Topic awaiting preservation: Hibernation...and the effect on the future.

Well, they've made a major breakthrough on hibernation...and now know what causes it, and that this simple protien can also set other animals into hibernation who normally don't hibernate...and that includes organs, as well. Which means that people waiting for organ transplants (esp. hearts) have much better chances...because it can extend the 'healthy transplant time' up to 16+ hours, which is amazing...just saw a doc on it last night...and here is a link http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/satoyama/hibernation2.html

Of course, with a bit more research...(and NASA is funding this anyway, no surprise) and they will figure out how to place humans in one...coolness...the stars are ours...

The first thing that came to my mind is that we have just gotten a lot closer to really moving out into our solar system.

Moonbase, Mars colony, certain moons of the larger planets perhaps? Ganymede might work.

But even with this progress, I think this process is going to be very slow in coming. I just don't sense any real enthusiasm from the world to really take space exploration/exploitation seriously. Oh well, it's still good to envision even if we won't live to see it.

. . : slicePuzzle

Hibernation is no secret! I can turn it on and off like a switch! hehe

Humans are making all the breakthroughs this year, teleportation, hibernation, another word that ends in "ation"...



[This message has been edited by synax (edited 06-28-2002).]

Nope. I saw the doc on TV last night...in 5 years, the research will become mainstream...they have already tried it on monkeys and pigs (and their organs). As one may know (or not know) pigs are very much like humans...organ-wise. And it works! With artificially created Hib. Proteins, they extended the hearts 'healthy liveability' from 6 to 18 hours!!! Unbelievable!!

We are going to the stars in my lifetime...I can't believe it!

Yeeehoooo!

Good find, WebShamen, us humans just may not blow ourselves up after all... well, if we do, I'll teleport underground and hibernate for about 40 years.

njuice42 Cell # 551
icq 957255

*opens an eye and yawns.*
What? hmmmmm....
*looks around uninterestedly and goes back to sleep, snoring.*



'Me no here. Me go bye. Leave me message. Me reply.'

Wolfen's Sig Site

Hibernation may give us the *patience* to go way out into space (we won't feel the time pass), but will it actually keep us *alive* long enough to get anywhere?

Well I'm sure that by the time we're ready to set flags down on distant stars (I know, I know...), we'll have come up with life support systems able to maintain our health through the hibernation without heavy flaws. Not to sound too scifi-ish, but I believe the system they used in the movie 'Aliens' (with the life support/deep sleep pods hooked up to life monitoring systems) would pretty much work without a kink.

But then again, I'm no scientist...

njuice42 Cell # 551
icq 957255

I would not be surprised in the least if the solution they come up with looks very similar to some sci-fi portrayals of such technology. Remember that a lot of the scientists that are working on such things are also sci-fi fans

For instance, I heard that NASA plans on creating some ships designed for space navigation that will be very similar to the Starfurys from the show Babylon 5. In fact, the NASA people liked the Starfurys so much that they asked the B5 people if it would be ok to use that name someday. You've got to love that.

. . : slicePuzzle

Hmm, which were the star furies? The coolest ships I remember on that show were black and all pointy, but I barely remember them so that might not describe any =)

The thing is, we create our own future by the way we imagine it. The things we make up stories about are the things that stick in our minds, so when we research stuff that seems interesting, it's the same stuff we made up stories about.

Take the transportation thing, for instance. The only reason we've made advances in transportation of particles is because we imagined it would be cool a long time ago.

We make things up, and then we implement them as best we can. That's why the things we create look similar to the things we had imagined creating in the past.

You're thinking of the Shadow ships... http://www.b5tech.net/art/b5/shadowsattack.jpg

Here's a nice pic of the Starfurys... http://www.b5tech.net/art/b5/starfuryfire.jpg

. . : slicePuzzle

Ah, yes! The word "shadow" had come to mind, I should have said that. (Those ships in the picture look pointier than I remember them, though. Hmm.) I didn't really watch that series as in-depth as I would have liked to; I missed most of the beginning and had a hard time catching episodes.

What were we talking about? Ah, yes, hibernation, not pointy shadow ships.

But just one more point about them. That pic is a 3d render from a fan. The shots from the show look much better and less pointy

. . : slicePuzzle

*sigh* You aren't seeing the picture...NASA is planning a Mars mission, but the problem was always 'How to keep the people alive, active and healthy for the (about a year of) travel there and back...that's one of the reasons for the Biosphere projects...and now this!

