X-Message-Number: 26067 Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 01:57:39 -0400 From: James Corbally <> Subject: NEWS: Mice put in 'suspended animation' Crossposted to the Extropy list http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4469793.stm 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. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=26067