CryoNet #31721 - #31724

CryoNet - Sat 6 Jun 2009

    #31721: quantum misunderstandings [Ettinger]
    #31722: threitol looks to be an interesting cryoprotectant [oberon]
    #31723: population density and culture [un person]
    #31724: "The Unincorporated Man" Book Review in h+ Magazine [James Clement]

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Message #31721
From: [email protected]
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2009 10:58:19 EDT
Subject: quantum misunderstandings

Content-Language: en

Importance is negligible, but there are lots of misunderstandings about 
quantum theory and its implications or lack thereof.

First and foremost, quantum ontology has always been in dispute, and in 
recent decades the disagreements have widened, not narrowed. As just one
example, the many versions of string or brane theory all are compatible with
quantum rules, but have wildly different implications. In some versions,
different "universes" may not only have different constants of nature but
different "laws" which may vary over time.

The uncertainty principle is not only widely misunderstood, but may not 
have the implications imputed. For example, according to the Bekenstein Bound,
 the "points" of phase space in a human brain have non-zero volume, which
means  that a brain of fixed volume has a finite number of possible states.

There are also theorems showing that, in some general classes of closed 
systems, any  state or configuration will eventually be repeated  arbitrarily
closely.

There are also respectable arguments that the speed of light may not be 
fixed.

It's all good, clean fun, but the only practical stance is to try to keep
your options open, which means cryostasis.

Robert Ettinger
**************We found the real aC~Hotel CaliforniaaC  and the aC~SeinfeldaC 
diner. What will you find? Explore WhereItsAt.com.
(http://www.whereitsat.com/#/music/all-spots/355/47.796964/-66.374711/2/Youve-Found-Where-Its-At?ncid=eml
cntnew00000007)


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Message #31722
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2009 09:52:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: [email protected]
Subject: threitol looks to be an interesting cryoprotectant

[Threitol is not however, a well researched cryoprotectant. A combination search on PUBMED of keywords "freeze" and "threitol" yielded only three cites, below.]

J Biol Chem. 2009 Apr 29. [Epub ahead of print]
Cryoprotectant biosynthesis and the selective accumulation of threitol in the freeze tolerant alaskan beetle, Upis ceramboides.
  Walters KR Jr, Pan Q, Serianni AS, Duman JG. University of Notre Dame, United States;
  Adult Upis ceramboides do not survive freezing in the summer, but tolerate freezing to -60 degrees C in midwinter. The accumulation of two cryoprotective polyols, sorbitol and threitol, is integral to the extraordinary cold-hardiness of this beetle. U. ceramboides is the only animal known to accumulate high concentrations of threitol; however, the biosynthetic pathway has not been studied. A series of (13)C-labeled compounds was employed to investigate this biosynthetic pathway using (13)C{(1)H} NMR spectroscopy. In vivo metabolism of (13)C-labeled glucose isotopomers demonstrates that C3-C6 of glucose become C1-C4 of threitol. This labeling pattern is expected for four-carbon saccharides arising from the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP). In vitro experiments show that threitol is synthes
 ized from erythrose 4-phosphate (E4P), a C4 intermediate in the PPP. E4P is epimerized and/or isomerized to threose 4-phosphate (T4P), which is subsequently reduced by a NADPH-dependent polyol dehydrogenase and dephosphorylated by a sugar phosphatase to form threitol. Threitol 4-phosphate appears to be the preferred substrate of the sugar phosphatase(s), promoting threitol synthesis over that of erythritol. In contrast, the NADPH-dependent polyol dehydrogenase exhibits broad substrate specificity. Efficient erythritol catabolism under conditions that promote threitol synthesis, coupled with preferential threitol biosynthesis, appear responsible for the accumulation of high concentrations of threitol (250 mM) without concomitant accumulation of erythritol.
PMID: 19403530

[Only one company has done a serious investigation of threitol.]

