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Frozen in Siberian Permafrost for 24,000 Years, Microscopic Animal Comes to Life

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Re: Frozen in Siberian Permafrost for 24,000 Years, Microscopic Animal Comes to Life

#11
post #4

Well, (SF writerly hat ON): We can also, presumably, start to worry about what other organisms -- viruses (viri?) -- are living in the permfrost that is busy thawing due to global warming . In the other direction, we can contemplate the fact that, if this multicellular organism can withstand such long-term freezing, so can we . Interstellar (much slower than light speed) travel, here we come!

They already studied this. It sometimes worked with small animals like mice, but fails as organisms get larger. There was a really interesting video about how microwaves were first used to test this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tdiKTSdE9Y

Re: Frozen in Siberian Permafrost for 24,000 Years, Microscopic Animal Comes to Life

#12
as much as tardigrades get great press, I really prefer rotifers, especially bdelloid rotifers. A few months ago I noticed some nice sludge on a deck chair that was wet, it was full of rotifers (probably 10 for every tardigrade). They are actively hunting, in a way that is much more interesting than watching a tardigrade. A few days later the sludge had dried out to a powder. If I add water to that powder, in 5-10 minutes, tehre are rotifers swimming around, hunting.

Re: Frozen in Siberian Permafrost for 24,000 Years, Microscopic Animal Comes to Life

#14
post #7
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know it may be a little nitpicking, but viruses are not technically alive. Also, the fact that this multicellular organism can withstand long term freezing bears nothing about whether people can do that. I can think of two easy arguments: 1. If you think about this single organism, imagine there must have probably been a huge number of them frozen and maybe 1 in a million or billion survived (we don't really know f…

> It is not known whether brain can be brought back at all once all signals stop. This is incorrect. In a brain-dead patient, the isoelectric EEG serves to demonstrate the absence of brain activity despite adequate perfusion and absence of sedation, i.e, even though the computer is plugged in and you've pressed the start button, nothing happens, and thus, nothing is likely to happen in the future. Isoelectric EEG can…

> > It is not known whether brain can be brought back at all once all signals stop. > This is incorrect.

Can you point to evidence where it is known if a brain can be restarted? Commenter said it's not known, you said it's untrue that it's not known, and stated that a brain can be made quiescent artificially or as a part of a neuralogical disorder and recover on it's own, but failed to provide evidence that we have a scientifically proven method to restart a brain.

Re: Frozen in Siberian Permafrost for 24,000 Years, Microscopic Animal Comes to Life

#16

TV series Fortitude (2015) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3498622 explores this kind of scenario happening on Svalbard, highly recommended. Features blindsight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindsight as a plot device

Season 1 was great but didn't care for season 2.

Re: Frozen in Siberian Permafrost for 24,000 Years, Microscopic Animal Comes to Life

#18
post #14
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is not known whether brain can be brought back at all once all signals stop. This is incorrect. In a brain-dead patient, the isoelectric EEG serves to demonstrate the absence of brain activity despite adequate perfusion and absence of sedation, i.e, even though the computer is plugged in and you've pressed the start button, nothing happens, and thus, nothing is likely to happen in the future. Isoelectric EEG can…

> > It is not known whether brain can be brought back at all once all signals stop. > This is incorrect. Can you point to evidence where it is known if a brain can be restarted? Commenter said it's not known, you said it's untrue that it's not known, and stated that a brain can be made quiescent artificially or as a part of a neuralogical disorder and recover on it's own, but failed to provide evidence that we have a…

I am not sure I understand the question. The brain "restarts" by itself if its otherwise normal and perfused.

Re: Frozen in Siberian Permafrost for 24,000 Years, Microscopic Animal Comes to Life

#19
post #6
post #4

Well, (SF writerly hat ON): We can also, presumably, start to worry about what other organisms -- viruses (viri?) -- are living in the permfrost that is busy thawing due to global warming . In the other direction, we can contemplate the fact that, if this multicellular organism can withstand such long-term freezing, so can we . Interstellar (much slower than light speed) travel, here we come!

I know it may be a little nitpicking, but viruses are not technically alive. Also, the fact that this multicellular organism can withstand long term freezing bears nothing about whether people can do that. I can think of two easy arguments: 1. If you think about this single organism, imagine there must have probably been a huge number of them frozen and maybe 1 in a million or billion survived (we don't really know f…

> I know it may be a little nitpicking, but viruses are not technically alive.

this is not a settled argument...

https://askabiologist.asu.edu/questions/are-viruses-alive

Re: Frozen in Siberian Permafrost for 24,000 Years, Microscopic Animal Comes to Life

#20
post #11
post #4

Well, (SF writerly hat ON): We can also, presumably, start to worry about what other organisms -- viruses (viri?) -- are living in the permfrost that is busy thawing due to global warming . In the other direction, we can contemplate the fact that, if this multicellular organism can withstand such long-term freezing, so can we . Interstellar (much slower than light speed) travel, here we come!

They already studied this. It sometimes worked with small animals like mice, but fails as organisms get larger. There was a really interesting video about how microwaves were first used to test this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tdiKTSdE9Y

Came here to post this link - quite a fascinating interview with James Lovelock
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