X-Message-Number: 10168 From: Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 12:13:59 EDT Subject: y2k, dry ice Thanks to Jeffrey Soreff (#10161) for his review and clarification regarding possible disruption of liquid nitrogen supply. Here's another thought: If it should be really grim, and no reliable way to ensure nitrogen supply is found, it might be more easily feasible, as a fall-back position, to stock dry ice. We know that changes of temperature are undesirable. We also know that deterioration (at least of some kinds) does occur at non-negligible rates at dry ice temperature. But it is not at all clear how far this proceeds, and which kinds of deterioration are affected or continue to be affected. Audrey Smith (a leading cryobiologist of the 60s) said she could not conceive that dry ice storage would allow unlimited deterioration. Recent Tyrolean Iceman reports suggest considerable preservation of structure even after 5,000 years at temperatures much higher than that of dry ice. At CI we will, of course, make every effort to assure an uninterrupted nitrogen supply, but as a last-ditch interim fall-back, dry ice might make sense. Robert Ettinger Cryonics Institute Immortalist Society http://www.cryonics.org Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=10168