This episode is presented by eBay.

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Then when you're buying, you can discover loads of hidden gems. There's so many items where you think I would have never found that anywhere else. Then when you're selling, it's so simple and most

importantly, free. It's free, Rob. When it's this easy to sell for free and there's great deals

on things you love. You can't help but say when it's eBay. It excludes vehicles and business

sellers.

Welcome to Science Talk, the weekly podcast of Scientific American posted on September 23, 2010.

I'm Steve Murski. In this episode, we'll look at the increasingly important question of when exactly a person dies, because it affects whether somebody else might be able to benefit from their organs.

Science journalist Robin Morantz Henning tackled the question in her article in the September

issue of Scientific American title, When Does Life Belong to the Living?

Robin is one of the country's best-known science writers.

She's the author of Pandora's Baby, a history of in vitro fertilization,

and of The Monk in the Garden, a look at Gregor Mendel's world-changing 19th century genetics research.

Robin and I spoke at Scientific Americans' offices.

So, Robin, there's this, it's almost a game that, and I don't mean to trivialize it, because it's the most serious thing there is, it's life and death.

But there's this kind of a game that the medical profession is straightjacketed into regarding time of death and organ donations.

Right.

I think of it more like a little dance that they've had to do.

Right.

You do describe it that way in the article, in fact.

I don't think that we even would have wondered when the moment of death is were it not for the fact that we need those organs for donations.

You know, so even the first time

...