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Placing Astronauts in suspended animation has been proposed as one way for an individual to reach the end of an interplanetary or interstellar journey, avoiding the necessity for a gigantic Generation Ship ; occasionally the two concepts have been combined, with generations of "caretakers" supervising a large population of frozen passengers.

--Three of the Discovery One crew are in a state of hibernation, ostensibly to conserve resources for the voyage.]]

Since the 1970's Hypothermia has been induced for some Open-heart Surgeries as an alternative to Heart-lung Machine s. Hypothermia though only provides a limited amount of time to operate and there has been some evidence of risk of tissue and brain damage.

An article in the April 22, 2005 issue of the scientific journal ''Science,'' reports success towards inducing suspended animation in Mice . The findings are significant, as mice do not hibernate in nature. The breakthrough was achieved when the lab of Mark Roth placed mice in a chamber containing 80 Ppm Hydrogen Sulfide , and the test was conducted for 6 hours. The mice's core body temperature dropped to 13 degrees Celsius and Metabolism , as assayed by Carbon Dioxide production and Oxygen use, decreased 10-fold.

In July 2005 scientists at the University of Pittsburgh's Safar Center for Resuscitation Research announced they had managed to bring dogs back to life with no brain damage by draining the blood out of the dog's bodies and putting an ice cold solution into their circulatory systems, which in turn keeps the bodies alive in stasis. After 3 hours of being clinically dead, the dogs were revived by an electric shock to their hearts. The heart started pumping the blood around the frozen body, and the dogs were brought back to life. Scientists hope to begin human testing in 6 months and have already begun discussions with hospitals to use "suspended animation" if everything else fails. Safar Research also pioneered modern CPR techniques.

While most of the dogs were fine, a few of the revived dogs had severe nervous and movement coordination damage, causing them to be mentally disabled, and demonstrating behavior that was deemed " Zombie " like. This has been pushed further by the media which named them "Zombie Dogs" . There is concern that this technique, if used on humans could result in brain damage similar to those suffered by some of the dogs in the experiment. Safar Research believes that the process is merely another way to give "more time" to the operation table, as vital repairs could be made when patients are in stasis: emergency operations fail frequently simply because the lack of time, not the lack of expertise.

On January 20, 2006, an article published in The Sydney Morning Herald claimed pigs had been placed in suspended animation, and revived with a 90 percent success rate.


SUSPENDED ANIMATION IN FICTION


Suspended animation is also a common device in fiction used to transport individuals from one time period to another, often by accident, to wait for a cure, or to offer a kind of immortality. Among the characters or works that utilize suspended animation are:

  • The pilot for the series Lost In Space , the passengers of the Jupiter II spacecraft are placed in a state of suspended animation or Stasis .

  • Austin Powers and his archnemesis, Dr. Evil , are suspended in the 1960s to be revived in the 1990s .

  • The movie Demolition Man

  • Edward Bellamy 's 1887 novel '' Looking Backward ''

  • Robert A. Heinlein 's 1957 novel '' The Door Into Summer ''

  • Anne McCaffery 's and Jody Lynn Nye 's 1990 novel, '' The Death Of Sleep ''

  • Terry Brooks ' character Allanon (as well as other druids) uses suspended animation to extend his life in Brooks' Shannara series of books.

  • Woody Allen 's movie '' Sleeper ''

  • '''', in which three Scientist s are placed in suspended animation for a Spaceflight of a few years' duration, the ship being tended by two living Astronaut s

  • ''Alien'' , its sequels and related works set in the ''Alien'' universe, in which the characters enter "hypersleep" to survive sublight travel across interstellar distances.

  • The 1968 movie '' Planet Of The Apes '', in which three astronauts are revived from suspended animation 2000 years in the future.

  • '' Red Dwarf '', which had one character surviving a radioactive crisis by spending three million years in Stasis

  • Futurama 's main character Fry accidentally traps himself in a cryogenic state, and is released 1000 years later, where hilarity ensues.

  • .

  • '''' episode "The 37's", in which individuals from the 20th century are revived three and four centuries later, respectively

  • '' Stargate SG-1 '', various episodes, including a dying man waiting for a young person to come along, a subterfuge, hypersleep like ''Alien'', and waiting for a cure.

  • '' Stargate Atlantis '', in which the Wraith, a few Ancients and one human survive for 10,000 years due to suspended animation.

  • Captain America , who survived the end of World War II and was revived by The Avengers in the 1960s

  • Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes games' opening stories include Shadow The Hedgehog being released from suspended animation.

  • '''', The young hero Aang is trapped in an iceberg for a century.

  • Buck Rogers (Gil Gerard), who blasted off into space in 1987, and was trapped into suspended animation only to be revived in 2091.

  • '' Twilight Zone '', one episode The Rip Van Winkle Caper where four thieves "sleep" for 100 years with a bag of gold.

  • Daniel Holtz , a vampire hunter in the TV series '' Angel '', is placed in suspended animation for more than two centuries via magic and is reawakaned in the present.

  • On '' Babylon 5 '' in the episode The Long Dark , a ship sent from Earth in the 20th century before contact with alien races arrives at the station. The crew consisted of a married couple, both put in cryogenic tubes, although only the wife survies the nearly 100 year journey to Babylon 5.

  • '' Inuyasha '''' is placed in suspended animation when he is sealed to the tree of ages by Kikyo

    • '' Suspended Animation '' is also the name of the first solo Album by Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci .



SEE ALSO


For some “real life” starting points: