A new study by researchers shows that there is a third state of existence in modern biology. According to them, the third state is when the cells of a dead organism continue to function.
Research has discovered a “third state” of existence PHOTO: Archive, Truth
Amazingly, after the organism’s disappearance, its cells acquire new capabilities that they did not have in life, say the research biologists.
If more experiments with cells from dead animals—including humans—demonstrate that they can enter the third state, they could “redefine legal death”.
According to dailymail, the new study was led by Professor Peter Noble from the University of Washington in Seattle and Alex Pozhitkov, from the City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte California.
“Life and death are traditionally seen as opposites. But the emergence of multicellular life forms from the cells of a dead organism introduces a third state that lies beyond the traditional boundaries of life and death. Certain cells – if fed with nutrients, oxygen, bioelectricity and biochemical stimuli – have the ability to transform into multicellular organisms with new functions after death”say the authors of the study, in a new article for The Conversation.
In 2021, researchers in the United States discovered that cells from dead frogs are able to adapt in the laboratory and spontaneously reorganize into multicellular organisms, called xenobots.
Other scientists have learned that cells from human lungs can reassemble into multicellular organisms that can move around – called anthrobots. Anthrobots can not only move in space, but also heal themselves.
How certain cells function in the third state after an organism dies remains unclear, but one possible Frankenstein-esque explanation is a hidden system of “electrical circuits” which revives the cells.
Factors such as age, health, sex, and species type also “shape the postmortem landscape”—in other words, whether they can exist in the third state.
