mod points to the left
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Until they get to 60 anyway. Tissue is preserved but function is corrupted beyond all reason.
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You're assuming that the brain came from a resident of 580 B.C. and not an unfortunate time traveller.
Whoa (Score:2)
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Brains that old usually taste just terrible. Not to mention the kuru.
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Baby don't hurt me, ... (Score:2)
... don't turd me, no more!
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I went to public school. That's called a Sloppy Joe. Nothing to see here, move along...
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Alas, poor Joe, I knew him well...
Bullshit! (Score:2)
He's obviously a vampire.
When hooked up to AI and voice synthesis (Score:2)
After one of the discoverer's daughters thought of a unique science project, the first words ever uttered by her brainchild were *cough* Oh Emm Gee
She insists that it can be trained beyond those three letters. Her father is asking her to stop recording her own voice, and that's not a science project. And to please put the jar of peanut butter back in the fridge and away from that ancient dirt, er clay
Where'd they get this one? (Score:2)
Re: Where'd they get this one? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Where'd they get this one? (Score:4, Informative)
There has been no significant evolution of the human body in 2600 years. Brain structure could not have been significantly stronger that such an evolutionarily-short time ago.
Yeah, the summary isn't very good at explaining that they're not making a claim about brains in general, but rather just this particular brain remnant, compared to other brains they've studied (which happen to be all modern)... the next paragraph of the actual article states:
"The scientists still aren’t sure what made the proteins aggregate, but they suspect it could have something to do with the burial conditions, which appeared to take place as part of a ritual."
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What it actually says is that the environmental conditions of the burial caused protein clumping similar to Alzheimer's Disease, but postmortem, and that is why the brain is still intact.
So if you have a brains-in-jars collection, this is important information.
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There has been no significant evolution of the human body in 2600 years. Brain structure could not have been significantly stronger that such an evolutionarily-short time ago.
Counter theory, a noticeable evolutionary change happened in this one guy and that's why he was beheaded.
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Here we are, born to be kings. We're the princes of the universe. Here we belong, fighting to survive. In a world with the darkest powers..
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I don’t have any mod points so I’ll just comment to acknowledge that subtle but cool reply. Good show, sir. There can be only one.
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Unless far better nutrition, education, hybrid vigor from worldwide colonization, or the much reduced physical workweek, the improvement of shelter, vaccination, improved treatment for worms, and being exposed to more languages and more human interaction can have physical effects on brain physiology. All of them affect human physiology and have measurable effects in human neurophysiology.
Would you call those or some combination of those "evolution"? And how much would it take to call it "evolution"? Our p
Re: Where'd they get this one? (Score:2)
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It's a fascinating claim. I'd agree it's not well supported with only one sample. But I do believe I cited seven distinct factors that could have caused significant neurophysiological changes in the course of only thousands of years, including nutrition, education, and cross-breeding. Let's not discount possible neurophysiology changes due to simply being "recent".
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Living things are colonies of organisms. Substantial changes could have occurred in humans that have nothing to do with our DNA.
Try to reproduce the conditions (Score:1)
Take the head of a recently deceased who has willed his or her body to science, and bury it in similar mud. Leave it there for a few years, and see if the same thing starts to happen.
So our brains are degenerated, soft, mushy ... (Score:2)
No surprise there. With what we eat and what we breed.
I'm just happy when the ability of humans to breed without medical intervention, which is already low, will finally fall below the sustainable rate. The rest of the planet will be glad.
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Human population is increasing, there is no notion of anything going low with reproductive capability. Even the hysteria about "sperm count dropping in the last century" isn't a worry, it's actually only in western nations with unhealthy lifestyles.
They knew he was a witch (Score:1)
More samples please (Score:2)