Re: CRYO: Nature's little cryonauts

Michael S. Lorrey (mike@lorrey.com)
Thu, 05 Aug 1999 00:13:23 -0400

Aaron Davidson wrote:
>
> On Wed, 4 Aug 1999, Michael S. Lorrey wrote:
> >
> > Recently though, I met a girl who is a medical research student, and is
> > doing a lot of experiments with flies. She claims that no flies can
> > withstand freezing. We actually got into a heated argument about it. She
> > claims that the flies are not actually frozen, that their metabolic
> > activity maintains a pocket of warmth where they are at.
> >
>
> I find that hard to fathom. These flies were frozen inside several inches
> of solid ice, and covered in several feet of snow for over 9 months,
> during which the temperature ranges between -20 and -40 degrees celsius
> for most of that time. I understand that the snow and ice would offer some
> insulation from the air temperature above, but regardless that is still
> going to be a very cold place. How could a fly store enough energy to heat
> his little home for such an extended period of time?

Thats what I wondered. She's a Dartmouth Medical School student, so she OBVIOUSLY knows what is right and good. ;) I still trust my woodpile flies over her opinion.

Mike Lorrey