HASAN ALAM gazes over the cold, motionless body of a pig lying on a stainless steel table before him. The animal has no pulse, no blood, no electrical activity in its brain, and its tissues consume no oxygen. It has been in this state for two-and-a-half hours. It looks dead. "You would think so," he says, "but you can bring it back."
He flicks a switch and warm blood starts pumping into the animal, gradually ramping up its body temperature. At about 25 °C the pig's heart starts beating of its own accord and the animal jolts back to life.
Alam, a trauma surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, is testing a new technique to grab patients at the brink of death and divert them into a state of suspended animation. Doctors could keep a body hovering in this twilight zone between life and death for hours while repairing ...
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