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The ultimate sponge
A handful of scientists have just created the world’s first successful zombie dogs — canines that, after being dead for three hours, are brought back from the sweet hereafter. The experiment, spearheaded by Dr. Patrick Kochanek, works like this: The scientists drain the dogs of all blood, and replace it with saline solution chilled to a few degrees above zero. The temperature of the dogs’ bodies drops to 7 degrees celsius; they die of hypothermia first, and when the transfusion is complete, the cold saline preserves their organs from decay.
To bring them back to life, the scientists return the blood to their bodies, surround them with an atmosphere of 100 per cent oxygen, and — in a detail that couldn’t be more Frankensteinian — use electric shocks to restart their hearts.
The research is quite important, because the scientists eventually hope to create techniques allowing critically-ill patients — such as battlefield soldiers — to be preserved in a safe state of suspended animation for hours while being transported to a suitable hospital. But let’s face it: The mere details of these experiments are so inherently ghoulish that animal-rights advocates were pretty much guaranteed to object, as the New York Post reports:
Mary Beth Sweetland, a spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said: “These experiments are indefensible nonsense and the results for humans will be negligible. I would also imagine there are serious consequences for these animals that aren’t discussed.”
Woof. It probably doesn’t help that Kochanek’s research group is called the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research — a name with positively comic-book qualities — or that games like Resident Evil have long included killer zombie dogs.
I'm Clive Thompson, a writer on science, technology, and culture. This blog collects bits of offbeat research I'm running into, and musings thereon.
Currently, I'm a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Wired magazine. I also write for Fast Company and Wired magazine's web site, among other places. Email or AOL IM me (pomeranian99) to say hi or send in something strange!
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» visit the Collision Detection archives
September 26, 2008 » 01:57 PM
From an interview with ethnobotanist and anthropologist Wade Davis:
One of the cultures you celebrate in Light at the Edge of the World is the Inuit. What do you most admire about them?
Davis: The Inuit didn’t fear the cold; they took advantage of it. During the 1950s the Canadian government forced the Inuit into settlements. A family from Arctic Bay told me this fantastic story of their grandfather who refused to go. The family, fearful for his life, took away all of his tools and all of his implements, thinking that would force him into the settlement. But instead, he just slipped out of an igloo on a cold Arctic night, pulled down his caribou and sealskin trousers, and defecated into his hand. As the feces began to freeze, he shaped it into the form of an implement. And when the blade started to take shape, he put a spray of saliva along the leading edge to sharpen it. That’s when what they call the “shit knife” took form. He used it to butcher a dog. Skinned the dog with it. Improvised a sled with the dog’s rib cage, and then, using the skin, he harnessed up an adjacent living dog. He put the shit knife in his belt and disappeared into the night.
September 25, 2008 » 11:21 AM
“Video from a camp north of Toronto in December 2005 shows a car spinning around in a nearby, snow-covered parking lot. Prosecutors characterized that as special driver training but the defense, and many outsiders, said it was nothing more than “cutting doughnuts,” a favorite winter pastime of young Canadian motorists.” - A key piece of evidence submitted in the trial of a gang of alleged young Canadian terrorists.
September 24, 2008 » 11:21 PM
“Life imitates art imitating life: just thought a gnat crawling across my monitor was part of a Flash-based ad. I clicked it.” - A Tweet from Bill Braine.
September 24, 2008 » 02:37 PM
“Funniest FB friend request ever: “Twitter friend hoping to get to second base (Facebook!) ;-).”” - A recent Tweet by Pistachio
September 24, 2008 » 12:28 PM
Chinese powdered-milk crisis creates a new market: The return of the wet nurse
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