How a Chunk of Human Brain Survived Intact for 2600 Years
Phoenix666 writes:
How a chunk of human brain survived intact for 2600 years:
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 (above).
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.
Clearly the reason his brain survived is he lived before the age of television.
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