The life world basically belongs to a chemical world, and the speed of chemical reaction always slows down with the decrease of temperature and finally stops. Common food spoilage caused by microorganisms is a typical chemical reaction, and low temperature can delay this chemical reaction.
Long ago, people knew to store ice cubes in winter to preserve food for a long time in summer. The invention of refrigerator popularized the life enjoyed by aristocrats in the past. So in theory, the process of life should and can gradually slow down and finally stop with the decrease of temperature, and then resume with the increase of temperature.
Indeed, people have observed in nature that some creatures have amazing frost resistance, and they can stay in a "pause" state and wait for the temperature to rise.
Pear trees can still bloom in spring after winter dormancy at -20 ~-33℃, while apple trees can also bloom at -46℃. In some temperate seas, the temperature can drop to -20 ~-30℃ in winter night, and mollusks such as mussels and oysters on the beach become ice sculptures, but when the tide rises again, they wake up like sleeping beauty.
But more animals and plants are very sensitive to low temperature, and their lives are drifting away in the cold wind, and there is no chance to wake up again.
Extended data:
Oxford philosophers choose to freeze the human body.
The three philosophers who plan to accept cryonics are 40-year-old philosophy professor and director of the Institute of Human Future at Oxford University, 465,438+0-year-old researchers Sandberg and Armstrong. Armstrong ordered the whole body to be frozen. Postron and Sandberg booked a cheaper service: only the head was refrigerated.
Since the Oxford Institute for the Future of Human Beings has no research on cryopreservation, Postron and Sandberg made an appointment with Alcoa Life Extension Foundation in Arizona, USA, and Armstrong made an appointment with another cryonics institution in Michigan, USA.
These two organizations are the largest cryonics companies in the world today. It is reported that when they die in the future, the cryopreservation team will be on standby at any time. Once declared dead, the staff began to cool the remains, while using machines to keep the blood flowing in the body and injecting preservatives and antifreeze to protect the tissues in the body.
If you only choose to freeze the skull, the staff will cut off the skull and store it in liquid nitrogen at MINUS 196 degrees.
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