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Biotech Science

Hibernation on Demand 185

Posted by Zonk from the good-way-to-get-back-home-after-the-xenomorph-attack dept.
Mr. Christmas Lights writes "Dr. Mark Roth at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has successfully induced a state of reversible metabolic hibernation in mice which (no surprise) is getting quite a bit of publicity. Attempts in the past have used cooling techniques, but Dr. Roth uses hydrogen sulfide (80 parts/million) to basically put the warm-blooded mice into an advanced hibernated state, with a drop from the normal 120 breaths/minute to less than 10. Core body temperature also drops as low as 11C (50F) to match the ambient room temperature. The mice recover in about two hours once normal air/temperatures are applied, with no apparent ill effects - apparently there is a mice IQ/motor-skills test. In addition to the obligatory reference to Woody Allen's Sleeper movie, this has applicability for emergency rooms as it would be beneficial to in ER medicine as a way of "buying time" while diagnosis is performed."
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Hibernation on Demand More

Hibernation on Demand

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  • Hibernating (Score:5, Funny)

    by DarkHelmet ( 120004 ) * <mark&seventhcycle,net> on Saturday April 23, 2005 @04:29AM (#12321362) Homepage
    If only we could put those dupes on ice...

  • Dupe (Score:1, Redundant)

    by qewl ( 671495 )
    Thanks for another dupe [slashdot.org](Front page news 36 hours ago).. Well, if nothing else, this one has a few more details.

  • First Human Tests... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 23, 2005 @04:31AM (#12321371)

    ...are apparently with Slashdot editors.

  • There is a drawback he reports ... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Nice2Cats ( 557310 ) on Saturday April 23, 2005 @04:34AM (#12321377)
    ... you spend the rest of your life smelling like rotten eggs because of the sulfide...

  • Wow! It works! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 23, 2005 @04:34AM (#12321379)
    This hibernation thing really works. Seems like only yesterday that I went to bed after reading about this.

  • oh shut up, honestly (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 23, 2005 @04:37AM (#12321391)
    In further news, READ YOUR OWN FUCKING SITE once a day you stupid fuck.
  • Oh MY FUCKING GOD HOW DID THIS GET THROUGH? The previous story couldnt have been more than 2 days ago. Ive had enough of this shit, Im handing in my slashdot ID, from now on I shall post anonymously as a Coward, and get modded up more. Christ, you people have turned this place into a fucking joke.

  • In other news... (Score:5, Funny)

    by nacturation ( 646836 ) <nacturation AT gmail DOT com> on Saturday April 23, 2005 @04:46AM (#12321418) Journal
    Microsoft initiates legal action against the researchers for numerous violations of patents covering the Windows Hiberation feature.

    • "Microsoft initiates legal action against the researchers for numerous violations of patents covering the Windows Hiberation feature"

      But these researchers have hibernation that works; big difference! What Microsoft calls "hibernation" animal researchers call "euthanasia."

      Now, Apple might have a case, though they call it "sleep"... but I've yet to own a Windows laptop that would consistently wake up without crashing.

      Microsoft will sue when researchers work out how to reboot badly fragmented laboratory an

  • I wish... (Score:4, Funny)

    by CaptainPuff ( 323270 ) on Saturday April 23, 2005 @04:49AM (#12321428)
    I was on hibernation long enough to get some fresh stories...

  • I regularly hibernate... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Zemran ( 3101 ) on Saturday April 23, 2005 @04:52AM (#12321439) Homepage Journal
    each day at work ... I normally recover in time to go home without any ill effects and do not require the smell of rotting eggs.

  • Travelling to the year 3000 (Score:4, Funny)

    by Goalie_Ca ( 584234 ) on Saturday April 23, 2005 @04:54AM (#12321449)
    So now i'll be able to bite his shiny metal ass!?
  • THIS STORY IS A DUPE.....
    Why do you people waste our time?

    Do you slashdot editors really get PAID to be this stupid!!!!? WHY CAN'T I GET A JOB LIKE THAT?
  • to put millions of humans into hibernation in underground vaults while the people on the surface pollute themselves into extinction.

    If nothing went wrong then they'd awaken x thousand years later and be repatriated. Or start a revolution. Or take down the Matrix. Or something...
  • I dare every slashdotter who reads this to copy the story VERBATIM and resubmit it as a new story! That'll teach those editors (well, not really, who are we kidding, they are too stupid to know!)...

