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See the original image at wired.com —

Hydrogen Sulfide May Kill Us, Bring Us Back to Life

wired.com — Millions of years before the dinosaurs were apparently killed by an asteroid hitting our planet, Earth experienced another mass extinction that was far more devastating. The cause for that was actually homegrown: Hydrogen sulfide in the oceans & atmosphere turned the sky green and choked off oxygen for plants, animals and marine life....

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  • ChrisMichelbach, on 03/05/2008, -10/+3Nice!
    • lucutus, on 03/06/2008, -0/+1No "the sky is falling!!!!" I don't think that's nice.
  • ThinkBox, on 03/05/2008, -8/+51Yeah, I just hope nobody is spawn camping...
  • dildoolielly, on 03/05/2008, -11/+1And now to the point;

    "Ward: This really is a long way off. This is something that's going to take thousands of years. The oceans take a long time to change from oxygenated to a place where there is no oxygen on the bottom. But once it starts, you can't stop it."
    • ICSU, on 03/06/2008, -0/+7Can global warming and evolution deniers ever make a point without quote mining?

      Full context:
      "This really is a long way off. This is something that's going to take thousands of years. The oceans take a long time to change from oxygenated to a place where there is no oxygen on the bottom. But once it starts, you can't stop it.

      I think sea-level rise is a more imminent danger. The thing that we have to do is, we have to save the ice caps, because if the ice caps go, (the hydrogen sulfide scenario) is the inevitable next step. One thousand ppm (of CO2) is all it would take to get rid of all the ice caps on the planet. We'll be at 1,000 in 200 years or less. Which means good-bye ice caps on planet Earth, which means 240 feet of sea level, which means good-bye San Francisco, Seattle, New York and on and on.

      But if losing the ice caps makes us uncomfortable [because of rising water], the hydrogen sulfide is going to make us extinct. In 500 years, I can see a world where everyone will be wearing gas masks. Those that [have] them will live; those that don't will die. We humans are here for the long haul, and if we do not stop heating our atmosphere, we will suffer a very nasty fate."
      • fluxion, on 03/06/2008, -0/+7200 years or less. pfft, ***** those people. it's all about me me me right now!
  • hydroplane, on 03/05/2008, -10/+2Dang ol' circle of life
  • slvrbullet87, on 03/05/2008, -10/+4So it isnt plastic bags that will kill us, it is volcanos.
    • Buddhist, on 03/06/2008, -0/+4You won't be saying that with the plastic bag over your head.
    • Enasni1212, on 03/06/2008, -0/+2If you're basing that on the article, you didn't read the whole thing.
    • fluxion, on 03/06/2008, -0/+2no, it's us...faster than the volcanoes did it. read the article kthx
  • Bologner, on 03/05/2008, -11/+5The terrorists have Hydrogen Sulfide weapons, and we have to stop them.
  • spacecheese, on 03/05/2008, -11/+8We don't know who struck first, us or them- But we do know it was us that scorched the sky
  • ksalminen, on 03/05/2008, -7/+2OH SHI-....
  • ToMZiLLA, on 03/05/2008, -11/+2Bush did it!
    • norman619, on 03/06/2008, -0/+3No no no. Bush is just a puppet for THEM. They are into everything.
  • ZeroSumDivide, on 03/05/2008, -14/+31But what of the horrors of dihydrogen oxide?!
  • zeabu, on 03/05/2008, -8/+2I'll use that when I go visit my mother-in-law.
    • jp12380, on 03/06/2008, -0/+2Fake!

      No digger has a girlfriend let alone a wife which would be required to have a mother in law!
      • zeabu, on 03/11/2008, -0/+1send me your e-mail address, I'll send you the papers, and in the meanwhile I'll sign you up to a nice website "full access, not creditcards needed, only a valid e-mail"
  • hcharger, on 03/05/2008, -19/+0 I guess you could take this article seriously if you were naive enough to believe in the Theory of Evolution.
    • Buddhist, on 03/06/2008, -0/+7If believing in evolution is naive, what is the adjective for one who believes in Creationism?
  • SpookyApplePie, on 03/05/2008, -8/+2THE RIAA DID IT
  • mal1964, on 03/05/2008, -8/+1This is why we need Obama! 08
  • cave, on 03/05/2008, -7/+1Ha! So *THIS* is what Jesus used...
  • Salmonc, on 03/05/2008, -7/+42So... Who else thought the thumbnail was Steve Jobs?
  • Shiftyeyedgoat, on 03/05/2008, -10/+22"Hydrogen sulfide in the oceans & atmosphere turned the sky green and choked off oxygen for plants..."

    6H2O + 6CO2 ----------> C6H12O6+ 6O2

    Plants consume CO2, not oxygen.

    Learn2/photosynthesis.
    • ironyCurtain, on 03/06/2008, -0/+7Right, it's the toxic Hydrogen Sulfide that kills plants.That's what they are investigating with the atmospheric chambers. I got a chance to hear this an in-depth lecture on this by Ward recently at UW. Quite fascinating stuff.
    • Jo9100, on 03/06/2008, -1/+8Don't plants respirate too? Like at night?
    • noseeme, on 03/06/2008, -2/+6You are wrong. Yes, plants use CO_2_ in photosynthesis, but their cells also use O_2_ for respiration. However, the output of carbon dioxide is less than the output of oxygen.
    • smurfsahoy, on 03/06/2008, -0/+1They breathe just the same way we do. It's just inefficient (like with us), so they have to use up more CO2 than they use oxygen, due to the losses in between and lack of efficiency in creation of sugars, etc.
  • nirav72, on 03/05/2008, -5/+7Who farted?
    • CorwinShiu, on 03/06/2008, -0/+1I believe that is methane, CH4. Correct me if I'm wrong.
    • eyefork, on 03/06/2008, -0/+1I got the joke. FYI stink bombs contain ammonium sulfate which hydrolyzes with moisture in the air and releases hydrogen sulfide (...and ammonia). Anyways, the point is that hydrogen sulfide smells bad, and it's one of many gases released during flatulence. Eh?
    • loopyloopy, on 03/06/2008, -0/+1correct

      Hydogen sulfide is one of the gases produced during flatulence. It depends what youv'e eaten. Methane itself is odourless and not necessarily prevalent in great quantities in fart gas.
    • jamessavik, on 03/07/2008, -0/+1If you are farting hydrogen sulfide, then I'm scared of you.
      Hydrogen sulfite is usually produced by volcanoes so you are farting mass destruction.
  • alpharaptor, on 03/05/2008, -8/+6hydrogen sulfide in the oceans & atmosphere turned the sky green and choked off oxygen for PLANTS, animals and marine life... stoopid plants taking up all our oxygen, it's bad enough theyre eating up all our dirt too.
    • alpharaptor, on 03/06/2008, -0/+3i guess sarcasm is a lost art form /sarcasm
  • elscorcho717, on 03/05/2008, -4/+17Anyone else actually realize that they're talking about fart gas? The main chemical that makes rotten eggs and flatulence smell the way they do is hydrogen sulfide. So essentially they'd be shooting your heart full of eau de fart in order to keep you alive...
    • cloudstrife82, on 03/06/2008, -3/+0It is also the same gas that is produced by salmonella...yup, eat some raw chicken and kill the planet.

      Also a very potent gas, a big problem for those working on oil wells/rigs
    • TheKage, on 03/06/2008, -0/+0Or um volcanoes... Wouldn't they be able to do it much faster than us farting?
    • jamessavik, on 03/07/2008, -0/+1The extinction was probably caused by a super-volcano which produces much more gas than super-burritos.
  • whoopn, on 03/06/2008, -11/+4this is a retarded article. I like how he speaks as if he knows exactly what killed the dinosaurs...get real dude. Its assumptive "science" like this that hurts the name of good science (say in physics or chemistry...which translates over to people looking to Engineers to work magic with science that is false). Way too speculative.
    • swazo, on 03/06/2008, -2/+3Lemme guess. God killed the dinosaurs.
    • thebellmaster1x, on 03/06/2008, -1/+6God, did you even read the DESCRIPTION? "Millions of years before the dinosaurs were apparently killed"
      This has nothing to do with dinosaurs. Dinosaurs didn't come into being until the Triassic. This is about the Permian era.
  • ferrell, on 03/06/2008, -6/+5Steve Jobs???

