Discuss:Technology, Humanity, Industry:Methods for space travel - hibernation and suspended animation
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Methods for space travel::hibernation and suspended animation
I just read a Wired article on the hibernation of Arctic ground squirrels. It brought to mind a few closely related ideas that answer some of the unproposed problems with suspended animation for use in space flight.Some basic premises:
- Suspension is the process of completely stopping the metabolism. Hibernation is the process of slowing it down.
- Humans do not naturally hibernate.
- Other mammals achieve below freezing hibernation.
Some necessary research:
- Develop an artificial means of providing sustenance to a hibernating human. Potentially study sustenance methods for existing hibernating mammals and attempt to augment the mammals' sustenance methods over long time periods.
- Hibernation's long term effects on the human body and mind must be studied. Start with the long term effects of hibernation on mammals that naturally hibernate. What coping mechanisms do they use? What is "long-term" for hibernating mammals?
- Necessary support technology must be identified and studied, such as: life support, medical automation, celestial navigation, engineering robustness, robotics technology, artificial intelligence.
Open questions:
- How do you feed a hibernating body?
- How long could a human body be in hibernation?
- How long would a human need to be in hibernation?
- Is hibernation an acceptable for long-term space travel?
--sunny Wed Dec 15 19:52:12 2004
Truc-Ha Thu Jul 13 19:44 2006
I have just read a Wired article discussing a version of cryogenic suspension. Pigs have been subjected to blood loss, cooled down using some chilled solution as a sort of replacment for blood, operated on to fix the blood loss, and then pumped with fresh blood at room temperature. According to the rather brief article, the pigs who have undergone optimum treatment do not seem to have any cognitive loss.
This method takes advantage of the fact that our metabolism decreases at cold temperatures. Our cells decrease the use and need for reagents such as oxygen and nutrients, and accordingly put out less cytotoxic waste products such as urea or carbon dioxide. This is well known in the medical literature, and a common adage in cold-water drownings is "they're not dead until they're warm and dead," as human beings' metabolic requirments can go so low that a thoroughly chilled (immersed) non-breathing person can still survive, though their post-drowning cognitive and pulmonary function may not be back to normal.
How big of a step is this? I agree with that the article's assertion that such technology can save lives by increasing the amount of time available for medical intervention. It's still many steps to space travel. Some further research topics would be 1) a comparison of cellular metabolism of a pig in this project and a hibernating animal 2) length of viable suspension 3) utility in pregnancy and fetal surgery 4) a study of necessary metabolic reagents for a suspended animal cell 5) what species can be suspended with this method.
On a tangent, there is a movement into expanding your lifespan via a near-starvation level diet. According to such ascetic enthusiasts, the way starving yourself makes you live longer is connected to metabolism. Reacting to the relative famine, the body decreases its metabolism and cell turnover. However, one of the side effects is that you don't think as well or as fast. Not a side effect I can afford or want to undergo. Definitely testing all cryogenic methods for post-suspension cognitive decreases is a must.
--Truc-Ha Thu Jul 13 19:44 2006
