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Natural Gas to Offer Breakthrough in Suspended Animation?
Kingcanute writes "The BBC is reporting that American scientists are claiming that sewer gas may be successful at inducing suspended animation. The results were achieved using mice but further studies are needed" From the article: "The problem with hypothermia is it's not that easy to cool down the human body so if we can find another method to inhibit metabolism that would be very useful"
The real appeal of this method of suspending animation is that it could be used in trauma cases. Assuming it actually works safely for humans (big if), this method is so easy that it could be applied in the field by paramedics. Someone with a massive heart attack or stroke could possibly be placed into suspended animation until they are in the right location for full diagnosis and treatment. Also, someone with critical organ failure could be suspended for a few days/weeks until the right organ turns up.
I'm sure there will be plenty more reasons once/if the tech proves itself. New Scientist and Science News have been covering this possibility for some now, so this is only news right now if you don't follow the science trades.
... and of course everyone is thinking about sending frozen bodies of austronauts to some remote star, but in reality it should be useful when a soldier is hit in, say, some remote desert and it takes 15 hours to airlift him to more advanced places where an operation can be performed. Source of HS4 can be portable and if his metabolism is three times slower it would feel like an 5 hour flight.
Paul B.
The lifespan, and quality of life, of the gas releaser may indeed be increased, when compared to gas non-releasers. I believe Dave Barry is an expert in this field of research. His theory is that women tend to be more uptight than men because they tend to "bottle up" their emissions for later release, rather than allowing them to escape in a natural, relaxing manner.