I figured this story was pure fiction, originating as it did from the “Zombie Research Society.” But a little Internet searching discovered confirmation from PBS and other reputable sights. It is, in fact, all true, although perhaps not as startling a claim as it at first appears to be. It IS a little unsettling that certain genes in the body only come to life and start to function AFTER the specimen in question is otherwise dead, i.e. no heartbeat, no respiration, no brain function. There are genes that repress the functioning of these others, and when those first genes die, the latter, which are some of the same responsible for the development of an embryo at the beginnings of life, spring to life again after clinical death. (These same genes are linked to cancer, for what that’s worth, so does this mean the pathogen responsible for numerous zombie apocalypses is really a form of cancer?)
I’d always heard that fingernails and hair continue growing after a person dies, then read studies by medical professionals and mortuary workers that this is only a myth. Yet there are documented cases where it appears that hair and nails DO continue growing, or at least that they did in a few isolated instances. I don’t know. But we DO know, now, that parts of a body don’t die along with the rest of it.