X-Message-Number: 2634 Subject: CRYONICS: THERMOACOUSTIC COOLING From: (Ben Best) Date: Wed, 9 Mar 1994 02:13:00 -0500 Page 135 of the 26FEB94 issue of SCIENCE NEWS reports on advances in thermoacoustic cooling as reported at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco. A prototype freezer has been built which cools to -22 degrees Celcius, and thermoacoustic cooling could theoretically cool-down to liquid nitrogen temperature. Research seems primarily motivated by the search for refrigeration methods that do not depend on ozone-destroying chloroflurocarbons (CFCs). The devices being built concentrate on the cooling of gases, but the idea is associated with the "singing" of cooling glass, which has been observed for centuries. This work could have very exciting implications for cryonics and cryobiology. The possibility of cooling that needn't be based on an "outside-in" thermal gradient (lack of uniform cooling) could reduce freezing damage. Moreover, freezing rates could be quickened or, at least, controlled more effectively with reduced dependence on ordinary thermal diffusion. I dearly wish that money were available to explore the possible cryobiological and cryonic applications of this technology. -- Ben Best (ben.best%) Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=2634