[extropy-chat] NEWS: Mice put in 'suspended animation' - BBC

James Corbally james.corbally at gmail.com
Fri Apr 22 02:17:44 UTC 2005


Just saw this on the Beeb site:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4469793.stm

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Mice put in 'suspended animation' 

Mice have been placed in a state of near suspended animation, raising
the possibility that hibernation could one day be induced in humans.

If so, it might be possible to put astronauts into hibernation-like
states for long-haul space flights - as often depicted in science
fiction films.

A US team from Seattle reports its findings in Science magazine. 

In this case, suspended animation means the reversible cessation of
all visible life processes in an organism.

The researchers from the University of Washington and the Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle put the mice in a chamber
filled with air laced with 80 parts per million (ppm) of hydrogen
sulphide (H2S) - the malodorous gas that give rotten eggs their stink.

Hydrogen sulphide can be deadly in high concentrations. But it is also
produced normally in humans and animals, and is believed to help
regulate body temperature and metabolic activity.
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Wonder how this would play out in cats or dogs?


James...



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