Have you watched the movie Avatar lately? Where the people suspend themselves in order to travel to a foreign planet?
Suspended animation is the slowing down of the metabolism of a body with methods that permit the reanimation in a certain time frame with physiological activity and minimum or none at all degradation of the body and it’s function. Sci-fi lovers (like me) surely have heard such a story several times.
What is the state of art in this scientific discipline?
Bears and other animal can suspend themselves for the winter by lowering down their metabolism. Other species can also do this.
Theoretically it is also possible for human.
Pioneer at this field is Mark Roth, a researcher at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. He has experimented a lot with certain substances that lower the metabolism like hydrogen sulfide in miniscule doses. He envisions a future where people with severe trauma heart attack or brain stroke will be able to pharmaceutically suspend their metabolism so that oxygen deprivation will not do much harm in the tissues. This animation will last at least until doctors deal with the cause of the oxygen deprivation.
This will be life saving for many people! Watch the video of Roth at TED. It is exciting!!!!
