Prompt Cast
The Science of Coming Back to Life: From Hypothermia to Immortal Jellyfish
TLDR A couple survives freezing temperatures in a blizzard and a woman's heart is revived after hours of hypothermia, demonstrating the body's ability to come back to life. Scientists are also studying the Turritopsis jellyfish, which can revert back to its polyp stage and potentially live forever, and have even recreated the voice of a 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummy.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
A couple gets caught in a blizzard while hiking in the Pyrenees Mountains and almost freezes to death.
04:25
A woman's heart stops for hours due to hypothermia, but doctors are able to revive her using an ECMO machine and warm her body back up to a normal temperature.
09:25
When your body temperature decreases, your metabolism slows down, which means that your brain and organs require less oxygen and blood flow to survive, allowing some people to come back to life once their body temperature is restored to normal.
13:55
Turritopsis jellyfish has the ability to revert back to its polyp stage, essentially "coming back to life" instead of dying like other creatures.
18:16
Turitopsis jellyfish has the ability to revert back to its polyp stage, essentially "coming back to life" instead of dying like other creatures, and scientists are still trying to figure out how these jellies cheat death and whether they are truly immortal.
22:54
Turitopsis jellyfish can rejuvenate and "come back to life" multiple times, but they are not invincible and can still die, although under the right conditions they may be able to rejuvenate forever; similarly, white dwarf stars can feed off another star and continue shining, becoming what astrophysicist Moine McTeer calls "vampire stars" or "undead" stars.
27:24
Researchers in England, including musician and engineer Professor David Howard, attempted to recreate the voice of a 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummy named Nessiumoon, which would be the first time in history that the voice of such an ancient human was recreated.
32:21
Researchers recreated the voice of the 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummy Nessiumoon by making a 3D model of his vocal tract and attaching a loudspeaker to it, resulting in a sound similar to an "air vowel" or "ah."
36:51
Researchers argue that they have brought the voice of the Egyptian mummy Nessiumoon back from the dead by creating a sound from his remains, and they have even found a way to make him sing in a choir.
