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New Antifreeze Molecule Isolated In Alaskan Beetle
Arvisp writes with the news of a recently discovered antifreeze molecule in an Alaskan beetle that departs from most commonly identified natural antifreeze. "'The most exciting part of this discovery is that this molecule is a whole new kind of antifreeze that may work in a different location of the cell and in a different way,' said zoophysiologist Brian Barnes, director of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Arctic Biology and one of five scientists who participated in the Alaska Upis ceramboides beetle project. Just as ice crystals form over ice cream left too long in a freezer, ice crystals in an insect or other organism can draw so much water out of the organism's cells that those cells die. Antifreeze molecules function to keep small ice crystals small or to prevent ice crystals from forming at all. They may help freeze-tolerant organisms survive by preventing freezing from penetrating into cells, a lethal condition. Other insects use these molecules to resist freezing by supercooling when they lower their body temperature below the freezing point without becoming solid."
I, for one, welcome our new anti-frozen overlords.
Could this discovery be developed to make cryogenically preserving people work? As it is right now, the cells rupture during the freezing process -- if the cells remained intact, reviving them would become possible.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
"ice crystals in an insect or other organism can draw so much water out of the organism's cells that those cells die"
I thought the main problem was that the ice crystals both become sharp (like a crystal) and grow a bit in volume (ice being less dense than water) -- so the ice would burst out of the cell ravangin the cell walls and everything else at the same time. ...but the leading idea to save the cell was to pull a treefrog -- have a protein that expells the water from the cell, freeze drying the cell, so it was not damaged and in theory would take water back up again at warmer temps, without said ice crystal damage...
For the record, i can't RTFA from where i'm posting.
Now they can develop a candy for kids in the wintertime so they can stop sticking their tongues to metal posts!
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. - Peter F. Drucker
...poor guy
Am I the only one that was more interested in the ice cream?
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
...the beetles have no protection against boil-over.
I hate being bipolar; it's awesome!
small
They never overheated, and didn't require coolant.
Since the summary is inadequate and misleading.....
New Antifreeze Molecule Isolated In Alaska Beetle
Scientists have identified a novel antifreeze molecule in a freeze-tolerant Alaska beetle able to survive temperatures below minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Unlike all previously described biological antifreezes that contain protein, this new molecule, called xylomannan, has little or no protein. It is composed of a sugar and a fatty acid and may exist in new places within the cells of organisms.
"The most exciting part of this discovery is that this molecule is a whole new kind of antifreeze that may work in a different location of the cell and in a different way," said zoophysiologist Brian Barnes, director of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Arctic Biology and one of five scientists who participated in the Alaska Upis ceramboides beetle project.
Just as ice crystals form over ice cream left too long in a freezer, ice crystals in an insect or other organism can draw so much water out of the organism’s cells that those cells die. Antifreeze molecules function to keep small ice crystals small or to prevent ice crystals from forming at all. They may help freeze-tolerant organisms survive by preventing freezing from penetrating into cells, a lethal condition. Other insects use these molecules to resist freezing by supercooling when they lower their body temperature below the freezing point without becoming solid.
UAF graduate student and project collaborator Todd Sformo found that the Alaska Upis beetle, which has no common name, first freezes at about minus 18.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the lab and survives temperatures down to about 104 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.
"It seems paradoxical that we find an antifreeze molecule in an organism that wants to freeze and that’s adapted to freezing," said Barnes, whose research group is involved in locating insects, determining their strategies of overwintering and identifying the mechanisms that help them get through the winter
A possible advantage of this novel molecule comes from it having the same fatty acid that cells membranes do. This similarity, says Barnes, may allow the molecule to become part of a cell wall and protect the cell from internal ice crystal formation. Antifreeze molecules made of proteins may not fit into cell membranes.
"There are many difficult studies ahead," said Barnes. "To find out how common this biologic antifreeze is and how it actually prevents freezing and where exactly it’s located."
This project was led by Kent Walters at the University of Notre Dame with collaborators Anthony Serianni and John H. Duman of UND and Barnes and Sformo of UAF and was published in the Dec. 1 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
Beetlejuice!
I believe the Beetle (at least the real type 1) was air-cooled, so it did not contain any antifreeze.
Here's something I have been thinking about recently, which relates to cryogenic freezing:
First, let's assume the brain stores memories in some form of physical structures (it sounds a stretch, but it's been theorised by some). Whether that is in RNA, or in some unknown physical property. Speaking in favour of this is certain inherited behaviour in animals - and even humans, like fear of spiders, and the ability of babies to see whether a dog is snarling or not. From the 'physical storage' perspective, producing computer networks similar to brains is theoretically very plausible - it's like cutting an unfathomably complex car in slices, gradually understanding how it works, and then building one yourself.
