LONGECITY

It had just rained, something that doesn't happen here very often. I was excited because I knew my test subjects (worms) would be crawling out of the ground, making them easy to catch. Alas, it did not rain long enough, however, I did manage to find a few slugs.

I put the first test subject in a section of egg carton with some water and a bit of lettuce for something to munch on upon reanimation. After inserting the carton into the cooling chamber (my freezer) I waited approximately 15 minutes (give or take 20), checking its status every now and again, I removed it and prepared the test subject for reanimation. Upon inspection, I found it had shriveled up and it was clear much of the water had formed large crystals. I poured lukewarm water over it and poked at it with a stick to try and reanimate it. Although it returned to its normal size, no activity could be detected. Moments later it was pronounced dead. My first experiment was a failure.

Learning from test subject number 1, I placed test subject number 2 in a vacant section of the egg carton then put it in the cooling chamber without adding any liquid or nutritional matter. I also monitored it more and removed the test subject from the cooling chamber sooner. The test subject wasn't moving and its surface had become hard and rigid. I dropped a bit of water on it and let it thaw for a moment. I then noticed its head started moving and then its neck. A few minutes later it was back to full health. My second experiment was a success.

With test subject 3 I performed mostly the same steps as subject 2. Except I also kept subject 2 in the egg carton to endure another round of freezing. They both fully reanimated with absolutely no apparent side affects. Another success.

In conclusion: I need better laboratory and testing equipment.

Other notes: Styrofoam cups do not make adequate slug containment vessels.

Heh, great story! How about ordering some dry ice next time? This goes down to -80 Celsius and you get it fairly cheap from your local party supplies specialist.

dry ice! good idea... I'm going to keep that in mind for next time. There's defiantly going to be a next time. Any other ideas are welcome. I do have a limited budget however.

Heh, great story! How about ordering some dry ice next time? This goes down to -80 Celsius and you get it fairly cheap from your local party supplies specialist.

I think certain grocery stores carry it at least during the summer time too.

Heh, great story! How about ordering some dry ice next time? This goes down to -80 Celsius and you get it fairly cheap from your local party supplies specialist.

I think certain grocery stores carry it at least during the summer time too.

I used to work in a grocery store, and the ice cream always came packed in it, so we would use the leftover dry ice for various, umm, interesting projects. [sfty]

Nice story! Maybe you can find some other types of bugs (ants, beetles, grasshoppers, etc.) for experimentation on different types of subjects. Keep us appraised of your progress!

[thumb]

ants, beetles, grasshoppers

Who knows, maybe an extensive survey of cryopreservable organisms can lead to the discovery of novel cryoprotectants. If such a thing doesn't exist yet, I'm quite positive that you could publish this. I can help with the experimental design if you need ;-)

So the only difference is that you didn't put any lettuce in with it the second time?

And how long did you keep each of the slugs in the freezer?

Inquiring scientists want to know.

So the only difference is that you didn't put any lettuce in with it the second time? 

And how long did you keep each of the slugs in the freezer?

Inquiring scientists want to know. 

I believe the determining factor is the fact I didn't leave the second and third slug in the freezer as long. The amount of water I used could have also played a part (the first slug may have suffocated for all I know). I'm assuming the lettuce had minimal impact on anything substantial. As for time, I think I kept the first one in for 15 minutes and the 2nd and 3rd for about seven. Seeing as how this was just for fun, and a proof of concept, I didn't really bother to keep track of or log any of my data I collected. My next experiment I will be sure to log as much as I can, including temperature, if I can acquire a thermometer.

Who knows, maybe an extensive survey of cryopreservable organisms can lead to the discovery of novel cryoprotectants. If such a thing doesn't exist yet, I'm quite positive that you could publish this. I can help with the experimental design if you need ;-)

I did capture an armadillium vulgare that night. I was going to attempt to freeze that, but time was limited. I think I'm going to try what liveforever22 suggested and find some ants and other bugs to experiment on. My degree is in Computer Science, so although I am scientifically minded, I don't have a lot of experience conducting biological experiments. I'd like to acquire enough test subjects so I can play around with different variables to find the best way to freeze them. As for publishing my work, I think that would be awesome. Any help you want to offer on any of this would be more than appreciated. Sometimes it's hard to know where to start.

Dan, I find all of this extremely interesting, and I supremely look forward to your future experimentation/reporting.

I think what you are dreaming about here is a good way to start. Also, try dilute antifreeze. You need to imitate what other cryonics researchers do, i.e. find the right compromise between antifreeze toxicity and protection. (and minimize the time they are exposed to antifreeze while warm.) Later you can consider upgrading to M22. If, as an end goal, you could produce something roughly like Fig2 in this paper, for different critters and antifreezes, I think that would be pretty glorious :-)

Don't forget to take pictures of your experimental setup. OK, maybe that's generally just for lab writeups, but it does make for more interesting papers and is huge for scientific posters.

had any further experiments lately, dan?

had any further experiments lately, dan?

Not as of late. I've been busy with things, but it's always on my mind. There is an ant hill in my driveway, I always think about it when I leave the house.

I have been doing a lot of reading about cryonics though. I'd like to try vitrification sometime. I just need more knowledge.

Bump.

Its been over a year. Any other experiments on the horizon?

Sadly no, I've have a rough year. Things do not seem to be letting up any time soon either. Don't stop encouraging me though. This little bump made me think about doing it again.

