X-Message-Number: 10671 From: (Randy) Subject: Spin states affecting cryonics viability? Date: Sun, 01 Nov 1998 09:42:43 GMT > >>I am not sure I understand you. If biochemistry is halted, how can >>degradation continue? > > >sidenote: RXJames & i were just discussing how terminology differs among the >sciences. I think, for example, of biological phenomena as being the cells and >structures, the sodium, potassium, and chloride ion soup as being chemical, but >the spin phenomena is physics. Of course, this is just my convention and >subject to change without notice. Actually, *everything* is just applied >physics. ::snicker:: > >So answer the damn question will you? ok..... > >From: (http://www.cis.rit.edu/htbooks/mri/mri-main.htm) taken from the >sections on spin & the introduction. This is a page on MRI, but contains good >information on the e-m brain processes. (Comments in parentheses are mine.) > >"...The proton (and everything else...down to the subatomic level) possesses a >property called spin which: > 1.can be thought of as a small magnetic field (sort of), and > 2.will cause the nucleus to produce an NMR signal. ><snip> >What is spin? Spin is a fundamental property of nature like electrical charge >or mass. (For some particles:) Spin comes in multiples of 1/2 and can be + or >-. Protons, electrons, and neutrons possess spin. Individual unpaired >electrons, protons, and neutrons each possesses a spin of 1/2. (More than you >needed to know...the "rules" of spin are how we determine what's really going >on at the quantum level.) ><snip> >It is cumbersome to describe NMR on a microscopic scale. A macroscopic picture >is more convenient. The first step in developing the macroscopic picture is to >define the spin packet. A spin packet is a group of spins experiencing the same >magnetic field strength. In this example, the spins within each grid section >represent a spin packet..." >~~~ > >ok....enough already.... >One way of looking at it is that the spin states throughout the brain >contribute to a magnetic "map" or "environment". The brain's electrical >signals propagate through this environment, and are not unaffected by it! (I'm >assuming i don't have to explain the electro-magnetic connection.) > >NMR/MRI manipulates this spin environment using a big pulsed magnetic field. >From this effect (i may have the order of events correct, but maybe not) it was >hypothesized that since the electrical pulses in the brain induce magnetic >fields, the magnetic pulses would in turn induce spin-ordering processes. >Since this is causal, it's surely one of the many processes that are involved >with consciousness! > >(**THE POINT:) >Nitrogen temps might prevent the cells from breaking down (biological >degradation). N temps may or may not prevent the chemicals in the brain from >redistributing or breaking down (chemical degradation). N temps will *not* >prevent the spin states from changing (magnetic degradation). So after much >time, the magnetic environment that the electrical signals propagate through >may be radically altered. Therefore, the magnetic environment is not preserved >in the brain. Will this prevent the reactivation of the brain? I have no >idea...but it is yet another consideration. > I really haven't come across this idea yet. I'll post it to Cryonet and see if anyone else knows anything about this. *************** Randy Cryonics: Gateway to the Future? http://www.mindspring.com/~cryon/cryonics/cryopage1.html Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=10671