Suspended animation shocker: lack of oxygen could be the key to surviving a deep freeze

Researchers in Seattle are coming closer to discovering the secrets of suspended animation. Experimenting with yeast and worms, Dr. Mark Roth has been able to determine that a significant decrease in oxygen before the deep freeze of an organism makes surviving the thaw much, much easier, and may account for several cases where people have appeared to be frozen to death but were later revived. Dr. Roth's aim, he says, is not to be able to freeze people for long periods (such as is the case in the classic film Encino Man), but to help medical professionals "buy time" and advance their understanding of the effects of freezing on the human body. Sure, but if it means we might get to meet up with Pauly Shore in like, a thousand years, why don't we just shoot for the stars on this one? Video is below.

[Maeztro Posted Jun 17th 2010 7:03PM]

Better test it out on Captain Solo first...

[Lord Vader Posted Jun 17th 2010 7:33PM]

@Maeztro Consider it done

[tonyprince Posted Jun 17th 2010 8:39PM]

@Maeztro this folks is your answer to internal life. wake up once every 1000 years.

[Kikarok Posted Jun 17th 2010 9:57PM]

@(Unverified)
Pfft! We've known all about internal life for a while now; we have legions of textbooks dedicated to all those bacteria inside us.

[Nzo Posted Jun 17th 2010 10:32PM]

http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/202311/TED-Suspended-Animation-Is-Within-Our-Grasp.html

[TickLe MY eLMo Posted Jun 18th 2010 5:32AM]

@Lord Vader

You know my lord, i love the replies you make on engadget posts, but it always seems like you are replying to these posts in record time. It seems as if you are...always on edgadget, which if this is true, who is crushing the rebel scum...?

Food for thought.

[Brokinarrow Posted Jun 18th 2010 1:37PM]

@(Unverified) - Internal life? What am I going to be living inside of?

[ekauq Posted Jul 7th 2010 5:22AM]

@TickLe MY eLMo

It's called the Force, he just senses a disturbance and knows to comment.

[Wesscoast Posted Jun 17th 2010 7:11PM]

Oh man, Engadget is so getting sued by Pauly Shore's people

[koehler83 Posted Jun 17th 2010 8:23PM]

@Wesscoast I'm sure Pauly Shore can appreciate a lack of oxygen.

[PossumK Posted Jun 17th 2010 7:15PM]

So, you're frozen just before you die from suffocation? Sweet dreams!

[Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi Posted Jun 17th 2010 7:17PM]

Pauly shore?? what is that guy up to?

Last I seen of him he was jumping out of a trunk of a car in the movie "The Wash"(Carwash remake)

[MatteoVega Posted Jun 17th 2010 7:27PM]

Makes me want to watch Futurama...

[NeoJew Posted Jun 17th 2010 7:53PM]

@MatteoVega
Lucky you, two new episodes next week.

[CapnShiner Posted Jun 18th 2010 5:33AM]

@MatteoVega Yes, my first thought was that episode of Futurama as well. "So I decided to freeze The Weasel."

[Professor Hubert J Farnsworth Posted Jun 18th 2010 11:00AM]

Whaa... *falls asleep on chair*

[synthesis777 Posted Jun 17th 2010 7:28PM]

My home town is the best!

[Holyfunkadelic Posted Jun 17th 2010 7:38PM]

This was on TED quite a while ago, their video is A LOT more interesting :: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/mark_roth_suspended_animation.html

[REP Posted Jun 17th 2010 7:51PM]

I guess it would really help me if I were a yeast or a worm, but fortunately I'm neither.

[Troyb0y29 Posted Jun 17th 2010 8:13PM]

Wow suspended animation isn't fairly new. We've been experimenting this with plants and animals. The body just shuts down into a sleep like state but there is no functions such as breathing going on.

[ACER Posted Jun 17th 2010 8:46PM]

@Troyb0y29
Wow is it a geek thing to be a know-it-all asshole about everything?

[pfromg Posted Jun 18th 2010 5:28AM]

@ACER
is it a dumb ass thing to be an ignorant fool?

[paul34 Posted Jun 17th 2010 8:44PM]

Indeed, if not actual "stasis," this would be most useful for medical emergency purposes, e.g., to "freeze" a critically traumatized person until they can get him to the hospital. In those cases, those few minutes are often what can allow an injury to go from life-threatening to the injury that actually kills the patient.

[dardub Posted Jun 17th 2010 10:23PM]

No weezing the juice!

[dardub Posted Jun 17th 2010 10:24PM]

I need to start saving up to get myself frozen.

[BuzzMega Posted Jun 18th 2010 12:11AM]

That's why Fry survived. He's yeasty.

[bakedbeans6 Posted Jun 18th 2010 3:34AM]

WEEZ THE JUICE!

[dardub Posted Jun 18th 2010 2:32PM]

@bakedbeans6
I said no weezing the juice!

As stated above.

[awlh Posted Jun 28th 2010 10:08PM]

This is technically not a new discovery. Research attempting to understand why honey buried in ancient Egyptian tombs was still edible discovered that oxygen is the key ingredient in celular degeneration and decomposition. The challenge from here is to work out a way to stop this reaction without having to remove the intracellular or extracellular fluid (water) that makes up 60% of our bodies - lower temperature is one ingredient but not the total answer due to the technical difficulty in initiating and maintaining such conditions for extended periods.

Besides it'd give you a whopping great headache that would take more than a couple of Gatorades to fix!