How Russian Scientists Kept a Dog’s Severed Head Alive!
Tue, Jun 24, 2008
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Can a head live without a body? The answer should be simple: yes, but only for a little while. Scientists say that the brain continues to function for about two minutes after the heart stops. But can a lopped off head continue to survive after being completely severed from the body?
Many would say no. However, it was widely reported in the media, that a Soviet scientist in the late 1920s by the name of Sergei Brukhonenko actually managed to keep the severed head of a dog alive. The dog’s head was reportedly connected to a primitive heart-lung machine called an “autojector” (or that’s what the inventor dubbed it). The device supposedly gives the head everything it needs to maintain life. Below is an illustrative video of how it’s meant to work (the actual video follows).
Brukhonenko presented a similar experiment in 1928 at an international scientific conference, at the Third Congress of Psysiologists of the USSR. However, his science has often been questioned. As proof of his dog experiment and to show that the head wasn’t just part of the corpse, a video follows where Brukhonenko does a series of tests. He shines a light in dog’s eyes making it blink. He hits the table with a hammer and the dog’s head reacts. And last but not least, to make things even more gross, he feeds the dog head a small piece of cheese, which lands on the table at the other end of the esophageal tube. Enjoy!
From that day forward controversy and speculation traveled the world over. Scientists divided in two camps: those who accepted the medical possibility and those who were skeptical. The latter suggest that the film may be just pure Soviet propaganda or simply medically impossible. What is interesting however, is that many physicians actually gave credit to Brukhonenko’s experiment, legitimizing the whole affair. So what do you think? Will we be able to replicate those live-heads off Futurama?
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6 Trackbacks For This Post
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meneame.net Says:
June 24th, 2008 at 10:44 pmEl experimento del doctor Sergei Brukhonenko…
En 1928 el científico soviético Sergei Brukhonenko mostró ante la prensa el autojector, un aparato que permitía que una cabeza de perro separada de su tronco permaneciera con vida (es un decir), y reaccionara ante estímulos como la comida, durante…
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El experimento Brukhonenko « Kurioso’s Weblog Says:
June 24th, 2008 at 11:14 pm[...] Fuentes 1,2,3,4 [...]
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El experimento del doctor Sergei Brukhonenko | Teléfonos móviles, adsl, gadgets y juegos. Says:
June 26th, 2008 at 8:36 am[...] » noticia original Datos del Feed: Feed: Menéame: publicadas Ir al origen de la noticia. [...]
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Russian Scientists Kept Dog’s Severed Head Alive « Cool Aggregator Says:
June 26th, 2008 at 6:46 pm[...] head alive for a period of time by hooking it up to a crude heart/lung machine. And he filmed it. Film at this link. I didn’t watch it. Just the still frame of this dog’s head attached to the machine has [...]
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EckerNet.Com » Blog Archive » Deep Thoughts With Kevin Says:
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:27 am[...] Apparently not finding that pesky AIDs thing challenging enough, Russian scientists have apparently learned how to keep the severed head of a dog alive. [...]
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The Nodka » Soviets severed dog’s head, taped it, set video to creepy music Says:
March 4th, 2009 at 6:02 am[...] In the rest of the world, no. In The Nodka, definitely! There are several reports online, like this one, indicating that in the 1920s, Soviet scientists claimed they could keep a severed dog’s head [...]
June 24th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Thats so amazing, Really is somthing aint it
June 24th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
I think it’s a hoax. How could a head move without the help of the neck muscles?
June 24th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Wow, that was disturbing. In a sort of cool way.
Poor dog though.
June 24th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
ABOMINABLE. This is torture of the worst nature. Oh my god. This man is a beast. That poor creature. This is wholly illegitimate. The experimenter should himself be the one being experiment on not any other living being. To do this to another living being is to become a monster.
June 25th, 2008 at 1:50 am
It is not a severed head. The indicator is the movement of the head during the tests. If the head was severed, it could not lift up, twist, etc. It is attached to the dog’s neck under the table. The neck moves the head. Otherwise it would just lay there like a grapefruit.
June 25th, 2008 at 1:50 am
dude that is amazing
June 25th, 2008 at 2:54 am
Next, we’ll see Mars Attacks copycats.
June 25th, 2008 at 5:11 am
That is horrid!
June 25th, 2008 at 6:13 am
So were these “scientists” killed in a horrible manner or were they simply shot dead?
June 25th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
es horrible…deberian prohibir de una vez la experimentacion con animales.
June 25th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Hay que ser hijodeputa para hacerle eso a un perro. Eso no es ciencia. Es puro morbo
June 25th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
this is a perfect example of science going to far.
doesn’t your heart tell you that this is wrong to do to animals or any other living being?
sure we made allot of discoveries from the horrors we have created through history,but isn’t enough,enough?
you should respect what you eat, your pets and life.
it would be one thing if they were treating an ailment,but they are creating the harm.
reason itself isn’t always right*.
wake up people-this is sickness!
June 26th, 2008 at 1:20 am
I so agree with Daniel. The head could possibly move without the help of the neck muscles. That’s very smart Daniel.
June 26th, 2008 at 2:36 am
Are U kidding me! It is obviously a hoax. There is no lung, where does the blood get oxygen and get rid of CO2. The dog reacts and gets anxious and starts to breath faster and move, the "machines" which are connected with him cannot respond to different hormonal strength. It Makes no sense if it would be a severed head attached to machines it would not move this normally. Maybe be alive in a coma. LAME!!!June 26th, 2008 at 4:25 am
A few points:
- a brain consumes 20% of a body’s glucose and oxygen. Even a slight variance causes coma and death.
- toxins must be removed from the blood constantly. Mammals can not survive even a short time without a liver.
- the brain uses two fluids: blood and CSF (Cereberal Spinal Fluid) which fills the brain’s ventricles. The pressure between the two has to be homeostatically balanced very exactingly or death occurs. The video makes no mention of CSF.
- CN XI (Cranial Nerve 11), which coordinates head and neck movements, originates in the brainstem and the spinal cord. No spinal cord, no accessory movements of neck-head muscles.
I remain skeptical.
June 26th, 2008 at 5:05 am
I was really disturbed by this, but I do think now it is a hoax. The head wouldn’t be able to move without neck muscles, which would have to be anchored to a body. Plus they don’t show the underside of the table or the back of the head.
June 26th, 2008 at 7:51 am
An American scientist did this with a monkey head back in the 60s or 70s I believe. I’ve seen the footage of that experiment – so it’s totally possible. Amazing that this dude managed to do this way back when in the 20s however!
June 26th, 2008 at 10:48 am
I booked Linda Lovelace head…just by the way…
June 26th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
This is a hoax! Right up there with the supposed moon landing.
June 26th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
As a grown man, with a family, and a dog of my own, this video made me weep–hoax or not.
June 26th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Menuda trola. What a lie!!
El único que realmente ha hecho experimentos de trasplante de cabezas, con simios y no con perros, es el Dr. White. Eso sí es real, no esta chorrada.
The only one who actually experimented with heads transplants was Dr. White, but he did it with apes, not dogs. That’s true, not this nonsense.
June 26th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
In addition to the points already made, I’d like to mention that the camera never shows the entire contraption. Except at the beginning, when there is an establishing shot that *seems* to show a beheaded dog, all other shots are so close up that you can’t see what is beyond the dog’s neck. This could VERY easily be a manipulation — as simple as a hole in a table with the dog’s head sticking out, and a box under the table that holds the dog’s (attached) body.
This is very clearly a hoax, but what we don’t see on the film are the many dogs the experimenter probably killed before he realized that keeping a dog’s head alive is impossible.
June 27th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Oh shut the hell up. I get so tired of seeing people so empathetic to an animal but seem to miss the boat on opportunity to reciprocate this emotion to a fellow man. This “being” is already dead and this is an experiment in the name of progression of science. What if this research led inadvertently to the preservation of thousands of human lives? Or even one of your family members? Take your empathy and shove it, people that make these statements are oversensitive and under rational. Think with your head when appropriate and not your heart. Because it’s often your heart which causes you to go to war, not your head.
PETA by the way, and admittedly off topic, is an organization of people with too much time and money. I personally condemn a majority of animal rights activists actions. Such as their outrage at the scene in “I am Legend” where the dog is off camera and implicated as killed. This was enough to unleash a media response. Shut the hell up. How much more reason do we need give the rest of the world to laugh at our pointlessness and extravagance?
