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One of the most unsettling experiments began in the 1930s, led by Soviet scientist Sergey Breno. Breno became fixated on a chilling question: could a severed head remain alive? To answer this, he invented a machine called the autoject, which could artificially pump blood through an animal's body. In a grotesque demonstration, Breno connected a severed dog's head to this device. To the horror of onlookers, the head opened its eyes, blinked, and even responded to sound. While this horrifying experiment raised pressing ethical debates, it also contributed to early research in artificial circulation and furthered our understanding of life and death.