MIT STUDENT DIES FROM LAUGHING GAS

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — An MIT junior was found dead in his dorm room early
Tuesday after using a plastic bag to inhale laughing gas, campus officials
said.

The body of Richard Guy, 22, was discovered shortly after midnight Monday.
Guy, of Mission Viejo, Calif., was a physics major.

The medical examiner said Guy died from asphyxiation as a result of nitrous
oxide intoxication.

Pure nitrous oxide dissolves in the bloodstream, pushing oxygen out from
the blood into the lungs, depriving the brain and other organs of oxygen.
Dentists frequently use it as a painkiller.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology officials released few other details
and did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Classes aren't scheduled to begin at MIT until Sept. 7, but freshmen and
some upperclassmen had already moved into their rooms.

In September 1997, 18-year-old freshman Scott Krueger died three days after
he was found in an alcohol-induced coma on a fraternity floor.