X-Message-Number: 23631
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 04:16:02 -0800
Subject: Re: Frozen Lobsters Return to Life  (New process)
From: Kennita Watson <>

Basie sent this article along -- thanks!

> By JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press Writer
> BOSTON - Call it cryonics for crustaceans. A Connecticut company says 
> its
> frozen lobsters sometimes come back to life when thawed.

I find it significant that it was called "cryonics" and not
"cryogenics".  We're on the map!

> ...Trufresh  ... hasn't researched how long a
> frozen lobster can survive - overnight is the longest period so far.
> ...
> First, the lobster's metabolism is slowed in below-freezing sea water 
> and
> then it's immersed in the minus-40 degree brine. Liberman said the 
> lobster
> freezes so quickly that damage to muscle tissue cells from the 
> formation of
> ice crystals is minimized.
>
> The lobsters are then thawed in 28-degree sea water. A marketing video 
> from
> the company shows the lobsters freely wriggling around after about two 
> and a
> half hours.

Alcor could do experiments to see how cold they could make the
lobsters and still bring them back, what difference the salt content
of the water makes, what difference the rate of thawing makes, etc.
I'm sure there could be some yummy dinners made of any experimental
subjects that didn't survive -- that is, before perfusion with
cryoprotectant was added as a variable :-) .  Other variables --
temperature before freezing, age and health of lobster, size of
lobster....

Might there be something in a lobster that protects it from
freezing damage?  Or might it not get quite frozen?

Live long and prosper,
Kennita
--
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
none but ourselves can free our minds.
           -- Bob Marley, "Redemption Song"

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