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Vast distances and cryogenics

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posted on Feb, 14 2012 @ 06:04 PM
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Having a read on popsci (IKR) Regardless and interesting article detailing a new study of these fellas is posted.



The interesting point of the article if one has a read is that apparently the mistake has been to this point the lack of a suitable antifreeze so to speak. Now it looks as if they have discovered one such cocktail and have successfully trialled it with some flies being frozen for up-to 75 minutes successfully thawing with the insect going on to copulate and produce normal healthy offspring. This is quite a break through in my opinion at least in regards to where I had last acknowledged the development of cryogenics.



www.popsci.com.au...

Freeze tolerance is thought to be a highly complicated process in animals - only a few insects can do it at all, while the accumulation of ice crystals in most vertebrates' bodies is either very harmful or fatal. Koštál and colleagues wanted to find out how complex it would be to help D. melanogaster, one of the most important model organisms in modern biology, survive freezing temperatures. Pretty easy, actually, as long as they were fed a cocktail of cryopreservative before entering the big chill.


So how far are we from mounting an expedition to one of our brother planets so we can go mess that one up too?

Apologies if this has already been posted I simply found it too interesting not to share.
edit on 14-2-2012 by usernamehere because: (no reason given)



posted on Feb, 14 2012 @ 06:30 PM
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Certain small creatures on earth have a hibernation instinct. Even mammals as large as bears have this. It is suspended animation of sorts, but not transferrable to other species that didn't evolve it, and not as lasting.

75 minutes is nothing, irreversible cellular destruction doesn't happen this quickly. Humans can survive that, its called the Mammalian reflex, in which the body shuts down blood flow to lesser vital organs, lastly the brain.

Tardigrades (Water Bears), have been sent to unprotected space outside of a capsule, returned after months, also with no air or atmospheric pressure, and have been rehydrated to spawn offspring that survived. These little animals are large enough to see, though small, a millimeter or two at the most in length. They can as a seed in the desert, dehydrate into a suspended animation, and be re-hydrated back to life. Only other animal life form so far that has been able to do that is bacteria.



posted on Feb, 14 2012 @ 06:49 PM
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Originally posted by Illustronic
Certain small creatures on earth have a hibernation instinct. Even mammals as large as bears have this. It is suspended animation of sorts, but not transferrable to other species that didn't evolve it, and not as lasting.

75 minutes is nothing, irreversible cellular destruction doesn't happen this quickly. Humans can survive that, its called the Mammalian reflex, in which the body shuts down blood flow to lesser vital organs, lastly the brain.

Tardigrades (Water Bears), have been sent to unprotected space outside of a capsule, returned after months, also with no air or atmospheric pressure, and have been rehydrated to spawn offspring that survived. These little animals are large enough to see, though small, a millimeter or two at the most in length. They can as a seed in the desert, dehydrate into a suspended animation, and be re-hydrated back to life. Only other animal life form so far that has been able to do that is bacteria.



stop raining on the parade, i want to be frozen



posted on Feb, 14 2012 @ 07:00 PM
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Frozen humans voyaging through the depths of space will be vulnerable to genetic damage from cosmic rays. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if cellular metabolism is radically slowed during the cryogenic process, that damage will build up without being repaired. The normal processes that would repair that damage would be inactive, right?

You might be revived at the other end of your voyage only to succumb to some kind of super cancer.



posted on Feb, 14 2012 @ 07:11 PM
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reply to post by Tearman
 


Even if that weren't the case, and you somehow survived...

You'd be a paraplegic, right?

Wouldn't your muscles be long withered away?



posted on Feb, 14 2012 @ 07:22 PM
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reply to post by Illustronic
 


Yes too true but it does seem a step in the right direction. If the medical profession finds value upping it's successful storage of many samples from the poultry rate of today I feel it is a step in the right direction. I don't necessarily feel this is the gateway to the stars but it is a common theme tied to cryogenics thus I felt this the best area to discuss it.

reply to post by Tearman
 


Excellent point, unfortunately I have nothing to contribute.

reply to post by Signals
 


I don't believe so, is not the point of stasis to stop these processes from occurring, I think the above question is more appropriate as the faculties of repair are hindered you cannot fix the damage, however degradation of muscle and the like I do not believe will occur due to those processes no longer being operative.

Thanks for sharing peoples.



posted on Feb, 14 2012 @ 07:31 PM
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So how far are we from mounting an expedition to one of our brother planets so we can go mess that one up too?


Simple... never. The problem is not hibernation or freezing, it's distance/time/cost.

Take Gliese 581, a red dwarf star which may have some orbiting Earth-like planets. It's 20.5 light-years away - doesn't sound much right? Even with nuclear-pulse rockets (which we don't have), you are looking at a theoretical 1000 year trip. No government is going to invest trillions of dollars to launch humans on a trip like that. It's unlikely our species will ever infect another planet. We had our shot, and we just couldn't overcome our inherent greed, stupidity, and selfishness.



posted on Feb, 14 2012 @ 07:38 PM
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Originally posted by zigguratvertigo

..
Take Gliese 581... It's 20.5 light-years away.... you are looking at a theoretical 1000 year trip. No government is going to invest trillions of dollars to launch humans on a trip like that.
No government today. Major technological developments in the future will redefine what kinds of endeavors are both practical and politically viable. Not to mention our values as a culture will change dramatically.



posted on Feb, 14 2012 @ 10:28 PM
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Part of the problem is we just don't know how to do cryogenics well. I mean we do know how to freeze someone....it's the bringing them back part that is an issue.


Always wondered about those people that had just their heads frozen. I always picture a scene in the far distant future:

"Sadly, we do have a cure for this person's problem, and can even revive people just fine. But we don't have a cure for someone who's been beheaded......"

The problem with freezing people is the damage that occurs to the cells when frozen. And has been stated before, even if we figured out a way to do some sort of "antifreeze" that would protect those cells, cosmic rays on long voyages would be a problem.

Some of the more exotic ways that I loved to read about when reading SciFi books and watching shows:

1) Star Trek: TNG: Scotty had a unique solution of having a person kept in the transporter buffer.

2) Larry Niven, "A World Out Of Time": A man dying of cancer in the 1970's is woken up 200 years later, only is in another person's body, since freezing him destroyed his body. They were able to put his personality into some criminal's body who's mind had been "wiped" as punishment for his crimes.

3) Another novel I read (really sorry, can't remember the name of it, nor the author), had solders that had just finished fighting a war, volunteer to be frozen in suspended animation, so they could be called up on when the next war happens. When awakened, they do indeed fight another war, and again return to suspended animation. As time goes by, the way they are suspended actually goes to where their bodies are recorded into special memory chips. Even if they get killed, a new one is back (remembering nothing of being killed). Unfortunately, I believe there was a Cosmic Ray accident with one of them, and their chip had to be thrown out.

4) Larry Niven again, His "Known Universe" series of books. Larry introduces what he calls a "Stasis" field in which all time inside the field stops. To an outside observer, it looks like a perfectly reflective sphere since everything is reflected back from the field (including cosmic rays). Would be the perfect "Air Bag" for a crash landing.

Of course, some of these wild things, if we had the tech and knowledge, more than likely we'd also know how to build a FTL drive, making them mostly moot. Still, it is interesting to think of. I think my favorite is the Stasis Field one.



posted on Feb, 15 2012 @ 03:22 PM
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reply to post by Tearman
 


Water is a great insulator from 'cosmic rays', lets suppose the humans 'on ice' are on water ice, and lets suppose you mean radiation. Still, water is a great radiation shield.




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