Beheaded Man's Brain Self-Preserved for 2,600 Years

Sometime around 2,600 years ago, a man in England died when his head was cut off. In 2008, he was exhumed during an excavation by the York Archeological Trust, or at least his head was; the rest of his body was not found. Inside the skull, scientists found his surprisingly well-preserved brain, while other tissues were completely gone. The Heslington Brain had shrunk to a fraction of its original size, but was otherwise intact.   

For the past decade, scientists have sought to understand how and why the Heslington brain could have survived. In the study, the researchers note that, apart from this brain, no other brain from the Iron Age has been found preserved without deliberate human intervention.

That’s because the human brain breaks down rapidly after death. When a person dies a process called autolysis kickstarts, which causes tissues and organs to break down. The brain is 80 percent water and one of the first organs to go down. Within five to 10 years, the brain tissue is typically totally degraded, research suggests.

The writer of the article uses the word "survived" a bit differently from most folks. The brain is not alive, just extant, and in fairly good condition. Now scientists have figured out why. It has to do with the behavior of proteins. But did these proteins "behave" before or after the beheading? Read about the latest research on the Heslington Brain at Inverse. -via Digg

(Image credit: James Gunn)


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