Putting people into a state of suspended animation is a mainstay of science fiction, but a new study may have brought the idea closer to reality. By exposing mice to low concentrations of hydrogen sulfide gas in air, researchers slowed the animals’ metabolic rate to a near standstill with no apparent ill effects.
Many animals undergo periods of extreme metabolic slowdown, or torpor, in which heart rate drops, breathing slows, and body temperature plunges.
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