Toots and All

"Hey, Professor Johnson, could you lay off the beans? This is a small laboratory for heaven's sake. You're making me so angry my blood pressure must be going through the roof!"

"Lay off, Jones, I know it stinks, but its for your own good."

We have no idea how medical scientists get inspired, but we're inclined to believe that something like the preceding conversation occurred when researchers from Johns Hopkins University decided to study the effects of small amounts of hydrogen sulphide on blood pressure. The researchers found that small amounts of the toxic gas—generated by bacteria in the human gut, and responsible for the pleasant odor in the car after a trip through the Taco Bell drive-through—helped to lower the blood pressure in lab mice.

"Now we know hydrogen sulphide's role in regulating blood pressure, it may be possible to design drug therapies that enhance its formation as an alternative to the current methods of treatment for hypertension," Dr Solomon Snyder tells the BBC.

Ok people, this is big news.Who's ready to sign up for the human lab tests? Even if the hydrogen sulphide doesn't have an effect, all of the giggling at the premise of the experiments will surely help relieve some stress. [BBC]