The secret of suspended animation has been unlocked by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital as they found out that exposure of mice to sewer gas put them in the same state as people traveling without aging from the SF movies.
Hydrogen sulfide appears to be the substance to induce a deep trance to humans, and allowing them to remain alive in a frozen environment and, this way, to stay young for years. As the scientists say, “heart rate and metabolism drop, while blood pressure and oxygen levels maintained”.
The gas can kill workers who encounter it, but administered in small doses, it quickly produces a totally reversible metabolic suppression. If this method develops even further, it could be used, for example, to maintain alive dying persons that have AIDS or other incurable malady until a cure for them becomes available.
