X-Message-Number: 16957 Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 09:45:33 -0400 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: CryoNet #16941 - #16956 Hi everyone! I say this as someone who's read a lot of cryobiology but hasn't experimented at all, but Ivan Snyder seems to be making what is a wrong statement about why it's so hard to bring someone (or some normally not frozen animal) back. Basically the problem isn't that cell walls are burst by the growth of ice crystals, but that ice crystals take the water out of the cells and leave lots of other chemicals which need water ... so that if the animal is simply warmed up, its cells no longer work. I do not exclude some bursting of cell walls, but if I understand the situation it is not the major problem. Perhaps others with more personal experience of this issue, such as Mike Darwin or even Greg Fahy, would give a much more elaborate explanation ... but simple destruction of cell membranes by freezing with in the cell seems not to be the most serious problem. Best wishes and long long life, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=16957