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Flash-Freezing Squirrels
tessaiga writes "ABCNews has an article describing how a student at the University of Alaska (PDF) is conducting research involving supercooling arctic ground squirrels. During hibernation, these squirrels have the ability to reduce their food requirements to almost nothing by supercooling their bloodstream and dropping their internal temperatures to 26F (6 degrees below freezing!). Scientists are investigating how the process occurs without particles in the bloodstream triggering crystalization. The article goes on to mention applications in treating accident victims (to extend the 'golden hour' before brain damage occurs) and human suspended animation."
Super Monkey Collider Loses Funding
Congress voted Monday to cut federal funding for the superconducting monkey collider, a controversial experiment which has cost taxpayers an estimated $7.6 billion a year since its creation in 1983.
The collider, which was to be built within a 45-mile-long circular tunnel, would accelerate monkeys to near-light speeds before smashing them together. Scientists insist the collider is an important step toward understanding the universe, because no one can yet say for certain what kind of noises monkeys would make if collided at those high speeds.
"It could be a thump, a splat, or maybe even a sound that hasn't yet been heard by human ears," said project head Dr. Eric Reed Friday, in an impassioned plea to Congress. "How are we supposed to understand things like the atom or the nature of gravity if we don't even know what colliding monkeys sound like?"
But Congress, under heavy pressure from the powerful monkey rights lobby, decided that money being spent on the monkey collider would be put to better use in other areas of government. Now, with funding cut off, the future of our nation's monkey collision program looks bleak.
Congress began funding the monkey collider in 1983, after Reed convinced lawmakers that the U.S. was lagging behind the Soviet Union in monkey-colliding technology. Funds were quickly allocated so that Reed could spend a week procuring monkeys on Florida's beautiful Captiva Island. Though Reed returned with a great tan and a beautiful young fiancee, he reported that there were no monkeys to be found on the sunny Gulf Coast island. Congress funded subsequent trips to the Cayman Islands, Bora Bora and Cancun, but these searches also yielded negative results.
Two years passed without a single monkey being procured, and Congress was close to cutting the project's funding. It was then that Reed got the idea to utilize monkeys already being bred in captivity. The Congressional Subcommittee for Scientific Investigation was enthralled by the idea of watching caged monkeys copulate, and increased funding by 40 percent.
With a steady supply of monkeys ensured, construction of the monkey collider began on a scenic Colorado site. Despite environmental pressure, a mountain was levelled to facilitate construction of the seven-mile-wide complex. Huge underground tunnels were dug, at a cost of billions of dollars and 17 lives. Money left over was used to build resort homes, spas and video arcades for Reed, his colleagues and several Congressmen.
Construction of the collider's acceleration mechanism was delayed for years, as scientists couldn't decide how to get the monkeys up to smashing speed. Last month, it was finally decided that the collider would employ a system in which the monkeys run through the tunnels chasing holographic projections of bananas. "Monkeys love bananas," Reed said, "and they're willing to run extremely fast to get them."
But now it seems the acceleration mechanism may never be built. With the monkey collider placed on indefinite hold, the huge research facility in Colorado lies dormant. To keep the space from going to waste, Congress Monday voted to convert the empty underground tunnel into a federally funded drag-racing track. The track is expected to create hundreds of jobs in the form of pit crews and concessions workers, and will allow President Clinton to impress important foreign dignitaries with America's wheelie technology.
Despite this promising alternate plan, most involved with the monkey collider project feel the sudden cuts in funding are inexcusable. "It is a travesty of science," Reed said. "I remember the joy I felt in college when I would launch monkeys at one another with big rubber bands, and this project would have been even more enlightening."
A variety of the New Zealand weta (a cool cricket for which the LotR FX studio is named), has developed special proteins that enable it to survive through harsh alpine winters in a sort of hibernation with up to 80% of its body water frozen.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
The arctic lizards...
Squirrels are Mammals, not Lizards
I wonder how Flash manufacturers will react to the news.
Flash? Squirrels? Flash and squirrels?
Yo, I went up to a thug gangster and he was like, Yo motherf***** WEEEE!!!
Will I retire or break 10K?
"My God, it's full of... fur!" - Dave Bowman, circa 2003
Yes and No. The golden hour really doesn't relate to blood pressure or any specific vital sign.
:}
It's a rule of thumb for the time from severe trauma injuries occuring to the time you have the patient in an OR. Basically if you can get them there (still breathing and alive) in an hour or less you have a much greater chance for survival.
If the brain is deprived of oxygen yes damage will occur in 4 minutes or less. And actually if there is no pulse on arrival to a trauma scene (car accident usually) the victim will generally just be declared dead without any resuscitation attempt.
Once a person requires CPR even from a non-traumatic medical condition the rate of survival is less than 5%. So next time you see one of those miraculous cpr recoveries in a movie you can look around and pick out the ems personnel by the way they're rolling their eyes and laughing.
Janzert
I was reading what he did to the squirrels and was struck by parrelells to alien abductions...consider, the squirrel is looking for food, finds some, then BAM! he's stuck in a cage, moved into an alien environment, thrown in a jar and passes out. When he wakes up he's back in the wild with a new scar on his belly and he can feel an implant. He goes to tell his friends that there are these giant hairless creatures that took him to a strange place and performed experiments on him, but they all think he's crazy.
If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
Good point. I remember reading about these critters years ago, but I can't find anything pertinent on the web right now. I distinctly remember that the supercooling of liquid water has nothing to do with the squirrels' below-freezing survival. Their secret is instead similar to Prestone.
The way I remember it, the squirrels have some kind of a pervasive antifreeze enzyme in their cell cytoplasm, membranes, and fluids. Since it's pervasive enough to keep everything from ice damage, it's probably produced from simple gene expression (i.e. not in a gland or a specialized tissue), which means, you can probably splice the gene into a whole heck of a lot of things. Not just rodents; maybe oranges, and other frost-sensitive crops. Maybe people.
I'm pretty amazed with the unlikelyhood of the research described in the ABCnews article. I'm somewhat ambivalent about the kind of genetic engineering involved, but this is certainly worth looking at.