On a good note, I have been doing experiments in theoretical physics and stuff. And for the better part of a year now, I have been considering experimenting on fruit flies. But alas, hiking, climbing, whitewater rafting and other activities have hindered my progress in this area.

Aaah, ok.

I thought about doing an experiment, but I don't have many critters near where I live. I could drive out of the city and see if I could find some, or go down to the park and see if I could find some there.

My brother used to do it with ants and left them in a freezer overnight. They came back to life I might give it a go with some much larger ants and leave em in there for a few weeks.

For more complex organisms like grasshoppers etc though how best to freeze them? I have dry ice at work but not a freezer to maintain dry ice temperatures. (unless I use the work freezer).

Actually, I can also use liquid nitrogen from work too. If I were to drop things like ants, grass hoppers, slaters, worms, beetles, spiders etc into a bucket of liquid nitrogen though would the thermal stress burn and kill them on impact? Could I just leave the liquid nitrogen to evaporate slowly as a means of thawing (with a fan on it so to keep them from asphixiating).

It would be good to keep something for longer than its expected lifespan and reanimate them. Introduce animals born for summer, to find themselves one day in the middle of winter etc

Sounds like it could be an interesting project or 2

None of those animals would survive liquid nitrogen temperature no matter how you did the cooling and warming. They might stagger around a bit after, but they would be fatally damaged. They have too much water in them. The only insects that can sometimes survive liquid nitrogen storage are ones that dehydrate themselves to prepare for dry times or overwintering. They typically need several weeks to go into the dessicated diapause state, and then come out of it again.

If your observations differ, we of course want to hear all about it!

None of those animals would survive liquid nitrogen temperature no matter how you did the cooling and warming.  They might stagger around a bit after, but they would be fatally damaged.  They have too much water in them.  The only insects that can sometimes survive liquid nitrogen storage are ones that dehydrate themselves to prepare for dry times or overwintering.  They typically need several weeks to go into the dessicated diapause state, and then come out of it again.

If your observations differ, we of course want to hear all about it!

Dr. Wowk, what are the types of animals that do this dehydration? I am assuming that it is because of the decreased water (as you mentioned). Have there ever been any organisms discovered with a natural type of cryoprotectant? (perhaps in some type of a region that regularly freezes and thaws) I would imagine it wouldn't be enough to survive liquid nitrogen temperatures, even if there were, but it might be something neat for a biologist to study.

I checked with my brother, he said the maximum time they lived in a block of ice was 3 hours, the ones overnight did not survive afterall :(

I'll still give the liquid nitrogen a go on a few things. If I dont use it, it will just evaporate anyway as it doesn't get used very much.

Dr. Wowk, what are the types of animals that do this dehydration?

Many insects do. Google "diapause". Some even produce cryoprotectants and antifreeze proteins to survive winters without freezing at -40 degC. Dehydrated tardigrades will survive liquid nitrogen temperatures, and I think there some beetles that can also, but I don't recall the species offhand.

Well my son, age 8 is dead-set on doing a cryonics project. He wants to freeze crickets, I've been looking around for a good guideline to follow-- I'm not too keen on killing a bunch of bugs, but I'm squeamish-- he doesn't want to kill them either, but has this notion that he wants to see 'cryonics work' (don't worry, he knows and was duly explained further that it does not work on humans, and we who are signed are donating our bodies to science--we are the experimental group)

Anyway, if anyone knows a site they could link me too... I've been searching science fair sites, all kinds...so I was hoping someone here could suggest one.

Well my son, age 8 is dead-set on doing a cryonics project. He wants to freeze crickets, I've been looking around for a good guideline to follow-- I'm not too keen on killing a bunch of bugs, but I'm squeamish-- he doesn't want to kill them either, but has this notion that he wants to see 'cryonics work' (don't worry, he knows and was duly explained further that it does not work on humans, and we who are signed are donating our bodies to science--we are the experimental group)

Anyway, if anyone knows a site they could link me too... I've been searching science fair sites, all kinds...so I was hoping someone here could suggest one.

Oh sweet. This would be a science fair project, or just a project on his own?

See Science Fair Ideas at

http://www.icyr.org/

That is indeed a cool site that I didn't see--thanks!

Yes, this is third grade science fair. He has not done one before, but has watched his big sister do it--he has quite grandiose ideas

age 8 was about the time I started scaring the crap out of my parents with mad science projects

good luck

oh god, that site is great! you all should read the freezer burn exp. --in particular the safety requirements!

http://www.icyr.org/...t...6&hdrmenu=0

ummm I won't show Avryn the ones that involve liquid nitrogen

I'm hoping he'll like this one

http://www.icyr.org/...t...3&hdrmenu=0

But I'm thinking he may pick this one:

http://www.icyr.org/...t...4&hdrmenu=0

I'll let you all know--if anyone comes across a cricket site please post it...as Avryn was wanting to do that originally, but I didn't really find anything--I guess I could adapt the earthworm one...

Keep us updated on his progress

suggestion: we could create some workflows for cryonics experiments and sharing them using collaborative software like myExperiment.

http://www.myexperiment.org/

Oh craps,
I really gotta get more time to catch up here - If I had seen this two weeks ago, I would have steered my youngest this way - instead, she wanted to do a hovercar with compressed air jets. Time constraints kept the model to just adding a grid of holes to the underside as a demo, no functionality (I really thought about adding a CO2 cannister like used in paintball guns for extra dramatic effect)

There's always next year.....