    • Let's improve on that (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I doubt they'll fall for it now that you've made the plan public. However, let's agree to resubmit a verbatim copy of every dupe article from now on.

      For chrissake, I mailed them about the story being dupe and the guys still post it...

  • They are very popular articles. Just look how many replies they get. Sometimes they even more than the original article. Not only that but there is an outpouring of emotion. So much anger is spawned from just a few clicks of the keyboard (ok maybe they just copy paste from the original post. I really dunno) Most importantly though it is the one subject that ALL Slashdotters can agree upon. Dupes are TEH Suck.

    Just a thought. How about the next obvious dupe that comes along nobody reply. See if we c
    • That is the most insightful thing I have ever heard on slashdot. Since this is about a story that was reposted just 36 hours after it was initally posted (which must be a world record) it's definitely ontopic.

      Unfortunately, it also opens up the possiblity that the editors have gotten so sick of the slashdot crowd that they are actively trolling us by reposting popular articles, rather than using slashback.

      If I was caught napping and missed the Hybernation story (sorry) I would really want to hear about it
      • . Since this is about a story that was reposted just 36 hours after it was initally posted (which must be a world record)

        Nothing like a record. I've often seen dupes both live on the front page, posted two or three hours apart. Not by the same editor, though Taco has reposted some "funny website" filler he'd already done months ago.

      • There was a dupe a year or so ago with one story between the two.

  • ...welcome our new dupe overlords, note their dupliciousness.
    • Now that we've welcomed them, and even honored their arrival with the invention of a new word, lets celebrate by creating a sentence to go with said word.

      The Slashdot Editors have a predilection to exceeding dupliciousness.

  • Make use of this space (Score:4, Funny)

    by OBeardedOne ( 700849 ) on Saturday April 23, 2005 @05:14AM (#12321510) Homepage
    Since this is a dupe (and a very recent one at that) and all we're going to hear is whinging about it being a dupe I figure why not make use of the space. I submit that we change the subject to something worthwhile discussing: Category: ASK SLASHDOT Subject: DUPE ARTICLES "With all of the fancy software and technology at their disposal, how is it possible for Slashdot to not have a "technological" system in place to ensure that dupe articles are not submitted to the front page? Are their systems too complicated to enable the development and use of a simple dupe article checker that would automatically search and warn of similar, perhaps identical, articles that have recently been posted? Is it that the cost of such software is prohibitive, or that they believe submission of dupe articles are considered "funny" to readers and therefore help the bottom line? Or is it pure laziness? Discuss.
  • Im sick fed up of the constant row of "OMG DUPE yo idiotz" posts that follow.
    a constant dupe of "this is a dupe" posts ....
    People take your own advice and stop duping previous comments

  • Dupes and subscribers (Score:4, Insightful)

    by theolein ( 316044 ) on Saturday April 23, 2005 @05:24AM (#12321534) Journal
    I think it's time that there was an open discussion of dupes (This article is a dupe of one poasted last night).

    There have been pro and against arguments. The pro argument have been that some people miss the original articles and have a second chance to post. The neutral argument has been that if one doesn't like the dupe, one should simpy ignore it. Both of these arguments make good sense.

    However, slashdot is in some sense a commercial enterprise. The majority are, of course, not subscribers, but there must be quite a few all the same. Slashdot also gets paid by advertisers to get many hits. Advertisers could argue that they get less hits on dupe articles.

    In these last two cases, it isn't exactly a shiny example of quality in a product (if one can look upin slashdot as a product) to see so many dupes. I know that the sheer number of dupes in slashdot would prevent me from subscribing as I see it as a problem of editors being disinterested in checking what they post.
    • I think it's time that there was an open discussion of dupes (This article is a dupe of one poasted last night).

      There have been pro and against arguments. The pro argument have been that some people miss the original articles and have a second chance to post. The neutral argument has been that if one doesn't like the dupe, one should simpy ignore it. Both of these arguments make good sense.

      However, slashdot is in some sense a commercial enterprise. The majority are, of course, not subscribers, but the

      • I think that if they simply fixed the search tool, they'd be part of the way there. That way, they'd be able to do a quick search before they posted an article. Alternativley, they could just use google.
        • How hard is it to just read all the articles. I read them all, and I have only a few minutes a day to spend viewing Slashdot. Surely those being paid to contribute to Slashdot could spend a bit of time each day reading everything that's been posted since their last visit?