June 28th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
This is absolutely impossible. The dog’s head wouldn’t be capable to move without a neck. there would be lots of blood pouring from the neck cut. It is impossible to the dog’s head to swallow without the neck muscles and bones. Obviously the dog is sedated and his body is under the table. We are in the 21St century now and we know this is not possible, at least with those 1930’s rudimentary machinery.
July 4th, 2008 at 5:32 am
From memory, there is an isolated brain experiment where the guinea pig brain (I think) survived for two days without a liver.
July 7th, 2008 at 1:26 am
My question is why did a Soviet scientist have citric acid with an English label?
July 7th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
THIS IS SICK!
July 9th, 2008 at 2:49 am
Okay, seriously. Where would the neck muscles attach? And the tongue? You do realize that muscles work by shortening while attached to two bones, right? Also, in addition to circulatory problems, no animal can survive being severed from its spinal cord.
Anyone who thought this was real needs to take an anatomy class.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Ethical questions aside, the possibility would exist.
I would consider it unlikely in 1998 let alone 1928. If you look at the picture, there does appear to be a bit of neck present. If it was a head severed at the foramen magnum, the head would be much shorter than what is pictured and would likely try to lie fairly vertical as opposed to being on the side.
If the muscles were attached to neck, it could allow some movement. I do agree that the given range of motion would imply and even necessitate the attachment of the muscles to the lower neck and shoulders. I would further agree that the dog is likely sedated and under the table. Any cheese dropping through the esophageal tube would likely be a trick Ala Penn and Teller.
I could easily see this as propaganda. Either it was intended as Soviet propaganda demonstrating their scientific advances or as US/UK sponsored reverse propaganda demonstrating their unethical and monstrous ways.
Simply put, possible but EXTREMELY unlikely. I don’t buy it for a minute.
I wont even get into organic functions such as liver, kidney etc.
July 11th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
That’s nothing! I understand that Russian scientists later recovered Hitler’s head, which was subjected to the same treatment before being transplanted onto one of Stalin’s super-gorilla/human hybrid warriors!
Not really. But that would be SO DAMN COOL, wouldn’t it?
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:30 am
“Oh shut the hell up. I get so tired of seeing people so empathetic to an animal but seem to miss the boat on opportunity to reciprocate this emotion to a fellow man. This “being” is already dead and this is an experiment in the name of progression of science. What if this research led inadvertently to the preservation of thousands of human lives? Or even one of your family members? Take your empathy and shove it, people that make these statements are oversensitive and under rational. Think with your head when appropriate and not your heart. Because it’s often your heart which causes you to go to war, not your head.
PETA by the way, and admittedly off topic, is an organization of people with too much time and money. I personally condemn a majority of animal rights activists actions. Such as their outrage at the scene in “I am Legend” where the dog is off camera and implicated as killed. This was enough to unleash a media response. Shut the hell up. How much more reason do we need give the rest of the world to laugh at our pointlessness and extravagance?”
My thoughts exactly! I applaud you.
November 13th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
thats so fucked up its not even cool. like they do they that crazy shit
January 17th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Holly Fuck!!!!!!!!!!
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:57 am
Mary Shelly’s Frankenstien anyone?
January 22nd, 2009 at 3:26 am
Disturbing, yet strangly interesting.
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:23 am
everyone’s whinging and whining about how this is so “cruel” and about how the scientists is a “monster” don’t forget this was in the 1920’s, about 60 years before PETA existed thats for sure. hell you could still hit a woman in those days and no one would bat an eye lid.
January 29th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
This is actually a real experiment done by sick people, i did about it in my medical science diploma. Special artificial conditions were created to power the head with arterial and venous pumps. This disturbing Russian experiment helped scientist around the world to create artificial organs that are used by many medical institutes.
but i feel its science gone too far, it is sick.
…that poor animal
February 6th, 2009 at 9:01 am
This was interesting and disturbing all at the same time.
February 14th, 2009 at 6:14 am
Thats horrible, though there’s no way that’s even possible. Plus, wouldn’t the dog be in excruciating pain?
