X-Message-Number: 19900 Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2002 04:16:57 -0700 (PDT) From: Driven FromThePack <> Subject: Amorphous Ice Here are some quotes from the URL posted by Bryan Hall (amusing how the scientists steer clear of possible uses for cryonics, despite how the reporter wants to connect it to cryonics): Canadians discover new forms of ice May advance cryonics Margaret Munro National Post Friday, August 23, 2002 ADVERTISEMENT In a finding that could breathe new life into cryopreservation, a Canada-U.S. team has discovered several new forms of ice. The accidental discovery, detailed in the journal Science today, amazed the physicists, who were studying a known type of ice when it began to undergo a transition into ice structures never seen before. .... The 76-year-old physicist and his colleagues have since confirmed the discovery of at least three new forms of non-crystalline ice. They do not expect the findings to help revive frozen bodies anytime soon because the ices form only under high pressure. But they say the discovery may one day improve methods of preserving organs, embryos and other life forms because the new forms of ice do not contain crystals that can tear cells apart. .... Tomberli and Egelstaff, working with colleagues at the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa, and the Oak Ridge National and Argonne National laboratories in the United States, made the discovery while running an experiment on a high-density form of "amorphous," or non-crystalline, ice. It is one of the more than 12 different forms of ice that have been known to scientists for years. This high-density ice, which on Earth, exists only in research labs, is made by putting regular ice into a metal press and squeezing it at 13,000 times the atmospheric pressure and then cooling it to -196C. The researchers were studying the properties of this super-squished ice two years ago when, to their amazement, the water molecules inside began to shift. ... The physicists, specialists in the field of condensed matter, have since verified the new characteristics -- and flexibility -- of the ice. In their report, they describe three new forms of non-crystalline ice and say "many more forms may be possible." All of which shows the frozen state is more fluid than expected. "The molecules can obviously move about a bit inside," Egelstaff says. Or, as physicist Alan Soper of Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the United Kingdom writes in a commentary in Science: "The apparent simplicity of the water molecule belies the enormous complexity of its interactions with other molecules, including other water molecules." Amorphous ices do not naturally form on Earth because they exist only below -150C. They do, however, exist in comets and other frigid parts of outer space. The new findings might eventually enhance cryopreservation techniques, which some people dream of using to preserve and revive the dead. (There are rumours Walt Disney is in a freezer in the United States, awaiting rebirth, although his family says he was cremated.) Tomberli says the high-pressure techniques now used to create the non-crystalline ice precludes their use in a cryonics lab anytime soon. "The pressure would squish most organs into uselessness." .... Here is a URL for a more detailed article: http://www.uoguelph.ca/mediarel/archives/001772.html __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes http://finance.yahoo.com Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=19900