L
Ligottian
Enlightened
- Dec 19, 2021
- 1,071
It would seem the body itself has a survival instinct. The following is from The Selfish Ape, a 2019 book by biologist Nicholas Money.
"A Spanish study of fresh cadavers found that genes encoding the formation of heart muscle remained active, along with the protective genes that control inflammation. It seems that the body responds to the drop in oxygen levels by trying to resuscitate the heart. This interpretation is supported by the post-mortem expression of another set of genes that shape the heart in the developing embryo. These genes are turned off once we escape the waters of the womb, and their reactivation after cardiac arrest shows that the body reaches deep into its toolkit to get going again."
"A Spanish study of fresh cadavers found that genes encoding the formation of heart muscle remained active, along with the protective genes that control inflammation. It seems that the body responds to the drop in oxygen levels by trying to resuscitate the heart. This interpretation is supported by the post-mortem expression of another set of genes that shape the heart in the developing embryo. These genes are turned off once we escape the waters of the womb, and their reactivation after cardiac arrest shows that the body reaches deep into its toolkit to get going again."