Author Archives: Kevin Chao

In a recent study, scientists have discovered that over 1,000 genes were still active in mice and zebrafish after their death. Does this mean they will turn into the “zombies” we see in the movies? Not quite, but it shows that dead bodies might be more alive than we previously think.

Are we really “dead” after we die? Source: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net

What is death? We normally consider someone or something to be dead when they stop breathing and their hearts stop beating; all the cells in the body will stop functioning and eventually decay. However, this new discovery showed that some genes will only become active after the host “dies”. This makes us think twice about the definition of death.

“The headline of this study is that we can probably get a lot of information about life by studying death,” said Noble.

Peter Noble, the leading scientist of this study, and his colleagues were surprised to find there was a lag period before these “zombie genes” became active; most of the genes became active 30 minutes after death, and some up to 48 hours after death. They also found that some of the genes remained active for up to four days. This reminded me of how a corpse turns into a zombie in a similar fashion.

 “What’s jaw-dropping is that developmental genes are turned on after death,” said microbiologist Peter Noble.

The functions of these zombie genes shocked the scientists the most. They found developmental genes, which are responsible for embryo formation, were activated after the animals died. This means that scientists can potentially extract these zombie genes and create a new living cell – in other words, reanimating the dead.

Active developmental gene were found in dead organisms. Source: pixabay.com

The scientists found cancer-promoting genes were also part of these zombie genes. This gives potential explanation for why patients who received organ transplants have an increased rated of developing cancer. As a potential medical application, we can make sure patients do not develop cancer from transplants by measuring the zombie gene activity before the surgery.

In another study, scientists suggest zombie genes can also potentially help forensic scientists narrow down the estimated time of death more accurately. This provides crime investigators an additional resource to help them solve cases.

Although this study gives a glimpse hope that zombies might one day exist, there are still many factors such as decomposition to consider. The “living dead” would need to fight though trillions of microbes and maggots to prevent decomposing. Below is YouTube video by AsapSCIENCE explaining what happens to our body when we die.

While the belief of zombies and reanimating the dead are still a long way from becoming reality, a living corpse is very much real.

By: Kevin Chao