Poison Gas Can Induce Suspended Animation, And Save Your Life

A small dose of hydrogen sulphide gas put this little guy into a state of suspended animation for six hours. If the technique can scale up to humans, it could buy doctors valuable time in emergency situations.

The idea is that if someone suffers a critical injury and time is of the essence, a small dose of hydrogen sulphide gas could dramatically slow the patient’s heartbeat. Effectively the patient would enter a near-death state.

As scary as that sounds, it is reversible. Time would basically move in slow-motion for the patient, while doctors would be able to work in real-time. Instead of having minutes to save a person’s life, the technique could give doctors hours.

This all sounds great, but if at all possible I would like to avoid ever having to breathe hydrogen sulphide. Good ol’ nitrous oxide would probably be much more enjoyable. [CNN via BoingBoing]