• Question: Do think it will be possible to make a "replica" brain for somebody that is dead to bring them back to life?

    Asked by samuel1299 to Pete, David, Mus, Tess, Yue on 28 May 2012.
    • Photo: Pete Etchells

      Pete Etchells answered on 28 May 2012:

      That’s a really interesting question, samuel1299! We don’t have the technology at the moment to either make a replica brain, or to transplant someone’s brain into someone else’s body. In theory, I guess it would definitely be possible at some point in time – however, if you did make a new brain for someone, would they be the same person? Our brains are constantly changed by the things that we experience – even something as simple as you having a cup of tea this morning in your home, versus me having a cup of coffee in my home, will mean that our brains have been subjected to different chemicals and environments, and will mean that they develop in different ways. So if you transplanted my brain into your body, would you still be you, or would you be me?

Comments

  • Photo: Sam

    Sam commented on :

    I once watched a real life video of an operation. They had two monkeys. They put them both to sleep and cut off their heads. What they then did was swap the heads over…so that one monkey had the other monkey’s head. They connected up all of the blood vessels again and stitched evrything back together. The only thing they could not do anything about was the spinal chord…so the monkey was paralysed. The monkey opened its eyes and lived like that for a few hours…its head being “powered” by the other monkey’s body. They showed it was possible in principle to “head swap”…but the experiment was fraught with difficulties that mean this is simply not possible yet.

  • Photo: benjn

    benjn commented on :

    Wow head swapping