What is death?

[Dipumon_TC]

Can any one tell me what is death? According to my knowledge a person is called dead when all his brain cells(neurons) are dead. If that is the case then if we are able to bring the neurons to the previous(alive) state then that person can be raised from death?

Someone please clarify...

[Dark Photon]

when a scientist uses the

word dead, they mean clinicly dead.

this is where there lifefunctions have stopped and a almost definite termination of thier mental and physical operations.

[Neil9327]

Can any one tell me what is death? According to my knowledge a person is called dead when all his brain cells(neurons) are dead. If that is the case then if we are able to bring the neurons to the previous(alive) state then that person can be raised from death?

Someone please clarify...

 

I don't think death is a scientific term at all - it is a cultural concept of the end of life.

In the most conventional sense yes death means when all the brain cells are dead, but I don't see any reason why they can't be chemically repaired and brought back to life.

Indeed I read about a case of a dog that was dead that was brought back to life, and indeed what about babies that have been starved of oxygen for hours when buried in earthquakes and under ice that have survived. Their brains must have been considered dead surely?

[sunspot]

After someone dies, the cells begin to digest themselves for recycle. Up to the point where the cells become overly disrupted, one should be able to respark life. This is done during operating deaths stemming from heart attacks all the time. There is a time span when doctors stop trying. The youngest, like babies, are still growing, and may be able to regenerate the cells from further into the cellular deteriation process.

 

The definition of death tells us something about the inception of life. It is not continued biochemistry, such as recycle or growing hair, that defines if someone is alive or dead, but the medical criteria is connected to brain function and the heart. This could be a good criterion for when the unborn is considered alive. It is not biochemistry alone that decides when the unborn is alive, but when it becomes the opposite of dead, i.e., brain and heart become activated together.

 

This raises ethical issues. However, if biochemistry alone is to considered as the deciding ethical factor of life, than we should not be able to bury people until their hair and fingernails stop growing or we would be burying them alive according to this biochemical standard of life.

[bharatiyedu]

I think that death is the death of brain cells or neurons

 

all the body prats are realted to brain because it is the one that initiates a response.

[nettybetty]

When someone is termed dead it does refer to no activity in the neurons. This is the clinical definition, simply because someone's heart and breathing can be artificially kept going. In terms of death on a wider scale, I think it is when a cell can no longer produce energy and thus stops funcitoning. When this occurs on a large scale, the organism cannot function as a whole and will 'die'.

Reanimation of dead cells - only possible in Resident Evil movies, as dead cells breakdown very quickly!

[SkepticLance]

Just a note to Sunspot. the idea of fingernails growing long after death is an urban myth. Mistake because skin draws back from fingertips giving the illusion of growing nails.

[JustStuit]

Just a note to Sunspot. the idea of fingernails growing long after death is an urban myth. Mistake because skin draws back from fingertips giving the illusion of growing nails.

Same thing with the hair.