Death
hideDeath is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a living organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby. The true nature of the latter has for millennia been a central concern of the world's religious traditions and of philosophical enquiry. Many religions maintain faith in either some kind of afterlife or reincarnation. The effect of physical death on any possible mind or soul remains for many an open question.
Animals almost without exception (see hydra) die in due course from senescence. Intervening phenomena which commonly bring death earlier include malnutrition, predation, disease, accidents resulting in terminal physical injury, or, in extreme circumstances, grave ecosystem disruption. Intentional human activity causing death includes suicide, homicide, and war. Roughly 150,000 people die each day across the globe. Death in the natural world can also occur as an indirect result of human activity: an increasing cause of species depletion in recent times has been destruction of ecological systems as a consequence of the widening spread of industrial technology.
Death in this context is now seen as less an event than a process: conditions once considered indicative of death are now reversible. Where in the process a dividing line is drawn between life and death depends on factors beyond the presence or absence of vital signs. In general, clinical death is neither necessary nor sufficient for a determination of legal death. A patient with working heart and lungs determined to be brain dead can be pronounced legally dead without clinical death occurring. Precise medical definition of death, in other words, becomes more problematic, paradoxically, as scientific knowledge and technology advance.
For more information about Death, read the full article at
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News tagged with death
Nanoparticles used in common household items caused genetic damage in mice
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Nov 16, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (24) |
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Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, found in everything from cosmetics to sunscreen to paint to vitamins, caused systemic genetic damage in mice, according to a comprehensive study conducted by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson ...
Newly Discovered Fat Molecule: An Undersea Killer with an Upside
Nov 05, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A chemical culprit responsible for the rapid, mysterious death of phytoplankton in the North Atlantic Ocean has been found by collaborating scientists at Rutgers University and the Woods Hole ...
New way to kill cancer found using body's immune system
Jul 21, 2009 |
5 / 5 (9) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have discovered a new way of killing cancer cells in a breakthrough that could eventually lead to new treatments for a range of different cancers.
Report: Most Americans in areas with unhealthy air
Apr 29, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Sixty percent of Americans live in areas with unhealthy air pollution levels, despite a growing green movement and more stringent laws aimed at improving air quality, the American Lung Association ...
Alzheimer’s Findings Resolve Dispute Over How Disease Kills Brain Cells
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Apr 15, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (6) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- For a decade, Alzheimer's disease researchers have been entrenched in debate about one of the mechanisms believed to be responsible for brain cell death and memory loss in the illness.
Research could lead to new non-antibiotic drugs to counter hospital infections
Apr 09, 2009 |
5 / 5 (3) |
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Lack of an adequate amount of the mineral phosphate can turn a common bacterium into a killer, according to research to be published in the April 14, 2009, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academies of ...
Scientists ID ten genes associated with a risk factor for sudden cardiac death
Mar 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- One minute, he's a strapping 40-year-old with an enviable cholesterol level, working out on his treadmill. The next, he's dead.
A sticky business -- how cancer cells become more 'gloopy' as they die
Mar 15, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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The viscosity, or 'gloopiness', of different parts of cancer cells increases dramatically when they are blasted with light-activated cancer drugs, according to new images that provide fundamental insights into how cancer ...
Tree deaths have doubled across the western US
Jan 22, 2009 |
2.9 / 5 (11) |
7
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study led by the U.S. Geological Survey and involving the University of Colorado at Boulder indicates tree deaths in the West's old-growth forests have more than doubled in recent decades, ...
Study links smoking with most male cancer deaths
Jan 21, 2009 |
4 / 5 (8) |
3
The association between tobacco smoke and cancer deaths — beyond lung cancer deaths — has been strengthened by a recent study from a UC Davis researcher, suggesting that increased tobacco control efforts could save more lives ...
New understanding about mechanism for cell death after stroke leads to possible therapy
Nov 22, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
Scientists at the Brain Research Centre, a partnership of the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, have uncovered new information about the mechanism by which ...
Now hear this: Mouse study sheds light on hearing loss in older adults
Nov 09, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Becoming "hard of hearing" is a standard but unfortunate part of aging: A syndrome called age-related hearing loss affects about 40 percent of people over 65 in the United States, and will afflict an estimated ...
Researchers link health-care debate to risk of dying in US and Europe
Nov 06, 2009 |
4 / 5 (6) |
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The current health care debate in the United States is complicated. Trade-offs between heath care expenditures, lifestyle choices and life expectancy have been suggested but seldom clearly demonstrated. The U.S. spends on ...
Sperm donor passed on sudden death heart defect
Oct 20, 2009 |
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(AP) -- A sperm donor passed on a potentially deadly genetic heart condition to nine of his 24 children, including one who died at age 2 from heart failure, according to a medical journal report.
Co-sleeping is key culprit in sudden infant deaths: study
Oct 13, 2009 |
3 / 5 (3) |
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More than half of sudden unexplained infant deaths occur while the infant is sharing a bed or a sofa with a parent (co-sleeping) and may be related to parents drinking alcohol or taking drugs, suggests a study published on ...
