You’ve seen it in movies, read about it in comic books as a kid, heard about it since you were two when it comes to bears…and now scientists say humans can hibernate, too.
But wait: I thought humans could already hibernate. There’s even a term for it: “attending high school.”
But we digress. Via Times Online:
SUSPENDED animation is poised to move from science fiction to reality: scientists have successfully induced a state of reversible hibernation in mammals for the first time, using methods that could eventually be applied to human beings.The breakthrough in the United States promises to allow doctors to slow human metabolism almost to a standstill, protecting critically ill patients from damage to the brain and other organs that would normally be inflicted by oxygen deprivation. Patient trials could begin within five years.
The “hibernation on demand� technique, which has been pioneered in mice, also raises the prospect of putting astronauts to sleep for long voyages in space — a staple of science fiction films such as Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
See? It DOES refer to high school. MORE:
In a study at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, a team led by Mark Roth used hydrogen sulphide gas to place mice into artificial hibernation, slowing their cellular activity virtually to a standstill. The animals were left in this state for up to six hours before being revived without any lasting ill effects.
As hibernation drastically reduces the amount of oxygen that cells need to survive, such suspended animation would have significant medical benefits if it could be induced among human patients. It could be used to buy time when treating severe blood loss, hypothermia, fevers, heart attacks and strokes, in which oxygen deprivation kills off tissue, leading to disability or death.
MSNBC’s Robert Roy Britt has some excellent points about where all of this can go — and what we’ve seen so far. A small taste:
Squirrels, bears, snakes and many other animals hibernate naturally, some more deeply than others. Humans have been known to hibernate by accident, Roth and his colleagues point out.A Norwegian skier was rescued in 1999 after being submerged in icy water for more than an hour. She had no heartbeat and her body temperature was 57 degrees Fahrenheit (normal is 98.6). She recovered.
Canadian toddler Erika Nordby wandered outside at night and nearly froze to death in 2001. She wore only a diaper and T-shirt. It was minus 11 Fahrenheit (-24 Celsius). When found, her heart had stopped beating for two hours and her body temperature was 61 degrees F. She suffered severe frostbite but required no amputations and otherwise recovered.
“Understanding the connections between random instances of seemingly miraculous, unexplained survival in so-called clinically dead humans and our ability to induce — and reverse — metabolic quiescence in model organisms could have dramatic implications for medical care,” Roth said. “In the end I suspect there will be clinical benefits, and it will change the way medicine is practiced, because we will, in short, be able to buy patients time.”
This development raises all kinds of possibilities:
- Medical treatment. A patient can be put in suspended animation until a cure is found. A patient could hibernate until an organ donor is found.
- Bedroom excuses. “Not this decade, honey, I have a headache…”
- Difficult political decisions. “Senator Frist, I’ll let you know about my vote on the ‘nuclear option’ but my doctor says I have to hibernate until after the 2006 elections before I can give you an answer.”
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.