Reversible Metabolic Hibernation, a Gift of Immortality

Sci-fi geeks like me dream of technology that will allow astronauts to travel long distances and terra-forming scientists to sleep while a new planet’s evolution works its magic. But why wait for futuristic cryo tubes? Science research has caught up with our dreams!

Watch the 2010 TED talk by Mark Roth. He’s found a way to put mammals into a state of suspended animation, keep them cold, and then reanimate them.



Mark Roth and his team are very close to finding a practical way to make this happen for humans now, maybe this year, certainly in this decade. He calls it “reversible metabolic hibernation” and he wants EMT crews to put people who are experiencing life-threatening medical trauma into suspended animation, until they can be given the life-saving care they need. Then the individual will be reanimated, receiving a gift of immortality.

For more history on the practice of human hibernation, intentional and accidental, see my longer article on GeekMom.com.

The Art of Hibernation

What this sci-fi geek loves most about hibernation is there is considerable research being done with the intention of applying similar metabolic changes to humans to help them cope with space travel! Because there are physiological and psychological advantages to snoozing through multi-year-long trips, induced hibernation may be just the thing for future astronauts.

As long as I’m writing a novel that includes one person waking from a long cryogenic sleep, I claim--by right of authorial research--the right to liberally practice the fine art of hibernation.

To read more of my musings on this topic, including a note on how to sleep your way to the top, courtesy of Arianna Huffington at TEDwomen, go to GeekMoms.

(Photo of astronaut Sullivan, courtesy of NASA.)