Scientists restored brain cell activity to pigs that had been dead for 4 hours

This new discovery is certainly nothing to snort at.

In a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, a team of scientists revealed they restored cell activity to 32 pigs' brains after they had been dead for more than four hours. The brains were nowhere nearly fully alive again, but the study still challenges longstanding assumptions of how seemingly deceased brains can be used and studied.

Neuroscience has long maintained that brain function quickly and irreversibly fades once brains have been cut off from oxygen. Still, some live cells could usually be pulled out from the dead brains, NPR notes from the study. So scientists in this experiment started thinking up ways they could study cells while they were still in the brain.

And so, in what one team member called a "shot-in-the-dark project," researchers tried pumping preservative chemicals into the pigs' brains. Six hours later, they found that "neurons and other brain cells had restarted normal metabolic functions," that the cells' immune systems were functioning, and that some neurons could still send signals, Nature writes. Scientists didn't see any sign of electric activity across the brain, but suggested that could be possible with an electric shock or a sustained dunk in more preservative solution.

The scientists were careful to avoid restoring too much activity to the pigs' brains, with one telling NPR they wouldn't pursue a consciousness experiment "without first getting some kind of serious ethical guidance." Still, even this study is sure to raise ethical dilemmas, largely surrounding the newly blurred lines between dead and live animal experiments. Read more about the study at Nature.