Suspended animation may rely on rotten eggs
By Susan Wilson
Sort of. Suspended animation has long been a staple of science fiction stories, Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clark, sci-fi movies, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, Coma and TV shows, Stargate Atlantis, Lost in Space. Now it seems that scientists in Massachusetts, USA may have found a way to actually created a state of suspended animation using the gas that smells like rotten eggs.
According to the periodical, Anesthesiology, Hydrogen sulfide which is the gas given off by rotten eggs and in large enough quantities can kill you, has now been shown to successfully slow down some metabolic processes in mice. Better yet, the metabolic slow down is totally reversible. The specific process that is slowed, is heart rate. Through careful administration of low doses of Hydrogen sulfide, blood pressure and blood oxygen levels were maintained while the heart rate was slowed by 50%.
H2S, which is the scientific formula for hydrogen sulfide, is a colorless gas that is often found in sewers and swamps. The gas is created from decaying organic material. The gas is also given off by Volcanos, Natural Gas, and some well water.
While science can now put mice into a state of suspended animation, there is no word yet when the process will be useful for people. It will be years before the use of hydrogen sulfide is used on humans, if ever. What works in mice does not always transfer to humans.
DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME. Whether hydrogen sulfide, or rotten egg smell, is eventually approved for use in people, home experimentation is dangerous. Until scientists have worked out the exact dosages to be used, it would be too easy to die from sniffing too much.
Related posts: