Institute For The Future

Hibernation-On-Demand

"Along with Steven Levy's profile of tech innovator Danny Hillis, the new issue of Newsweek surveys "Some Big Ideas." Basically, they've compiled short blurbs on around ten innovations. Things like neuroimpliants, desktop fusion, holographic projectors, and bionano labs-on-a-chip have been on our horizon for quite some time, but I found the bit about research on animal hibernation to be interesting. From the article:

A team at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle placed mice, which do not hibernate, in a sealed chamber. By gradually increasing the levels of hydrogen sulfide in the chamber, they "pushed aside" much of the oxygen within the animals' cells. The mice entered a comalike state, in which their body temperature, respiration and heartbeat decreased. Revived after six hours, the rodents showed no ill effects. Someday, similar techniques could reduce brain damage in accident victims en route to the hospital and extend the shelf life of organs for tranplantation.

Link to the Newsweek article, Link to a press release about the "hibernation on demand" research

According to a New Scientist article from earlier this year, exposing the mice to hydrogen sulphide (think rotten eggs) knocked them into hibernation. Fresh air revived them. From the New Scientist article:

 

In the future, (researcher Mark) Roth foresees agents which reduce metabolic rate in the same routine way that anaesthetics are used today to dull pain. It could provide a new way to help prevent tissue damage and death in stroke or heart attack victims, he suggests. It could also help to preserve transplantable organs for longer.