From the time we see Bambi’s mom bite the dust, we all know what death is. At least, we think we do. But the simple definition of death — that the body stops working — doesn’t take into account how weird our bodies actually are.
“We really know nothing about what happens when you die,” says Peter Noble, a former professor at the University of Alabama. Noble knows firsthand that surprises await scientists studying the end of life: he helped discover that long-dormant genes can spring into action hours or even days after an organism dies.
