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Exceptionally Preserved 2,600-Year-Old Brain Found
TrueSatan writes with this quote from Discovery News:
"A human skull dated to about 2,684 years ago with an 'exceptionally preserved' human brain still inside of it was recently discovered in a waterlogged U.K. pit, according to a new Journal of Archaeological Science study. The brain is the oldest known intact human brain from Europe and Asia, according to the authors, who also believe it's one of the best-preserved ancient brains in the world (PDF). 'The early Iron Age skull belonged to a man, probably in his thirties,' according to lead author Sonia O'Connor. 'Cause of death is rarely possible to determine in archaeological remains, but in this case, damage to the neck vertebrae is consistent with a hanging.'"
"The brain is the oldest known intact human brain from Europe and Asia" – So I take it the brain still works?
But it's only 2012!
Abby . . . Normal. I'm almost sure that was the name.
Around the time he was hanged.
Apparently the zombie apocalypse will last longer than expected if their food source stays preserved for 2000 years!
they couldnt get a good liver temp
Oblig Trek reference.
Your hypothesis is that brains haven't changed much in 3,000 years. This brain is a good test of your hypothsis. What exactly is your problem with that?
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
No evidence they weighed as much as a duck....
...it's in better shape than mine.
No sig? Sigh...
Thing is, there is very little you could test unless you get this 3,000 year old brain to boot up. Think of it this way - you are handed 2 non-working CPUs, could you tell if they are different? Perhaps if they have physically different (but human brains naturally deviate from the norm), but unless you have an ability to reverse-engineer these CPUs (and we don't have that ability for human brains) both would be just chunks of silicon.
Related: Have you seen TED talk by Juan Enriquez?
http://www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_will_our_kids_be_a_different_species.html
".. dated to about 2,684 years ago"
Saying that it happened about 2684 years ago implies (at least to me) that they can date it between precisely 2683 and 2685 years. Does it not strike anyone else as odd that they could pinpoint something that long ago so precisely?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Oh come on. Why not just say London.
Take your pick:
A: He chiseled state secrets on a cave wall.
B: He had consensual group sex with one of his students.
C: Headbutted his wife, star of a campfire reality show.
D: Was really Cowboy Neal using his new time machine.
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
Actually there are quite a number (hundreds) of preserved corpses of people that were hanged from this period which have been recovered from bogs in northern Europe. The tannins in bog water preserve the skin quite well, in several cases police were called first because the discoverers thought it was a recent murder. Some of them still have the rope around their neck. This site was probably anoxic as well if the soft tissues were also preserved. A quick search on "bog bodies" will bring up a plethora of information.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
And that's what makes the more recent data about protein conformational changes so interesting - it gives the impression that there could be something vaguely equivalent to a hard disk, that it's not all electrical signals needing to be maintained, but something a little more enduring.
Oh, For the love of Jean-Martin Charcot, never compare the brain to a computer in that way.
"and we don't have that ability for human brains"
Stop it, jsut STOP! gah.
Shape, size, topology, chemical makeup all have meaningful information, even if we can't get to the memories.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
He might be unfit for THAT society. Most modern civilized people would be considered unfit in a lot of societies 3000 years ago.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I bet if you hook it up to a speaker and say, "Bring out your dead!" it will reply, "I'm not dead!"