http://www.sciencenews.org/article/genes-could-record-forensic-clues-time-death

Dying, it turns out, is not like flipping a switch. Genes keep working for a while after a person dies, and scientists have used that activity in the lab to pinpoint time of death to within about nine minutes.

During the first 24 hours after death, genetic changes kick in across various human tissues, creating patterns of activity that can be used to roughly predict when someone died, researchers report February 13 in Nature Communications.

“This is really cool, just from a biological discovery standpoint,” says microbial ecologist Jennifer DeBruyn of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville who was not part of the study. “What do our cells do after we die, and what actually is death?”

Still active

Some human body tissues show greater levels of gene activity shortly after death than others, a new study finds. Here, the number of genes that changed detectably after death is shown for a subset of tested tissue type.



But recent research has found that RNA can be surprisingly stable, and some genes in our DNA even continue to be transcribed, or written, into RNA after we die, Gilbert says. “It’s not like you need a brain for gene expression,” he says. Molecular processes can continue until the necessary enzymes and chemical components run out.

“It’s no different than if you’re cooking a pasta and it’s boiling — if you turn the cooker off, it’s still going to bubble away, just at a slower and slower rate,” he says.

“The biggest challenge is nailing down variability,” DeBruyn says. Everything from the temperature where a body is found to the deceased’s age could potentially affect how many and which genes are active after death. So scientists will have to do more experiments to account for these factors before the new method can be widely used.

So my take on this is my big brain is closely connected to the little brain..if ya catch my meaning..but not so much in women...

Altho I understand the metaphor and that each part winds down at a different pace..what would be the importance in this ..I mean once me brain is dead ..who cares..it's not like they can resuscitate because me sphincter is still alive..lol

Interesting.

The significance right now is the forensics and determining time of death as close to reality as possible, esp in murder investigations.

If you give it a science fiction slant.
It could mean that your genetic material could be harvested for cloning with a greater tendency for success.

But I mean if they could I wouldn't want to be the one who tries that feat..Gives a whole new meaning to blowing smoke up me bum..

If one was cloned and they knew it ..would it matter..and in being cloned..would you eventually obtain the knowledge you possessed in the beginning..I guess that would bring a whole new meaning to "I wish I knew then what I know now"..because you would..is that even feasible..

Every cell have the same DNA, depends on where in the body is the sections of the DNA that are active. With this said, this makes some sense. Replication is always the same. Complicated yet interesting study.

Keep in mind, neurons do not replicate, brain do not regenerate, once a neuron is dead, is dead forever.

Which means cloned in only the physical sense...then as a human what's the point..unless of course one could transplant their brain,which would mean one would have to wait for the skull to become big enough to house it..but that would mean you would have to kill a clone to do it..Some how I don't think the clone would be keen on that idea..and then of course one has to take in the legal rights of the clone and whether this could even be considered. .

LOL, cloning...

People have a twisted concept of cloning.
They tend to think you get cloned into the person you are now, a duplicate.
Clones are grown.
They start out as basic zygotes and start to cell divide.
Ask Dolly.

Not only do they have to grow and mature at a normal rate, the only thing in common with the source is the DNA code.

What makes you, you is everything that happened to you while you were getting here, to this age, at this time.
For a clone to even be remotely similar to you it would need to be exposed to everything you were exposed to for as long as you were exposed to it, for your entire life.
And even then, it still wouldn't think like you because all the people you have been in contact with your entire life have changed how you think of things.

I find it interesting that the focus is on the cloning fantasy I added as a quip and not the real impact of forensics?

they've also found that the brain well kill off neurons and make new ones when a new memory is made...they have no idea why or how, or how the brain decides which ones

While I understood the main subject matter was forensics and how different parts of the body take longer to die ..but I mean how far can you take that..cloning is much cooler and in and of itself too one can only go so far..but you know like I know how many times threads drift off topic..it's what we do so well here..so quit being such a thread party pooper..lol..

I was just waiting for someone to step into the realm of Frankenstein..which is where I was heading..but now since you ruined that Segue...

Besides you started it..you and your quips ..you know how easily we get distracted..so it's your fault..

I don't think the head needs to be any bigger, just developed enough to understand the info... Like a computer storage device, the size is less important than if it can interpret the info...

