[Scientists invent chemical to oxygenate blood for up to 30 minutes]

[Cerebus]

http://gizmodo.com/5921868/scientist...hout-breathing

This may seem like something out of a science fiction movie: researchers have designed microparticles that can be injected directly into the bloodstream to quickly oxygenate your body, even if you can't breathe anymore. It's one of the best medical breakthroughs in recent years, and one that could save millions of lives every year.
The invention, developed by a team at Boston Children's Hospital, will allow medical teams to keep patients alive and well for 15 to 30 minutes despite major respiratory failure. This is enough time for doctors and emergency personnel to act without risking a heart attack or permanent brain injuries in the patient.

The solution has already been successfully tested on animals under critical lung failure. When the doctors injected this liquid into the patient's veins, it restored oxygen in their blood to near-normal levels, granting them those precious additional minutes of life.

Particles of fat and oxygen

The particles are composed of oxygen gas pocketed in a layer of lipids, a natural molecule that usually stores energy or serves as a component to cell membranes. Lipids can be waxes, some vitamins, monoglycerides, diglycerides, triglycerides, phospholipids, or—as in this case—fats.

These fatty oxygen particles are about two to four micrometers in size. They are suspended in a liquid solution that can be easily carried and used by paramedics, emergency crews and intensive care personnel. This seemingly magic elixir carries "three to four times the oxygen content of our own red blood cells."

Similar solutions have failed in the past because they caused gas embolism, rather than oxygenating the cells. According to John Kheir, MD at the Department of Cardiology at Boston Children's Hospital, they solved the problem by using deformable particles, rather than bubbles:

We have engineered around this problem by packaging the gas into small, deformable particles. They dramatically increase the surface area for gas exchange and are able to squeeze through capillaries where free gas would get stuck.

Kheir had the idea of an injected oxygen solution started after he had to treat a little girl in 2006. Because of a lung hemorrhage caused by pneumonia, the girl sustained severe brain injuries which, ultimately, lead to her death before the medical team could place her in a heart-lung machine.

Soon after, Kheir assembled a team of chemical engineers, particle scientists, and medical doctors to work on this idea, which had promising results from the very beginning:

It sounds like magic, but it was just the start of what, after years of investigation, became this real life-giving liquid in a bottle.

This is what the future is about. And it's a beautiful one indeed, one that is arriving earlier than we ever could have expected. I wonder if this would find its way to other uses. I can see it as an emergency injection in a spaceship, for example. But what about getting a shot for diving?

Great, now we're going to have even more people in this world that we're supposed to die.

[arleybob]

We're that much closer to... something really cool.

[Tachosomoza]

Originally Posted by Cerebus

http://gizmodo.com/5921868/scientist...hout-breathing


Great, now we're going to have even more people in this world that we're supposed to die.

And I'm guessing you aren't one of them, yes? Be the change you seek.

[Village Idiot]

Do you guys remember in the Hitchhiker's series the part where it was decided their form of currency would be tree leaves. But because there was so many trees inflation was a problem so they just destroyed them. And they would all walk around and pat their pockets and nod to themselves.

Fuck that cracks me up.

[broseph]

you offend me talking about the natural world this way.

[Cerebus]

Originally Posted by Tachosomoza

And I'm guessing you aren't one of them, yes? Be the change you seek.

I'm not denying that I wouldn't take the service, since almost every organism's sole drive is to survive. But I also recognize the fact that people need to die. There's no getting around that, unless you can find some place with unlimited resources. The more people we have around the worse it is for everyone in the long run.

Let me ask you this: would it be a good idea to keep people alive well past their natural life-spans, even if they're not really doing anything?

[Tachosomoza]

You think you have more of a right to exist than someone else? You're special? Basically, kill anyone, anyone but me, right? You selfish fuck. You need to die.

[broseph]

Originally Posted by Cerebus

Let me ask you this: would it be a good idea to keep people alive well past their natural life-spans, even if they're not really doing anything?

depends if they've got the resources ($$$) to make other people's lives better in exchange. keep me alive and i'll keep african nations afloat, etc.

also, humans rely on trees for a relative amount of well-being.

[Mutant Funk Drink]

Originally Posted by Tachosomoza

So, what makes you think you have more of a right to exist than someone else? Basically, kill anyone, anyone but me, right? You selfish fuck. You need to die.

I will remember you saying this. It will come back to haunt you.