          • Re:Dupes and subscribers (Score:5, Insightful)

            by Andrewkov ( 140579 ) on Saturday April 23, 2005 @09:57AM (#12322297)
            That's my thought exactly .. These dupes send a clear message that the Slashdot staff, who are *paid* to work for a for-profit company, spend less time reading the site than the casual readers. I'm not a /. addict by any means, but I do login a few times a day from work to see what's happening. If a casual reader like myself can spot these dupes, why can't the editors? Do they actually read their own site less than I do?

            • Re:Dupes and subscribers (Score:1, Insightful)

              by Anonymous Coward
              Frequently when you take an activity a person enjoys, start paying them for it (or make it a responsibility they are required to engage in), it will become far less enjoyable.

              You almost always get far better quality from volunteer mods, ironically enough.

            • These dupes send a clear message that the Slashdot staff, who are *paid* to work for a for-profit company....

              That's because you're doing it all wrong. The staff doesn't care. But there is a solution; you mention that they work for a for-profit company. Gentlemen, I give you the contact information for the Open Source Technology Group, Slashdot's parent company:

              46939 Bayside Parkway

              Fremont, CA 94538

              Toll free: (877) 825-4689
              Phone: (510) 687-7000
              Fax: (510) 687-7155

              E-mail: info@ostg.com [not linki

      • Re:Dupes and subscribers (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Pedrito ( 94783 ) on Saturday April 23, 2005 @09:24AM (#12322138)
        I also understand that it can be difficult to detect a dupe when such a large number of articles

        Why is it so difficult? They post what, 20 articles a day? How hard is it to look over the past 100 topics to see if it was previously posted? I agree, though that a simple tool could provide them with the ability to detect these. I don't even think you'd need Bayesian techniques. A simple comparison of the less common words would probably bring 90% of them out pretty quickly.

        But as I posted a while ago: Where's their incentive to improve their quality? What, are we all going to go somewhere else and stop reading Slashdot? I don't suspect that will happen anytime soon.

        The fact is, Slashdot is an amateur operation that happens to make a little money. I doubt they make that much. When was the last time they updated the web site in any significant way? Let's face it, these guys aren't working for a living. That's cool. I'm sure a lot of people would in their situation. But they clearly don't follow their own site and they clearly could care less about what people think about it. If they did, the site would improve.

    • They have a way to let people see an article they missed. It's called "Slashback."

      Not using slashback and just reposting it is a form of trolling. Before I sound too much like a hypocrite, I'll refer you to my previous post [slashdot.org]
      • They have a way to let people see an article they missed. It's called "Slashback."

        There is a better way: just look at the "older stuff" panel on the right.

        There you find Older Articles [slashdot.org] and Yesterday's news [slashdot.org]. You can just edit the URL for any given day, the date format (issue=20050423) is obvious.

    • In these last two cases, it isn't exactly a shiny example of quality in a product (if one can look upin slashdot as a product) to see so many dupes. I know that the sheer number of dupes in slashdot would prevent me from subscribing as I see it as a problem of editors being disinterested in checking what they post.

      What Slashdot really needs is the ability to mod articles as well as comments. Then dupes would get (-1, Redundant) and disappear.

      ....Stu

      • I proposed that about a year ago and I'm sure others have done the same.

        Aparently the editorial scum doesn't like the idea as the next natural step is asking for the ability to mod editors (whereby the lame ones would get fired). Stupid fucks.

  • Aha - that explains it ! (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I have occasionally noticed the smell of rotten-eggs out in userland.

    I alwasy thought these people were just stupid - now I know they are hibernating at work.

  • Surviving hibernation (Score:5, Informative)

    by theufo ( 575732 ) on Saturday April 23, 2005 @06:27AM (#12321671) Homepage
    Why aren't hibernating mammals eaten alive by microorganisms? (yes there was a discussion before) Well, apparantly their immune system is actually disabled. However, they wake up periodically, specifically to fight off any infections.

    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/04/02040 2074547.htm [sciencedaily.com]

    Humans can't do this if their cytochrome C is inhibited by hydrogen sulfide, so if you ever do this with humans, you'd have to make sure they wake up periodically to prevent all kinds of nastyness.

    Bats seem to have a different strategy. They stay in deep hibernation for prolonged periods up to 90 days, but their biochemistry changes quite drastically in order to do this. It's unlikely that human cells are able to change themselves so drastically.

    http://physrev.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/83/ 4/1153 [physiology.org]

    I really wonder what would happen to a mouse if you induce hibernation for more than a month.

