Valentine's Day is approaching, and although I haven't seen any commercial presence here in Israel (I don't think its really celebrated here), I would bet a tub-o-hummus that the holiday aisles and drug stores are well stocked with heart-shaped cards and candies back in the US of A.One theory on the origin of the heart-shaped valentine states that Saint Valentine, after being rejected by his mistress, "took a knife to his chest and sent her his still-beating heart as a token of his undying love." My money says that's probably not how things went down. However, the heart can continue beating, at least temporarily, if removed from its corporeal location.
There is a bundle of muscle fibers within the heart collectively known as the Sinoatrial Node. The SA node is the heart's natural pacemaker, initiating every heartbeat on its own, without help from the the brain or nerves. Therefore, if removed from the body, the heart may continue beating, at least as long the cells of the SA node remain nourished (probably not that long).
As an aside...
I saw Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom for the first time when I was around 7 or 8 years old. One of my favorite movies of all time. It creeped me out pretty bad. But in a good way. Especially the scene below.
I don't know much about voodoo or volcanoes, but I'm pretty sure that unfortunate feller wouldn't have lasted so long without his ticker.
YO!!! Me too!!!! When I was little, I had a Temple of Doom picture book. This scene scared the bejeezus out of me, to the point I made my mom staple the pages together so I could turn past this.
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