It’s Alive!
The reanimation of dead tissue has always been somewhat of a science fiction dream. Stories like Frankenstein wouldn’t exist without it. However, thanks to the Pentagon’s experimental science arm, DARPA, it may not be science fiction any more.
A biochemist named Mark Roth has discovered that if you cut off the oxygen supply to certain creatures in just the right way, they don’t die, and instead fall into a state of suspended animation. He compares the whole process to a bear’s hibernation, though that does simplify it a little much.
He says that the great advantage to this, which is also the reason that the defense department is so interested in his research, is that if you can induce this hibernation correctly, there is no breathing and there is no heartbeat, but without either of those, wounds don’t bleed. Thus, injuries that would’ve otherwise been fatal are now very survivable and the brain shuts down, but there is no damage done at all. “If you were shot,” Roth says, “This is exactly what you would want.” The key to inducing the hibernation lies in hydrogen sulfide, a substance that binds to cell mitochondria and blocks oxygen from being used by the body.
His research has been carried out on nematodes, which are incidentally very good subjects to start with when trying to discover how certain procedures may affect humans.
Cleary the defense department is interested because of the possibility to reduce fatalities in the battlefield. However, Roth states that this research could eventually lead to a greater understanding of this method, and thus a greater control. Someday, procedures like his may be used to slow diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease.
Perhaps science fiction will become science fact sooner than we thought.
To read the original article, please go to http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2007/12/zombie-mouse-ma/