MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Why can they freeze eggs, semen etc. but...

Why can they freeze eggs, semen etc. but not people?

posted 8 years ago by Cookie.L.A. (2117)
32 replies | jump to latest

Okay....I am watching THE SKIN I LIVE IN (2011) and Dr. Antonio Barderas has just frozen a pint of blood in his top secret medical lab.

This made me think of how eggs + sperm are frozen for later use and effectively thawed, but whole people aren't. Since they both contain "life", why is that so? The life source in reproductive elements can be suspended, but not the life within a human form?

It's the same electrons and everything, right?

(Sorry...I only got a C in Biology in HS and never looked back.)
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[–] whiskeyTango-06 (383) 8 years ago

perhaps we humans are greater than the sum of our parts.

[–] Cookie.L.A. (2117) 8 years ago

hmmmmm....it is possible.

[–] Popcorn Kernel (2368) 8 years ago

because ice crystals.
Single cells are small enough that they can freeze quickly before crystals form and destroy them.
large multi celled organisms take longer to freeze, crystals form and destroy all the cell walls.

THE SKIN I LIVE IN freaked me out, it is a real body-horror masterpiece.

[–] Cookie.L.A. (2117) 8 years ago

Ah. Thank you : ) That makes sense.

Just as well, though. We're overpopulated as it is.
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[–] Popcorn Kernel (2368) 8 years ago

My mom grew up in wisconsin and her family raised some rabbits for meat. She says that one time a baby rabbit fell out of the nest in winter, like sub zero temps, and it froze , she was sure it was dead. It was frozen solid. But she warmed it up and it was still alive and it was supposedly fine. Now granted this was a childhood memory and might be unreliable, but it always sounded impossible to me. Even a baby rabbit is a complicated multi celled organism. If it froze that solid it would have a lot of tissue damage.

[–] lennonforever (2453) 8 years ago

Yes, probably was a mis-memory

[–] arvin g borkar (2854) 8 years ago

But wouldn't an egg+sperm be more than a single cell? It would be a duocell (duracell...haha) O_o.

No but really. It would technically be multi-cellular because it is not just the egg nor just the sperm.

[–] Popcorn Kernel (2368) 8 years ago

Yes an embryo is a small cluster of cells but it's still small enough that it can freeze quickly without cellular damage.
I don't know what the threshold is , of how big it can be before freezing would kill it.

[–] arvin g borkar (2854) 8 years ago

Or maybe, and I just thought of this when I saw the thread bumped, the body can be frozen; however, the soul cannot be! O_O

Is this why people think abortion is okay? Could this be the answer to all our questions?

I wonder...

[–] Popcorn Kernel (2368) 8 years ago

no.
You can literally see the damage caused by the ice crystals. they are are microscopic daggers that slice through the cell walls.

[–] arvin g borkar (2854) 8 years ago

Human cells do not have cell walls, only plant cells do. What you mean to say is that they slice through the cell membranes. But even so, most arguments for abortion are that fetuses do not have souls and are thus not living humans. Once the soul comes into the body is when the body cannot be frozen due to affecting the soul within it.

Okay, well no one said that; however, it is a good place to start. It sounds reasonable.

[–] Popcorn Kernel (2368) 8 years ago

It does not sound reasonable, from any scientific POV.

[–] lennonforever (2453) 8 years ago

Isn't the cell membrane the cell wall?

[–] arvin g borkar (2854) 8 years ago

To a Biologist, not even close.

To someone, who does not study Biology, probably.

Cell walls are actually a distinguishing feature between a plant and an animal cell. If it were not for the cell wall, scientists would have no way to distinguish between the two.

[–] Cookie.L.A. (2117) 8 years ago

<< most arguments for abortion are that fetuses do not have souls and are thus not living humans. >>

Really? I've don't believe I've heard superstitious/religious beliefs brought in to shore up a pro-choice stance, myself (?)
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[–] arvin g borkar (2854) 8 years ago

Would you be more likely to have an abortion if you knew that a fetus had a soul?

[–] Cookie.L.A. (2117) 8 years ago

Well...if souls did exist, and a fetus HAD one, wouldn't sending it straight to heaven via abortion be kind of a fast-track blessing?

It would be sending it straight into the Blessed Father's arms (?)
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[–] arvin g borkar (2854) 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Popcorn Kernel (2368) 8 years ago

Exactly.
The argument for choice (not for abortion, because nobody is PRO abortion) is about the body autonomy of the woman and it does not have anything to do with imaginary concepts like souls, or when the 'soul' enters the body. Those things are more likely to be mentioned by the anti-choice side.

[–] lennonforever (2453) 8 years ago

yep

[–] actionkamen (23176) 8 years ago

But Anna was frozen solid before siblingly love of Elsa thaw her successfully...

[–] Cookie.L.A. (2117) 8 years ago

Now, this is very very TRUE!!!

[–] janX9 (446) 8 years ago

I was looking into freezing my sperm the other day and learned that there is antifreeze put into the sperm then somehow removed after. Somehow I think it's a little more complex to remove antifreeze from a human body, than it is sperm or eggs.

[–] arvin g borkar (2854) 8 years ago

It is because anti-freeze kills the soul. The soul is a gas. You can freeze a liquid and a gas, but you cannot unfreeze a gas.

So the next time you go ghostbusting, carry anti-freeze with you.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 8 years ago

Why would you come to a site named MovieChat and ask a biotechnology question?

[–] arvin g borkar (2854) 8 years ago

I'm not Cookie.L.A.

[–] Cookie.L.A. (2117) 8 years ago

<< Why would you come to a site named MovieChat and ask a biotechnology question? >>

Because it was after hours, and I could not reach the Surgeon General's office
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[–] Catbookss (13664) 8 years ago

You mean to tell me the Surgeon General doesn't have a 24/7 hotline for such compelling questions? How rude.

[–] arvin g borkar (2854) 8 years ago

At University, my Biology courses were my highest grades. Then again, not everything in a Biology major is biology related.

[–] whiskeyTango-06 (383) 8 years ago

tell it to walt disney.

[–] phantom8 (418) 8 years ago

We do not currently have the technology to freeze people and then to bring them back to life. The expansion of water as it freezes can rupture cells, causing irreversible damage. This breaking of cells during freezing is responsible for much of the damage that occurs when someone gets frostbite.

[–] Jesus Christ (38) 8 years ago

It will happen. Everything will happen eventually. Doctors already cool body parts like the brain when performing complex surgeries. Give it another 40 years.