February 18th, 2009 at 7:13 am
I think this would be hard to do, yes. But it was done for science. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS… I would kill 10000 dogs if it ment 1 human wouldnt die. I would kill 10000 of just about any animal (assuming they wont die out as a direct result of my killing)
I think this could be a hoax, the head does move a bit. The motion doesnt seem impossible tho… to me, it seems like he left a good part of the neck intact, so maybe.
I just hate how people jump up and down about horrible this is…
February 21st, 2009 at 10:36 pm
I hate all these “oh poor dog, we should kill the bastard who did this” commentaries. You cunts, treehugher-psychokillers. That’s progress, it takes nuts. We should not be short-sightet, the sacrifice of those animals was not in vain.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:04 pm
It’s no hoax. The experiments of Sergei Brukhonenko are pretty famous. (Some people suspect that scenes from that film may have been staged for the sake of the camera… but it’s not doubted that Brukhonenko really did the experiments.) Here’s a clip from the Nov. 22, 1943 edition of Time Magazine about the movie:
A thousand U.S. scientists in Manhattan last week saw dead animals brought back to life. It was the first public U.S. showing of a film picturing an experiment by Soviet biologists. They drained the blood from a dog. Fifteen minutes after its heart had stopped beating, they pumped the blood back into its lifeless body with a machine called an autojector, serving as artificial heart and lungs. Soon the dog stirred, began to breathe; its heart began to beat. In twelve hours it was on its feet, wagging its tail, barking, fully recovered.
This picture was shown to a Congress of American-Soviet Friendship. The film explained the work of a group of Russian scientists under Dr. Serge Bryukhonenko at the U.S.S.R. Institute of Experimental Physiology and Therapy at Moscow. The scientific audience thought this work might move many supposed biological impossibilities into the realm of the possible.
The autojector, a relatively simple machine, has a vessel (the “lung”) in which blood is supplied with oxygen, a pump that circulates the oxygenated blood through the arteries, another pump that takes blood from the veins back to the “lung” for more oxygen. Two other dogs on whom the experiment was performed in 1939 are still alive and healthy. The autojector can also keep a dog’s heart beating outside its body, has kept a decapitated dog’s head alive for hours?the head cocked its ears at a noise and licked its chops when citric acid was smeared on them. But the machine is incapable of reviving a whole dog more than about 15 minutes after its blood is drained?body cells then begin to disintegrate.
Also, those nerve functions, however, are not responsible for the functioning of the brain. They’re involved in regulating things like heart and lung function. But since this experiment used machines to regulate those organs, the spinal chord isn’t needed. There was, in effect, a sort of artificial spinal chord.
As for the one where the dog was deprived of blood for 15 minutes and then revived, I’m rather curious myself as to whether or not there was any brain damage, and if not, how they managed to avoid it.
May 6th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
I’ve been seeking more info about this after hitting upon a reference to it while looking into whether the disembodied head thing from Futurama was possible/being researched in real life. From what I’ve seen, there is little doubt that the experiments actually took place but it is also very likely that the video is mocked up in order to be much more impressive than the actual results. Supposedly, the video talks about the dog’s head living on for hours while, in real life, he only managed to extend the dogs life by minutes. Still impressive, but, apparently, not good enough for Soviet propaganda machine so they decided to embellish the facts.
The fact that it only worked for a little while makes sense when you think about it as this machine only acts as an artificial heart and lung. There are a lot of other nutrients that need to be supplied to the head as well as waste that need to be removed from the blood in order to, truly, replace the body. What, really, amazes me is that this was done with 1920’s technology. Imagine what we could do today with all the things we’ve learned, since then, about the human body and technology.
I see this as being a possible option for quadriplegics as well as people that want to live longer. My understanding is that the primary reason many quadriplegics die so young is that the paralyzed parts of their body end up killing them due to lack of use. This should eliminate that problem entirely. As far as living longer goes, this should eliminate the chance of premature death due to failing organs (with the exception of the brain, of course). It should also mean that even though the brain gets old it can still receive the optimal amount of nutrients/oxygen at an age where even organs that don’t fail tend to severely under perform.
May 21st, 2009 at 8:28 pm
ashabo-
LOL.