The problem with "physical storage" is: Some people have photographic memory of their entire lives. This is a capacity-exploder. From a traditional full motion video storage perspective, it's like 99.999% of cars going at 1000mph, but a minority of cars going at 100,000 mph. Moreover, there is no consistent physical difference between the 100,000 mph car and the 1000 mph car. To me, this is an irrecoverable blow for the "physical storage" angle. Building a brain-simulation with "traditional memory" and one with "a lifetime of photographic memory" clearly would involve extreme difference in scales. That you cannot even notice or detect this difference in the physical structure of a brain is mind-boggling.
Secondly, let's assume that the brain stores information through electric activity. Perhaps some kind of fractal aspect of neural signals, or quantum storage, where "adding a signal" produces a signal that contains the full information of the previous one as well as the additional one, and trying to remember something is simply the brain trying to isolate that specific contributor to a quantum superposition. The memory-loss-inducing effect of electroshock therapy might well be a sign of this, and it would explain the unlimited storage paradox of photographic memory.
Yet if this is the case, how can cryogenic freezing work? It obviously works, because (as far as I am aware) any animal that has been frozen will still remember the location of nest, food sources etc. Freezing should end all electric signals. Gradual freezing (which is almost inevitable) should cause significant memory loss, as frozen signal recipients are unable to accept and just discard transmissions from still unfrozen transmitters.
The only crazy thoughts I have been able to come up with is that consciousness is really stored in quantum signals but compartmentalised "outside of the organic body" for animals as much as for humans, and after freezing has ended, you re-connect with those memories. Cue holographic existence, 'soul' etc.
I used to drive a 1963 Beetle. They don't need antifreeze!
Have gnu, will travel.
Yes well maybe sorta. Let's find out.
The trick might be that you would have to have a special GM modified (species)
of human with these (and perhaps other) antifreeze proteins inserted in their DNA.
This already works for plants: mammal data, not so good.
Simple transfusion of these in the blood of a normal human probably would
never work (but is being explored to preserve organs)
And no guarantees about your brain making the trip to cold storage and back
intact. We wont ask much of you when you get to Jupiter.
537
I remember reading about that in a manual from Autoubon Society or something that the engines have anti-freeze splashed on them by the rods or something that keep the engine from freezing-up. This was from an open-circulatory system engine, not the closed-circulatory systems.
"Clever troll is clever"
When I was reading the summary I felt like I was reading part of a plot synopsis for Star Trek or Stargate, except this is real. Sometimes I'm struck by what a fascinating universe we live in.
"Hi, can I use your molecules for several months?"
Because barring some economic revolution (likely only presaged by the discovery of insanely cheap inexhaustible low-impact energy source), the costs of keeping people in a state of suspended animation are going to be an agonizing issue. The space for keeping people alone could to be an issue, let alone the costs of attentive and professional maintenance techs and medical staff, and of course, refrigeration. I think at a minimum we're talking about Manhattan apartment prices and possible continual hospital stay prices.
So... after you've decided it's OK to "kill" someone by freezing them, you have to decide: can you afford it? Is it worth it? How much life do they have left even assuming in 20 years there's a cure for cancer? How are they going to feel if in 20 years they wake up and their children are their biological age -- or potentially dead, along with most of their contemporary friends are dead? But on the other hand, how are you going to feel about letting a loved one go when the prospect of magical medical advances just 20-30 years out are in front of you? How would you live it down if you didn't?
And that's just the micro issues. How does economics change when people can sometimes sleep and let an investment compound and compound -- and wake up and suddenly consume? Ever longer chronological periods of life alternating between consumption and maintenance for a steadily increasing population?
Heck, what happens when the rich can afford this but the poor can't? An oligarchy of long-lived who can profit handsomely from certificates of deposit, let alone better investments?
Tweet, tweet.
If these beetles contain corrosion inhibitor molecules to, it'd be perfect for the radiator of my V8 Leyland P76, SQ-36 is getting damned expensive these days.
its been below zero outside for weeks, snow is piled high. working on this house with sunken foot high wells for the basement windows, requiring you to clean out the snow and leaves that often gather in the wells, so it doesn't break the windows or leak water inside. so i'm yanking out this snow and compacted ice and leaves accumulated, and underneath, half frozen in the ice, is a dead toad. sad
then the fucker kicks me
absolutely blew my mind. well below zero in february. half frozen in ice. i put him back in the window well, give him a roof of leaves
this was two years ago. same toad still lives in the same window well to this day, dining all summer with gusto on the worms and bugs that fall in the well. never left. probably frozen under the snow right now. some sort of toad oasis
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
They actually did that:
http://www.tv.com/mythbusters/snow-special/episode/1056466/recap.html
Not every myth has to have an explosion, just every episode.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
http://itotd.com/articles/648/cochineal/
Enjoy!
Bonus reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelatin
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel