Can a head live without a body?

The answer is simple: yes, but only for a while. Scientists say the brain continues to function for about two minutes after the heart stops. But can a severed head survive after being completely separated from the body?

Many would have said no. However, a Soviet scientist in the 1920s, named Sergei Brukhonenko, demonstrated that the severed head of a dog could be kept alive. The dog’s head survived because it was connected to a primitive heart and lung simulator called the “autojector” by its author. This device was intended to provide the head with everything necessary to keep it alive. In the following video you can see an explanation of how the invention worked.

Brukhonenko presented a similar experiment in 1928 at the international conference of scientists at the Third Congress of Physiologists of the USSR. However, his science was constantly questioned. As proof of his experiment with the dog, to demonstrate that the head was not simply part of a corpse, Brukhonenko made a video in which he does a series of tests. Shine a light into the dog’s eyes to make it blink. He hits a table with a hammer and the dog reacts. Finally, to make things even more interesting, you give the dog a small piece of cheese, which falls onto the table as it passes through the esophagus.

After that day, controversy spread throughout the world. The scientists were divided into two groups: those who accepted that it was medically possible, and the skeptics. Some even went so far as to say that the film was simply Soviet propaganda and was medically impossible. In any case, what is interesting is that many physicists today give credit to Brukhonenko’s experiment, legitimizing all of his work.

What do you think? Could this be the first step to keeping the heads alive Futurama style?

Original text	How Russian Scientists Kept a Dog’s Severed Head Alive!