Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: PlasmaPuppeteer on 27/06/2016 03:32:20
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Hopefully not too disconcerting of a question for a new user; this once again pertains to my writing, as dose my recent post about joules, volts, teslas, and whatnot. What injuries, illnesses, and toxins are the fastest ways to die? I'm guessing brain or spine damage, such as neurotoxins, a broken neck, or an arrow to the head would kill pretty quick, as would vaporization by a hot plasma. But exactly how fast? How about cardiac arrest? Decapitation? Anything faster I might be overlooking? I said in my first thread that I write science-fantasy; I forgot to mention the horror part, so death is a pretty important plot point.
Thanks in advance for any help!
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Not much rivals a bullet traveling through a brainstem at hypersonic speeds.
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consciousness resides in the brain any rapid destruction of the brain does the job
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Stroke or heart attack are traditionally-recognised natural causes of sudden death.
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The fastest way to die? Depends on your definition of death. Assuming conciousness is in the brain, something that blocks neuron excitation applied to the whole brain might be it. A drug or electric current maybe.
Fun fact: after a person is dead, many dormant genes become activated such as developmental ones. Microbiome is also very active.
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It's hard to compete with sitting on a nuclear weapon.
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If you are looking for the fastest way to die by toxin, the answer is Botulinum toxin, a toxin made by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum.
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An explosion has to be the quickest way overall. A heart attack might be quick by natural standards, but it's quite a while before you even lose consciousness if your heart stops.