You have to understand...bears go into Hibernation for extended periods of time...with no ill effects, or muscle antrophy, or bone loss...which are some of the most serious effects on humans in weightlessness...and we have the answer! The solution! It works! It's going to happen, folks, and in our lifetimes...incredible!

Also, consider the benefits...people waiting for a critical heart transplant...more lives can now be saved...and other organs, too...what a break-through!

The stars are ours!

You know, that's sorta freaky. Just being unconscious for however long. I can handle it for 8 hours every day, but to fall asleep and wake up a year later? The fact that your body doesn't need anything (food) during that time is interesting. But it's sorta scary.

Gosh, what if there were a huge war while you were in hibernation and all the people in NASA who knew the details of your mission died in some sort of bombing? And you woke up afterwards with no communication back home? That would be the most horrible thing in the world. Or, in the solar system, as the case may be.

Yes, but that could happen when you are sleeping...in 8 hours, these days...but yeah, it would be kinda freaky to wake up 1/2 to a year later...Rip Van Winkle on a modern stage...

The Stars are Ours.

I think it's pretty much agreed that hibernation would work in theory.... but would you use it simply to travel into the future? I know I'd love to fall asleep and wake up ten years in the future. Imagine all the movies, games, computer gadgets, cars and whatnot you'd be able to experience in one big dose... I'd love to. You?

njuice42 Cell # 551
icq 957255

*Injects self with hibernation protein*...I'll let you know...*yawn*...gottzta...sleep....

At least it beats waiting for the second part of LOTRs to come out...I'll just sleep until then...

I once slept for 36 hours straight. Of course, that was after I had stayed up for about 115 hours (comes to almost five full days--from Monday morning to late Friday night). I didn't realize that I had missed an entire day, but when I woke up I felt as if I had been petrified. It took me about thirty seconds to realize that I was still alive, and another few minutes to actually be able to move...

I imagine hibernation would be a lot better than that, but it's still kind of creepy. Personally, I would be terrified that something would happen to the ship while I was in hibernation and some alien would come in and suck my insides out while I was asleep. Or something like that. Great, now I'm going to have nightmares tonight. Thanks, WS.

Hehe...*grins*

They're comming for you Master Suho....



BTW - you're welcome...

Say 'Hi' to L. ron Hubbard for me while you're with em, would ya?

I think there's reasons for that, though, Suho. Thirty six hours is a long time to go without food/water/bathroom/moving, though there's no doubt your body drastically needed it after being awake for five some odd days. Still, with hibernation, it's supposed to stop muscle decay, the need for substance etc... it's how the bears do it, and we're smarter than the av-er-age bear, right Boo-boo?

With my luck the ship would run out of gas just past the offramp to Jupiter and I'd be stuck in limbo for the rest of my life. Hmm... makes me wonder what the maximum amount of time allowed in hibernation would be. Animals generally only go into sleep for a few months, correct? We're talking about sleeping through a multi-year voyage... a rethinking of our hibernation theories, anyone?

njuice42 Cell # 551
icq 957255

No, no re-thinking...only optimizing...bears go through many months of hibernation...not just 'a few'...and the 'Sieben Schläfer', a small nocternal animal here in Germany actually hibernates for 7 months! And it is smaller than a cat!

As to the limits for hibernation? Well, that's hard to say...I guess it would depend on how slow the process can go without resulting in death...

Well put, but I guess my biggest fear would be going in and never coming back out, hehe. Besides, I'm sure if there were a year limit (per se), we could always wake up for a while, come to... do whatever we have to do for a few days and go back in.

I think I'll go see if anyone has a cheap ticket to Mars available

njuice42 Cell # 551
icq 957255

I'm having flashbacks to Alien.... *shudder* it's kind of a creepy thought!

Do you think that on each of these several year voyages, that there would be a skeleton crew awake the whole time to watch over the ship and all? I guess there would have to be early on in the project anyway... They wouldn't send a ship out on auto pilot with a bunch of sleeping people on it, right? Right?

Oh yeah, I'm sure they had a multitude of precautions for those trips, an early skeleton crew would be one. Man, all this talk is making me want to watch them movies again. Sound science, if you think about it.

njuice42 Cell # 551
icq 957255

I'd want to put a hibernating bear into space first to see what happens.