What’s the common link between swamp gas, rotten eggs, and stinky rodents? They’re all tied together in this new research addressing suspended animation — the science fiction technique for preserving humans over long periods of time. A new study says hydrogen sulfide may help poison our metabolism into running slower, but without harming the circulatory system.
Of course, lab mice were used to test this idea. After breathing in nasty air for hours, practically half a day, their metabolism had slowed down so much that the heart rate was cut in half. Amazingly enough, ultrasound observations show that breathing in the hydrogen sulfide didn’t affect the amount of blood traveling to the heart.
They were sluggish (and smelly) but no other adverse side effects were seen.
Like this article suggests, combining the “rotten egg” technique (assuming it works on humans) with chilling the body could enable astronauts to travel a lot longer on fewer resources. Think about how much oxygen and food it would take to get to Mars, for example.