A friend emailed this. I’m stuck between being shocked (at the cruelty toward the poor goldfish) and being amazed that it actually worked. Still not exactly sure how or why that actually worked.
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Update: Actually, come to think of it, we regularly freeze cells in -80C and liquid nitrogen (cryopreservation) and they remain viable for years. Some tissues like testicular tissue and ovarian tissue are also preserved that way. Even organs can remain viable in ice for a while even though they can’t be cryopreserved for long-term storage.
The reason hearts and kidneys can’t be cryopreserved is because they are too thick and therefore do not cool down fast enough. So, the problem is not that they are too cold or frozen but rather the opposite. Freezing cells stops enzymatic activity and essentially all biochemical activity that would kill them.
If one could figure out a way (like increasing pressure while decreasing temperature?) to freeze down organs fast enough so that the cells don’t activate suicide mechanisms, we may even be able to freeze down humans in the future. Now, that would be cool!
Staying on that line of thought, I don’t think that it was cruel to freeze the goldfish at all! I suppose it is thin enough that it froze quickly. In fact, that goldfish just experienced something extraordinary.
this is cruel…;(
Dude, this is crazy!
I know dude. Trav emailed it to me and it blew my mind that it actially worked. I still haven’t quite wrapped my head around it.
Do you know why the fish didn’t die?