I love bleeding heart.
Advancing techology is realllly ABOMINABLE.
June 12th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
This is disgusting it actually made me partially vomit in my mouth,
if this is the evolution of man i defiantly do not want to be part of it.
June 27th, 2009 at 3:59 am
You can call it gross, you can call it wrong, you can call it what you want. but in america were doing it. Cryonics allow you to be frozen and preserved in a perfect state for over a thousand years with the hope that medical science will progress to the point of bringing you back. one of the few options in many cryonics programs is to just freeze the head for reanimation. its hard to believe but believable at the same time. (this is where the severed heads on futurama came from[Cryonics])
June 28th, 2009 at 4:33 am
Why is it mostly bitch ass women who are okay with this shit? Fuck you and go die, i hope your whole family dies infront of your fucking eyes!
You either care about the individuals lives or not, if your dont care about a dogs life which is a defenseless animal against humans then you should burn in hell for ever, if it meant saving a cat i would sacrifice your bitch ass ignorant cold hearted shitty family without any hesitation. Fuck you, an animal is more innocent than any human will ever be. Fuck yOU FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK YOU! You OLD fucking HAGS! may you burn forever, im so pissed! What the fuck is your problem? Man im so pissed it almost seems funny!
Instead of thinking about how many lives a dogs head can save you could do some fucking charity and feed the fucking hungry and save their lives, but your to fucked up arent ya? youd rather cure a penis disease then feeding a 5 yearold kid and save his life. Fucked up thats how simple it is.
Sorry (im not apologizing to the HAGS) if ive offended you in any way( The hags can burn in hell)
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:55 pm
I believe it, even if the video isn’t real the experiment is still valid. I wouldn’t do it personally, the poor animal was in pain. One can imagine the feeling of pain from the neck down. I could see it in the dog’s movement and in its eyes that it was in pain. The experiment was a display of macabre brilliance.
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:15 am
Neverminds it´s a hoax or not. Anybody capable to perform such an experiment is a son of a bitch. Same can be said of those who publish it, and those who are interested on it. I hate you all so deeply.
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:52 pm
““Oh shut the hell up. I get so tired of seeing people so empathetic to an animal but seem to miss the boat on opportunity to reciprocate this emotion to a fellow man. This “being” is already dead and this is an experiment in the name of progression of science. What if this research led inadvertently to the preservation of thousands of human lives? Or even one of your family members? Take your empathy and shove it, people that make these statements are oversensitive and under rational. ”
Ok, so next time an experiment like this is done, you volunteer?, The experiments in concentration camps were ok?, you hypocrite.
“I think this would be hard to do, yes. But it was done for science. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS… I would kill 10000 dogs if it ment 1 human wouldnt die. I would kill 10000 of just about any animal (assuming they wont die out as a direct result of my killing)”
EVERYTHING is wrong with this, if you don’t see that, you’re a sick sadistic bastard, nothing better than people like ted bundy, jeffery dahmer, albert fish and the like.
July 8th, 2009 at 12:56 am
Actually, there was a patent granted for this in 1987. The account I read of this (which I can no longer find) indicated that the “inventor” was so horrified at the prospect that this was now possible that he patented the process so that he could refuse anyone the right to do it lest it infringe his intellectual property. Presumably the Russian experiment had been debunked or used sufficiently outdated technology so as not to be considered prior art. Read the full text of the patent (complete with goofy diagrams) at Google Patents: http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=DxktAAAAEBAJ&dq=4666425
Also note the fun name of the “company” the guy used – Dis Corporation. As in discorporation, or detachment from the body. Har har.
July 9th, 2009 at 4:57 am
Which conceit was the plot hinge in the second “X-Files” movie. My wife was creeped out by it, and she normally likes horror movies.
September 28th, 2009 at 8:36 am
This is evil. May that man rot in hell for what he did to this dog and other animals.
October 13th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
fking savages
October 18th, 2009 at 12:40 am
i doubt they killed the dog for the sake of the experiment, it was probobly donated after death by somone. and as for the head there was still part of the neck attached accounting for that movement. The head did not “lift off the table”, but jerked to a certain extent. Nothing earth shattering here, just basic physiology.