    Oh, nevermind.
  • sega01, on 03/06/2008, -11/+18Wow, no comments above a +2 digg rating. Somehow I feel this comment will be below that number as well.
  • skews13, on 03/06/2008, -1/+2the ironic thing about this story is those were the natural events that led to the creation of the oil resevoirs we are using to help put in place those same events. deja'vu.
  • GreenLynx, on 03/06/2008, -2/+0I guess it's time to buy a case load of gas masks and sell them to the neighbors when demand peaks.
  • rachiecakes7, on 03/06/2008, -1/+1Um... In case no one bothered to read the entire article, they are talking about using this gas to save lives. Actually having people who are clinically *dead* brought back to life for treatment.

    I happen to believe this is the most amazing story I've read in ages.
    • CranberryMuffin, on 03/06/2008, -0/+4It is pretty amazing.

      However, they aren't bringing people back from the dead for treatment. The H2S effectively kills them (though the heart is beating about once a minute, as mentioned). And THEN they bring them back for treatment.
      Still damn amazing, but it can't really do anything for you once you're actually dead.
      • rachiecakes7, on 03/06/2008, -0/+1Yes, I did understand that. As I said in a response to another comment, it is a way to buy some time. The same they can bring someone back from clinical death after a heart attack or drowning, this new procedure would allow the medic to create a window of time in which the patient could be suspended with the induced death. Then, when the treatment is available, they are brought back life to receive treatment for whatever may have caused permanent death before.

        It is temporary induced death to allow treatment to avoid permanent death.
    • jamessavik, on 03/07/2008, -1/+1Hydrogen Sulfite smells so bad... Everybody has smelled farts that made their eyes water. I didn't know it could actually stop your heart.
  • darlyn, on 03/06/2008, -1/+8***** misleading title, I thought we finally had zombies. Still dugg for TED, though.
  • ICANSTANDIT, on 03/06/2008, -1/+0It's all the COws! Oh, COngress. Well, they both start the same way, eh?

