5. Suspended Animation

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5. Suspended Animation

"I think this is really the opportunity to replace anasthesia, if you will," Satava said.

Brian Barnes at the Institute of Arctic Biology discovered that the Alaskan ground squirrel [shown above] doesn't hibernate because it's cold. "It hibernates because he turns himself off. We don't know what the signal is that turns him on and off," Satava said.

It is possible to basically turn small animals on and off in the laboratory, Satava said. The trick is how to do it with larger animals, including people.

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