X-Message-Number: 5069
From: Yannis <"yannis"@yannis.seanet,com>
Newsgroups: sci.cryonics
Subject: Two Mechanisms
Date: Sun, 29 Oct 1995 10:38:45 -0800
Message-ID: <470i7i$>

I was watching one of the nature shows on TV and they were
showing a frog that lives in northern Canada that freezes
solid during the winter months and comes back to life in the 
spring. This is the frog's way of dealing with cold.

I am not a scientist but I suspect two mechanisms here.
Preservation and kick-start.

Somehow this frog has the ability to preserve its tisues during
the somewhat slow natural freezing. It may have antifreeze-
like substances that control crystal growth. Whatever it does
it does it very well considering that it freezes slowly. I 
don't know if it freezes completely and what the temperature is.
All that deserves to be studied.

The other thing that needs to be studied is how the frog revives
after thawing. Does the nervous system start generating and 
processing impulses spontanously or is there a temperature
sensitive mechanism that stimulates strategic points, 
kick-starting the animal? Or maybe the nervous system never 
totally shuts-down?

Anyway, this frog may have some aswers.


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