I understand that..but if what they're saying is that the mem..I don't think were far enough for flash drivesory will not transfer than in order for the clone to be you ..you would have to transplant the brain..which would be adult ..and the brain cavity has to be big enough to accommodate..wouldn't be able to put an adult size brain in a child size skull..

Unless there were another means to transfer your memory into another brain,the only way if not is to replace the brain in order for the clone to have your memory..unless of course I'm missing something..in which case it wouldn't be the first time..lol

Of course maybe sometime in the future..flash drives..but I think we're a far way off from that,but I'm still trying to figure out how to segue my way back to dead body parts so as not to upset Tom too much..lol

hair and nails are suppose to keep growing for a bit how about a new hair club for baldies?

Yea ..but I hate to think of what that before and after pictures are going to look like..

Nails and hair may appear to keep growing, but this is because flesh shrinks as it dries out, retracting the skin to make the nails and hair appear longer. There is a little truth in the story though, because death isn’t an instantaneous process. When someone’s heart stops beating their brain cells die very quickly, but cells that use less oxygen can live a little longer. So potentially hair and nails could grow a tiny bit after the brain is dead.
SOURCE: http://www.sciencefocus.com/qa/do-fingernails-and-hair-really-keep-growing-after-death


I wasn't complaining, I just took it as funny.
Funny that there would be more interest in science fantasy than science fact.
It is quite amusing to me.

I find what happens to the body after we die pretty interesting.
Everybody is going to die.
Life is a sexually-transmitted disease that is 100% fatal.
Death should not be dismissed or avoided, it should be embraced and studied.
I find this article fascinating.

I also find trans-humanism concepts fascinating.
Specifically, mind-uploading.
People are mortal. People don't want to be mortal (most at least).
Cloning is misrepresented in science fiction from the actual science. People want to believe cloning is the ability for them to cheat mortality.
In the same sense that we have offspring as a form of immortality, clones are more like your children than your duplicate. In that sense, cloning cheats mortality. The clone, however, will never be a continuation of you.
Mind-uploading, another science fiction theory, could create a continuation of you. Science has super-computers with lightning fast RAM. Computers capable of housing you could be built. The real-world problem is not housing your personality it is getting all of you out of your brain and into the computer.
The movie Transcendence (2014) explored mind-uploading.

I'm curious if crime dramas will include gene sampling to determine time of death. Right now, the going forensics is taking liver temperature. I wonder if future CSI shows will show taking genetic samples and just where they will show the coroner taking the sample from (which part of the body)?

Over at Extreme Tech
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/163051-simulating-1-second-of-human-brain-activity-takes-82944-processors
Simulating 1 second of human brain activity takes 82,944 processors
By Ryan Whitwam on August 5, 2013



That's a whole lot of processors for merely 1 second of thought.
Imagine what it would take to put you into a computer.
Now, imagine what it would take to put you back into a simulated artificial brain.
To do it, processors would have to get extremely small and extremely powerful.
And since our brains also store thoughts that we can recall as thoughts thru memory, the artificial brain would also need to be able to store massive amounts of data in its microscopic hard drives. A serious and massive shift in our computing abilities.

But still, fun to discuss

I think its a bit more complicated than that.
Memory is more of a chemical signature than a spark.
Its a series of substances (can't think of the word, enzymes?) that are passed between the axons and dendrites thru the synapse.
Neuron cells die and are replenished but the chemical signatures of the memory are kept on file somehow.
That why we have memory, because the chemical signatures are maintained. It may not even be the chemical composition that holds memory. It could be which chemicals are released and the sequence and timing of detection during a synaptic event. Same chemicals (because there are only a finite number) but different timing and speed. This way, memory can be maintained despite the death of the original neuron.

I am probably wrong, its just what makes sense to me at my present educated level.

Alzheimer's and other brain disorders that affect memory is an interruption of the ability for the neurons to recall specific chemical sequences.

Stroke victims have been able to regain limited function because the non-damaged neurons are able to utilize other chemical sequences. Basically, memory is remapped in the brain.

I've seen articles on recent break-thrus in alzheimer's research but I didn't read the article, just noted the headlines.
More accurate information on the subject is available if anyone cares to look. This is just my opinion on how I understand it.