Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Did you know? #3

"Dear Dr Hypothesis,
Over Christmas I decided to avoid my annoying family, and spent the whole two weeks watching films in my room. Several of these films contained scenes of beheading. The time it took the beheaded person to die seemed to vary considerably, depending on the ego of the actor involved. Could you please tell me how long it actually takes a human to die, following decapitation?
Headless Henry

Dr Hypothesis says:
It’s not really known exactly how long it takes brain activity to cease following beheading, because – to my knowledge – no scientifically controlled experiments have been carried out. Anecdotal evidence from executions during the French Revolution suggests that a head could respond up to thirty seconds after being removed from the body. However, this is nothing compared to cockroaches: they are known to survive for up to a week after beheading, ultimately dying from dehydration as they obviously have no way of drinking!"

From BlueSci Magazine



I hate cockroaches! I don't know why anyone would behead them... but I'd flush them in the toilet and hope they would die from overhydration.

Next post: Cartograms - a bit of geography, history, and creativity

2 Comments:

Blogger Poetry From The Creek said...

Thanks for visiting my Blog, glad you found something there to comment on. What I meant in my original comment about 'wondering why' was the tendency to be overawed by visible blogger saavy and saying nothing...

8:52 pm, May 09, 2006  
Blogger Eau said...

I seriously doubt that.

9:04 pm, May 09, 2006  

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