Well not poo itself (or dookie, or whatever you'd like to call it)-- but the hydrogen sulfide gas that's been dubbed 'sewer gas' is being investigated for its possible efficacy as an anaesthetic. Researchers have applied this toxic gas to rats at doses lethal for humans and found the metabolic rate, temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate all plummet, while the blood pressure stayed relatively stable.
Hold on and rewind please. What!?!?!? I must have had too much champagne before bed last night. I have to make sure I wasn't still reading Proud Cystic-Fibrosis Foundation doesn't need your charity found at The Onion. I mean, we're talking about toxic smelly poop gas! *For an in depth discussion of the chemical composition and attributes of hydrogen sulfide gas, I turn to my biochem correspondant at happyredpigs (scroll to 'Matches, Poo, and You: a lesson in everyday chemistry')* Using that??? I guess maybe I'm just jealous that I WOULD NEVER HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT.
On the plus side, they would be using the gas to replace the extremely difficult, unstable, and still new procedure of inducing hypothermia, which allows the organs to keep working during surgery while operating on a trauma patient or the heart.
On the down side, a doctor questions, "is it reducing brain metabolism or simply having a toxic effect on the brain stem?" oh dear. see the BBC article here
All in all, I'm curious to see how this all works out. And I'll be lighting matches after #2 in the meantime.
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ooh, that was really weird- I visited the onion right before reading this post, and then you went and mentioned the cystic fibrosis article
ps: I still worship HP! Interesting article though. But isn't that what Harry himself has always said- that he's just an ordinary guy with special talent except flying? I think that's sort of the point, that he's the Everyman hero
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