Mice have been placed in a state of near suspended animation, raising the possibility that hibernation could one day be induced in humans.Nothing new under the sun? Horse Puckey, we're discovering or inventing new stuff all the time.
If so, it might be possible to put astronauts into hibernation-like states for long-haul space flights - as often depicted in science fiction films.
[...]
The researchers from the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle put the mice in a chamber filled with air laced with 80 parts per million (ppm) of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) - the malodorous gas that gives rotten eggs their stink.
Hydrogen sulphide can be deadly in high concentrations. But it is also produced normally in humans and animals, and is believed to help regulate body temperature and metabolic activity.
Come on, did you suspect that the smell of rotten eggs might one day lead to practical interstellar space travel? So much for Ecclesiastes 1:9-10.
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