Frankenstein’s monster encapsulates the popular understanding of that grey area between life and death (Picture: Snap/REX/Shutterstock)
Life comes after death, right? That’s what we’re always taught.
What follows death is open to interpretation. Some believe in the afterlife, some believe in nothing.
Now scientists believe we may not even be entirely dead when we die, not all of us at least.
No, we’re not talking about undead vampires, reanimated zombies or an experiment like Frankenstein. Not even a spiritual sense like our souls living on after dirt returns to dirt, and ashes to ashes.
Scientists have discovered what they call a ‘third state’ between life and death, where some cells of an organism survive even after the organism dies.
They don’t just survive – they develop new capabilities they didn’t have in the organism’s life, according to a study published in the Physiology journal.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein may have been inspired by the discovery of animal electricity that scientists now believe helps cells survive after death (Picture: Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock)
It may even ‘redefine legal death, the team led by Professor Peter Noble at the University of Washington in Seattle and Alex Pozhitkov at City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, California, said.
‘Life and death are traditionally viewed as opposites’, they wrote in an article for The Conversation.
‘But the emergence of new multicellular life-forms from the cells of a dead organism introduces a ‘third state’ that lies beyond the traditional boundaries of life and death.
‘Certain cells – when provided with nutrients, oxygen, bioelectricity or biochemical cues – have the capacity to transform into multicellular organisms with new functions after death.’
Xenobots re-assemble hundreds of cells into evolving organisms (Picture: Sam Kriegman / Douglas Blackiston)
We can already see evidence of this through the donation of organs, tissues and cells, which continue to function after their donor’s death.
These researchers were driven to re-assess our understanding of life and death after previous research suggested some parts of the body live on and evolve.
A 2021 study found deceased frogs’ skin cells started using small, hair-like structures called cilia, usually used to move mucus, to navigate their surroundings.
They refer to their spontaneously reorganised multicellular organisms, xenobots, which are able to replicate themselves without growing as would usually happen within a living organism.
Similar results were found in a study of human lung cells, which were able to re-assemble, move around, and even repair themselves and nearby cells. These are called anthrobots.
Their lifespan is limited, however, from just a few hours to a matter of weeks, but there is potential for their use in medical treatment.
One suggestion is using anthrobots, sourced from a living person, as a vehicle for injected drugs that won’t turn the body’s immune system against them.
How any of this life after death is possible isn’t known for certain, but the researchers suggest the outer membrane of cells can act as an electrical circuit.
They said: ‘These channels and pumps generate electrical signals that allow cells to communicate with each other and execute specific functions such as growth and movement, shaping the structure of the organism they form.’
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