We live in odd times.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15739502-13762,00.html

Scientists have managed to keep dogs ‘dead’ for three hours before reviving them with no apparent side-effects for the animals and they plan to do the same to humans soon.

They switch the blood for cold saline solution which creates a state of hypothermia before death. Brain functions and the heart stops, effectively rendering the being dead by all modern definitions. The body then can be kept like that for a few hours before the blood is replaced and the body restarted with electric shocks and pure oxygen. I am the only one who finds this all rather freaky? What happens to the hypocratic (EDIT: oops, I mean ‘hippocratic’) oath when a doctor has to kill their patient for a few hours to stabilise them?

So, what happens after death? I guess we’ll be finding out soon. I can’t imagine that various religions are going to be very happy about this, but it’s certainly a very interesting development, albeit a very, very creepy one. I think the dead rising is pretty much the definition of the uncanny, so it’s not surprising that I find this more than a little spooky.