    Buying hours and preventing damage would be a good purpose for artificial human hibernation, but I think space travel is a little far fetched.

    • Re:Surviving hibernation (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Aimak ( 652182 )
      AFIK, hydrogen sulfide would also inhibit the cytochrome C of all aerobic bacteria in the body. Hence, the infection risk may be decreased during the hibernation because these bacteria would be "hibernating" too.

      About the anaerobic bacteria found within our body, I'm not sure. Perhaps a combined effect with low temperature could also prevent these anaerobic bacteria of growing.

      Low temperature (not freezing) and a mixture of gases may be the way to go about long-term hibernation.

    • Re:Surviving hibernation (Score:3, Interesting)

      by mbrod ( 19122 )
      I would think the hydrogen sulfide in the body would also induce hibernation in the microorganisms in the body. Slowing them down.
    • What is the problem with just waking folks up say once a month just long enough for their immune system to kick in? Also would they necessarily "wake" or just go from hibernation to regular sleep?

      I understand that this would remove some of the advantage you get in areas like oxygen consumptino from hybernation-but it would seem like there would still be a big advantage.
  • You can tell I'm a nerd when my first thought when reading this isn't the Woody Allen movie, but instead is all of the many sci-fi stories that use chemically induced hibernation to aid in long-distance space travel.

  • Software solution for dupes? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by rdurell ( 827253 ) on Saturday April 23, 2005 @08:31AM (#12321957)
    So I have a software based suggestion for how to ameliorate the dupe problem. My suggestion would add a step to both the initial submit of the story as well as to the post of the story. Additionally, the responsibility for preventing dupes is shared between the submitter and the editor.

    1) User completes submission form
    2) The user's write-up is compared to the last year or so worth of posts. (You could pull keywords from the submission, pattern match or use any number of other techniques.)
    3) The user is presented with a list of similar articles
    4) The user then reviews the list of articles
    5) The user either abandons the submit as a dupe or continues/certifies the submit as not a dupe to the best of his/her knowledge

    The editor would encounter a similar process (following steps 3-5). It is important that the editors follow this process as well to help them find and reject dupes that a submitter may not have (or chose not to) noticed.

    This would probably not eliminate all dupes, but should help mitigate the issue.

    Thoughts?

    • Re:Software solution for dupes? (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      They just should moderate the submissions...

      This would also prevent hoaxes and stories that are just ads.
    • A.L.I.C.E.: Do you think this would probably not eliminate all dupes, but should help mitigate the issue?
    • Thoughts?
      My thoughts? If the editors can't be bothered to glance at the last dozen stories posted on the front page before posting a new story, they won't review a computer-generated list of potential dupes either.

      How's this for a solution: if an editor posts a dupe, he doesn't get paid that day. Maybe that would actually get them to pay attention.

  • Sorry 'bout the dupe submission ... (Score:4, Funny)

    by xmas2003 ( 739875 ) * on Saturday April 23, 2005 @08:52AM (#12322032) Homepage
    I hadn't seen the earlier hibernation article, so I'll share the blame for this dupe since I was the one who submitted it.

    Oh well, maybe we can all go back to sleep now ... ;-)

  • Can't wait till someone submits a slashdot story to slashdot and it gets accepted. Recursive dupe!
  • it has more details and I don't really care anyways. You say it "wastes yoru time" but it's your fault you are replying.


    Anyways back on topic; this is great. Just think about it. If you got some horrible deseise with no cure and you were frozen until a cure was found, would it matter if you smelt like rotten eggs?
  • In addition to the obligatory reference to Woody Allen's Sleeper movie

    To hell with hibernation: if scientists feel the need to invent stuff in Woody Allen movies, how about starting with the Orb, or the Orgasmotron?

    Oh, wait, too late: http://forums.applenova.com/archive/index.php/t-25 84.html [applenova.com]

  • we need only some improvements. 1) moderators vote articel as dupe, all +5 comments are then automaticlly linked here aswell. 2) A dupecounter goes up by 1. Once it reaches a certain threshold (say, 1337), CmdrTaco gets a beating in front of TV by a bunch of fat chicks.
  • Most of the "stories" on slashdot are already a few days old anyway. If you read newscientist, you will get their science/technology stories a few days early. If you read Drudge, you will find the political/privacy articles a few days early too. I'm sure there are other sites as well that are more cutting edge for other types of stories.

    Furthermore, all you people complaining about the dupes, what's the point. I think it's kind of stupid too, but if they don't even glance at the front page, will they

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