[SoulButter]

Wow thats amazing. I want to see how long I can hold my breath with an IV of this stuff. Actually no, I want to go scuba diving naked but with an IV rig instead of scuba gear.

[Tachosomoza]

Originally Posted by Mutant Funk Drink

I will remember you saying this. It will come back to haunt you.

Sure you will.

http://www.politicsforum.org/images/...s/flame_40.php

Archivist saves and squirrels away each and every discussion forum message. Do you remember having a bad day back in 1996 when in one of your messages you may have said a few things that were...well, perhaps a little...hasty? Don't worry, Archivist still has it and will post it to the forum if you begin to get the upper hand in battle. Archivist can be a very effective and fearsome Warrior.

[SoulButter]

Originally Posted by Tachosomoza

You think you have more of a right to exist than someone else? You're special? Basically, kill anyone, anyone but me, right? You selfish fuck. You need to die.

I respect you taco, but what's up your ass? He didn't make it personal at all, ou did. He said people as a whole. And he's right.

[Cerebus]

Originally Posted by Tachosomoza

So, what makes you think you have more of a right to exist than someone else? Basically, kill anyone, anyone but me, right? You selfish fuck. You need to die.

What? Who said anything about killing? I guess your logic of wanting everyone to live except for those you don't care for is much more noble, right? And you didn't answer my question.

[Rizopas]

Originally Posted by Tachosomoza

You think you have more of a right to exist than someone else? You're special?

Pretty much.

Egalitarianism is for communists with inferiority complexes. This includes you.

[Tachosomoza]

Originally Posted by Cerebus

And you didn't answer my question.

"Natural life span" for humans has been expanded over the centuries. In the 1700s, "old age" was around 50-55. Now, people are living to be 70 and 80 years old and are living fully productive lives.

[broseph]

in the future,

the ruling elite will have access to the kinds of technology than can keep them alive far, far beyond their natural lifespan. high-earning and high-power people (such as Bill Gates) will be in a new type of ruling class - physiologically "higher" beings, if you will - as greater longevity surely allows a greater amount of influence over society...and for a certain amount of time the majority will be constrained to a "normal" amount of lifetime, while the rich gain many years that we'd simply not be able to afford to live. it will be an extension of the "money = health" model we see today in affluent countries.

it will change how society functions, and is indeed controlled.

[Tachosomoza]

Originally Posted by Victory Wank

in the future,

the ruling elite will have access to the kinds of technology than can keep them alive far, far beyond their natural lifespan. high-earning and high-power people (such as Bill Gates) will be in a new type of ruling class - physiologically "higher" beings, if you will - as greater longevity surely allows a greater amount of influence over society...and for a certain amount of time the majority will be constrained to a "normal" amount of lifetime, while the rich gain many years that we'd simply not be able to afford to live. it will be an extension of the "money = health" model we see today in affluent countries.

it will change how society functions, and is indeed controlled.

Extremely, unjustly rich live, others die. That's fucked up at the basest levels.

[Cerebus]

Originally Posted by Tachosomoza

"Natural life span" for humans has been expanded over the centuries. In the 1700s, "old age" was around 50-55. Now, people are living to be 70 and 80 years old and are living fully productive lives.

You still didn't answer it, you just acknowledged it. And you ignored the part where I said they weren't really doing anything. And just for arguments sake, let's say the lifespan is somewhere between the 130's-150's. Long past the time where someone can do anything besides just being there.

Originally Posted by Victory Wank

in the future, the ruling elite will have access to the kinds of technology than can keep them alive far, far beyond their natural lifespan. high-earning and high-power people (such as Bill Gates) will be in a new type of ruling class - physiologically "higher" beings, if you will - as greater longevity surely allows a greater amount of influence over society...and for a certain amount of time the majority will be constrained to a "normal" amount of lifetime, while the rich gain many years that we'd simply not be able to afford to live. it will be an extension of the "money = health" model we see today in affluent countries. it will change how society functions, and is indeed controlled.

That's a pretty interesting idea. I wonder if those would qualify as the ubermensch?

[Tachosomoza]

Originally Posted by Cerebus

You still didn't answer it, you just acknowledged it. And you ignored the part where I said they weren't really doing anything. And just for arguments sake, let's say the lifespan is somewhere between the 130's-150's. Long past the time where someone can do anything besides just being there.



That's a pretty interesting idea. I wonder if those would qualify as the ubermensch?