    Somebody open a window, quick! Pass the baking soda!
  • davbmn68, on 03/06/2008, -4/+2I think the only thing this guy believes, is that with this theory he'll get a huge paycheck for his research.
  • pjr12345, on 03/06/2008, -6/+2The group-think, doomsday culture of the left is most entertaining; even Hollywood Sci-Fi thrillers can't beat the plot lines. If it weren't for the threat of onerous taxation and the continuing assault on my liberties, I'd subscribe to all their wacko journals and kook web sites.
  • Lucifus, on 03/06/2008, -4/+0
    • rachiecakes7, on 03/06/2008, -0/+1People are brought back to life all the time, like after a heart attack or after drowning. This would just extend that window of time a bit further. I don't find it insane. I find it insane that people would not be interested in saving lives just because the method is new.
  • noseeme, on 03/06/2008, -3/+1Ahh, H_2_S, I've synthesized this in labs a few times. The stuff smells like farts!
    • ryan899, on 03/06/2008, -0/+1You know the stuff is pretty toxic right? If you only smell it for like a second, that's because it just killed all your nose nerves, not that it went away. I have to wear an H2S monitor for my job and if it goes off we run upwind.
  • mcapplbee, on 03/06/2008, -3/+1Half of this article was intellectual.
  • gradivus, on 03/06/2008, -7/+3This guy is peddling junk science so he can get grant money. Scare tactics get money thrown at them(hint:he got $60 million for a research building to test his "theories"). Plants breath oxygen? Ocean currents oxygenate the ocean? WTF is this guy smoking? Any 7th grade science class should be able to debunk this clown.
    • smurfsahoy, on 03/06/2008, -0/+4If you're being sarcastic it's a pretty flat joke. If not, you're just very wrong. Plants DO breathe oxygen (less than the amount of CO2 it takes to make the sugars for using that oxygen) and ocean currents absolutely oxygenate the ocean. 7th grade science classes would indeed tell him he is wrong. College biology classes would not. Guess you fit into the first category.
      • gradivus, on 03/06/2008, -4/+1The oxygen plants use insignificant and the ocean current WONT effect oxygen levels very much. Why do lakes have oxygen? They dont have huge ocean currents oxygenating them. And we will still have waves(unless we blow up the moon) and the ocean currents cant stop,they are caused by temperature difference between the upper ocean and the lower ocean ,that wont change very drastically no matter what. This guy is a retard scamming grant money plain and simple.
        • ironyCurtain, on 03/06/2008, -0/+2Lakes have oxygen because they overturn every winter when cold temperatures create a convection cell in the lake. Lakes in places near the equator that have little temperature changes throughout the year don't have this overturning and often have very low levels of oxygen.
          Waves are pretty insignificant compared to thermohaline ocean currents which are global and transport huge amounts of water from the surface to the bottom of the ocean in a complicated worldwide pattern that brings oxygen to the ocean depths. Ocean currents caused by wind only affect the top 400m or so of water, whereas some of the most significant mixing of the ocean is driven by density differences. Without polar ice caps this overturning can't happen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermohaline_circulat ...
          Try reading something before you spout of accusations of "scamming", especially a well-respected paleontologist like Ward.
        • ironyCurtain, on 03/06/2008, -0/+2That should have been http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermohaline_circulat ...
        • smurfsahoy, on 03/06/2008, -0/+1Plants do not use an insigificant amount of oxygen. Plants on the whole probably respirate about as much or more than the animal kingdom (much more plant mass, but plants operate at lower temperatures, more slowly, etc.). Certainly not insignificant in any case...
  • viperrepiv, on 03/06/2008, -1/+2this is just depressing
  • offspring06, on 03/06/2008, -0/+2Oh well at least it will bring us back to life.
  • buughost, on 03/06/2008, -3/+2sounds like a load of crap, i'm so sick of global warming doomsayers. maybe him and al gore should go hunt down manbearpig together
  • smurfsahoy, on 03/06/2008, -2/+2"Now, the lava doesn't kill much, except the poor, stupid animals that were crazy enough to be around there." Very first time he opened his mouth in this interview, more or less, and he makes an idiot of himself.

    Then he proceeds to warn us of the terrible terrible world ahead of us where we will have to wear gas masks all the time... in FIVE HUNDRED YEARS. Seriously, how stupid do you have to be to think that any trend at all is going to continue from now until 500 years from now? We barely had airplanes 100 years ago. When the digital version of me is orbiting around Alpha centauri, pondering multi-dimensional philosophy, I'm totally going to be freaking out about gas mask requirements on Earth. Sure.
    • gradivus, on 03/06/2008, -1/+2At my current rate of growth (5'11'' in 27 years) I will be 109' feet tall. Its a good thing current trends have variables and can change. Also unless a giant continent forming volcano erupts this wont happen.
  • TurboBeard, on 03/06/2008, -0/+2How has no one screamed "ZOMBIES!!!11!!" yet?

    Slowing down the metabolism? Clinical induced death? Not knowing how it might effect one's brain and memory???

    ZOMBIES!1!1!!!
  • crazywarthog, on 03/06/2008, -3/+2Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ... just a run of the mill gloom and doomer !
  • solid12345, on 03/06/2008, -1/+1Wow, I think I have heard it all. An alleged .5 degree increase in global temperature over a century will now will flood all the world's major cities, turn England into an ice age, AND kill us all with Hydrogen Sulfide.

    How can anyone take these global warming pundits seriously?
  • maciejwr, on 03/06/2008, -0/+0good :)
  • jburka, on 03/08/2008, -0/+2H2S is now know to be a natural gaseous mediator in the body, involved in both health and disease. A Digg story a few weeks ago also provided a scientific study showing that the beneficial effects of garlic are due to H2S. Amazing what we have learned and still have to learn!
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