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" Sayid&amp;#039;s last encounter with a dart gun left him comatose for almost 42 hours; this week, he was prepared, taking out an orderly with two well-aimed darts to the chest. But are tranquilizer guns routinely used on humans as they appear to be on Lost?  &amp;quot;One drug (ketamine) that we frequently use to anesthetize chimps and gorillas can be used in humans, so the scenario is plausible,&amp;quot; says Randy Junge, a vet and Director of Animal Health at the St. Louis Zoo. Ketamine is administered to humans in anesthesia (and, more famously as an illegal date-rape drug), but is also shot by dart to immobilize adult chimps and gorillas, which can weigh up to 150 pounds and 300 pounds, respectively. &amp;quot;The same drugs and delivery system would have the same effect on humans, so the scenario is plausible,&amp;quot; says Junge, though he adds that he&amp;#039;s not aware of any drug that&amp;#039;s routinely used in dart form on humans.  Although the pistol dart guns that Lost makes ample use of do exist, that&amp;#039;s not the delivery method you&amp;#039;d see in use at zoos or even on safari. &amp;quot;We use remote injection systems on a daily basis at the zoo,&amp;quot; says Junge. &amp;quot;In nearly all cases, zoo veterinarians use a blowgun--sort of like a giant pea shooter--to inject zoo animals. The blowgun delivers a plastic 3 ml dart quietly, gently, and over a short distance, usually less than 5 yards.&amp;quot; Zoo vets might use an actual dart gun--usually a rifle because they&amp;#039;re  more accurate over distance. In the case of an escape, when the animal cannot be approached closely; guns are also used in field work to immobilize wildlife for examination. Often, Junge points out, dart guns aren&amp;#039;t used to deliver tranquilizers; they&amp;#039;re most commonly used to deliver antibiotics and vaccines.  But, says Junge, how a person would react to a dart would vary depending on the drug, the delivery system, the dosage and the subject, which helps explain why police don&amp;#039;t use anything like the guns on the show. In any instance, he notes, &amp;quot;it would take minutes for the person to become immobilized. The situation of the target--human or animal--dropping to the ground in a deep sleep mere seconds after the dart hits is not accurate. With animals, most immobilization events take 3 to 10 minutes, with the animal progressively loosing the ability to make conscious movements.&amp;quot; So Sayid&amp;#039;s ability to stay awake long enough to drop a bad guy on a bunch of knives in season five&amp;#039;s second episode, &amp;quot;The Lie&amp;quot;, is realistic; the evil orderly dropping off to sleep instantly this week, not so much.  Though shooting someone in the heart--as Sayid did with the evil orderly--would send him off to sleep quite quickly, because the drugs would go directly into the circulatory system and up into the brain, technically, Junge says, shooting someone in the heart would be very difficult. The heart is protected by the ribs and sternum, so even injecting the heart with a hand-held syringe can be tricky. &amp;quot;The needles would have to be quite long to penetrate into the heart chamber, I&amp;#039;d guess at least 3 in., maybe as much as 6 in.,&amp;quot; says Junge. &amp;quot;If a dart had a 6-in. needle of &amp;#039;normal&amp;#039; diameter, it would likely break off on impact. If a large needle was used--we have some large-diameter long needles for things like elephants and rhinos--and it penetrated the heart, the patient would probably hemorrhage to death.&amp;quot;  And what about Jack&amp;#039;s claim that three doses of &amp;quot;horse tranquilizer&amp;quot; put Sayid to sleep for 43 hours? &amp;quot;Aren&amp;#039;t writers creative?&amp;quot; Junge says. &amp;quot;&amp;#039;Horse tranquilizer&amp;#039; is a pretty generic phrase that does not identify any specific drug. There are two or three drugs commonly used for anesthesia and sedation in horses. It isn&amp;#039;t clear if they mean that they are giving a horse drug or a horse dose or both.&amp;quot; The effects of tranquilizers typically last about an hour, with residual effects for two or three hours, according to Junge. &amp;quot;If they gave three doses at once, the effect could be much deeper--probably life-threatening--and longer, but not 42 hours, probably more like eight to 10.&amp;quot;  RELATED STORIES * EARLIER: Lost&amp;#039;s Nuclear Bomb Tech Decoded  * PLUS: 11 Geeked-Out Movies We&amp;#039;re Waiting For in 2009  * DIGITAL HOLLYWOOD: Lost, Fringe, Lie to Me and More!   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/tv/a12234/4302606/>