I addressed it, I said they're living healthy, productive lives. And no, they wouldn't be übermensch, they'd be a bunch of rich fucks who live longer than everyone else simply because they can manipulate finance. The time is being stretched where your average older person can do more than just "be there", there are people in their 70s and 80s that work.

[broseph]

Originally Posted by Cerebus

That's a pretty interesting idea. I wonder if those would qualify as the ubermensch?

well, that would depend on how these technologies were distributed.

i mean, if anybody with enough money had access to them, it's just a case of market forces isn't it? what scares me is the idea that government/power-brokers will control who can and cannot use the technology, and then some sort of dystopian new world order might be established...almost like a new class of human being that regards the majority of us as...well, literally dispensable.

but then, thinking of the positive aspects of these lifespan-lengthening technologies, there's potential for so much good. think about all the great human beings who've helped humanity/environment/whatever, but whose legacy was cut short by their deaths. if we can keep these people alive for much longer then there's no guessing what can be achieved. people who generate billions of dollars for charitable causes can do so forever, always progressing!

it's unnerving, though, isn't it? man is gradually becoming god in every respect, even though he arguably can't handle the responsibility and power.


edit: this thread has potential for interesting discussion - don't spam it up with ego and bullshit, please.

[bortmackie]

Dude, trees are awesome. don't be dissin trees like that. Why don't we all just give up breathing and resort to IV oxygenation? At that rate, fuck walking, lets all ride around in rascals and have feeding/drinking/breathing tubes implanted. I bet we can come up with some awesome machine to have intercourse for us too, so we don't have to go through the energy of manually fucking anymore. Sounds totally rad...

[Haiti's Space Agency]

I wish everyone could live forever wouldn't that be nice

[Psychotogen]

Just think, in the near future they could inject you fulla this crap and shoot your ass to the moon instead of sending you to jail.

[HampTheToker]

In nature the runt of a litter will almost always die.

Nature does not have mercy for weakness. Why should people be any different? If you're too weak to secure financial stability why should the government be responsible for keeping you alive an extra ten or twenty years? This is a luxury. Not everyone can afford every luxury. That's life. Deal with it.

[Village Idiot]

Could this breakthrough bring on a new method of meditation? Since most-dare I say styles, require you to concentrate on breathing, can this be the thing where we are capable of meditating under extreme conditions, underwater, etc.
Maybe now advanced meditation will delve into concentrating on your pulse.
Just a thought, it's probably nothing.

[Irukanji]

What a shit invention. Saving millions? Why don't we just inject them with cyanide and skip the foreplay?

We kind of need trees. Wood, paper, shade from that vicious cunt of a sun, reducing salinity, providing habitats, being a good meeting point to round up and execute tree huggers, etc.

[Village Idiot]

Originally Posted by Irukanji

What a shit invention. Saving millions? Why don't we just inject them with cyanide and skip the foreplay?

We kind of need trees. Wood, paper, shade from that vicious cunt of a sun, reducing salinity, providing habitats, being a good meeting point to round up and execute tree huggers, etc.

Absolutely not. This is the ultimate invention for faking your death/playing awful tricks on your family by jumping into a lake and hiding out. Think of the possibilities, man.

[The Pat-Man]

lol that this was invented in america

[zuperxtreme]

Shit thread title, sorry OP.

What they did was create a chemical which oxygenates your blood for 30 minutes. They're for situations when a person stops breathing for whatever reason and can't get help immediately, someone could inject this into the person until help arrives saving his/her life.

Once they start assisted breathing their blood CO2 lowers and lungs oxygenate their blood.

[Zok Jr.]

Originally Posted by Tachosomoza

You think you have more of a right to exist than someone else?

more than a welfare leeching nigger

a lot more

[DiStOrTiOn]

Originally Posted by SoulButter

Wow thats amazing. I want to see how long I can hold my breath with an IV of this stuff. Actually no, I want to go scuba diving naked but with an IV rig instead of scuba gear.

I bet it's uncomfortable as fuck if you're awake. You'd probably feel like you're suffocating if the CO2 in your lungs isn't being removed

[dysik]

Originally Posted by DiStOrTiOn

I bet it's uncomfortable as fuck if you're awake. You'd probably feel like you're suffocating if the CO2 in your lungs isn't being removed

its more the action of (not) breathing that makes it uncomfortable, if you had a one breath rebreather that you could just reinhale/exhale, it would be sweet!

[cowtipper]

how much