Cryobiology. 1999 Nov;39(3):215-27.
Effects of solute methoxylation on glass-forming ability and stability of vitrification solutions
  Wowk B, Darwin M, Harris SB, Russell SR, Rasch CM. 21st Century Medicine, Inc., 10844 Edison Court, Rancho Cucamonga, California, 91730, USA.
  The effects of replacing hydroxyl groups with methoxyl (OCH(3)) groups in the polyols ethylene glycol (EG), propylene glycol (PG), glycerol, and threitol were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) during cooling of aqueous solutions to -150 degrees C and subsequent rewarming. For 35% (w/w) PG, 40% EG, and 45% glycerol, a single substitution of a terminal hydroxyl group with a methoxyl group reduced the critical cooling rate necessary to avoid ice on cooling (vitrify) from approximately 500 to 50 degrees C/min. This reduction was approximately equivalent to increasing the parent polyol concentration by 5% (w/w). The critical warming rate calculated to avoid formation of ice on rewarming (devitrification) was also reduced by methoxyl substitution, typically by a factor of 10(4
 ) for dilute solutions. Double methoxylation (replacement of both terminal hydroxyls) tended to result in hydrate formation, making these compounds less interesting. An exception was threitol, for which substituting both terminal hydroxyls by methoxyls reduced the critical rewarming rate of a 50% solution by a factor of 10(7) without any hydrate formation. These glass-forming and stability properties of methoxylated compounds, combined with their low viscosity, enhanced permeability, and high glass transition temperatures, make them interesting candidate cryoprotective agents for cryopreservation by vitrification or freezing. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.
PMID: 10600255

Nature. 1975 Dec 11;258(5535):519-20.
Production of threitol and sorbitol by an adult insect: association with freezing tolerance.
Miller LK, Smith JS.
PMID: 1196382

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Message #31723
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2009 15:30:30 -0700 (PDT)
From: un person <[email protected]>
Subject: population density and culture

--0-2115276109-1244241030=:2030

Party Animals: Early Human Culture Thrived in Crowds
Buzz UpSendSharePrintJeanna BrynerSenior WriterLiveScience.com aC" Thu Jun 4, 2:12 pm ETParty planners know that scrunching a bunch of people into a small space will result in plenty of mingling and discourse.A new study suggests this was as true for our ancestors as it is for us today, and that ancient social networking led to a renaissance of new ideas that helped make us human.The research, which is published in the June 5 issue of the journal Science, suggests that tens of thousands of years ago, as human population density increased so did the transmission of ideas and skills. The result: the emergence of more and more clever innovations."Our paper proposes a new model for why modern human behavior started at different times in different regions of the world, why it disappeared in som
 e places before coming back, and why in all cases it occurred more than 100,000 years after modern humans first appeared," said study researcher Adam Powell of the Arts
 and Humanities Research Council Centre for the Evolution of Cultural Diversity at University College London.The idea that demography is linked to modern human behavior has been around for decades, but this is the first time scientists have run computer models and actually tested out different hypotheses, said Richard Potts, an anthropologist and director of the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.Potts, who was not involved in the current study, applauded the team for not relying solely on computer models but also including genetic and archaeological data to make their argument.Modern humansScientists have known that anatomically modern humans, or Home sapiens, (characterized by big brains and other features we sport
  today), were around at least 160,000 to 200,000 years ago. Some thought boosts in brain power or advances in language led to modern human behavior, which includes the
 crafting of abstract and realistic art, body decoration, musical instruments and hunting and trapping technologies.But our big brains didn't seem to bear any cultural fruit until much later. In fact, archaeological evidence of art and technology beyond basic stone tools doesn't appear until about 90,000 years ago in sub-Saharan Africa. There, remnants of modern human behavior disappeared around 65,000 years ago and then re-emerged about 40,000 years ago."In Europe and western Asia this advanced technology and behavior explodes around 45,000 years ago when humans arrive there, but doesn't appear in eastern and southern Asia and Australia until much later, despite a human presence," said study team member Stephen Shennan of the University College London's Institute of Archaeology.Sharing id
 easThe researchers ran computer simulations of different population densities, grouping humans into subpopulations that migrated. The model revealed that at a certain
 subpopulation density there was an accumulation of ideas and skills. To figure out whether this phenomenon of skill-sharing was real, the team used genetic data to estimate population sizes in different regions at different times. Sure enough, when the critical population density was reached or there was a certain degree of migration between subgroups there was also archaeological evidence of modern human behavior."As population density increases, people migrate between groups more," Thomas said during a telephone interview. "That increases the probability that any skill that's difficult to learn doesn't get lost or decay."For instance, population density was similar in sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and the Middle East when modern behavior first appeared in these regions. Results also showed
  that population density would have dropped due to climate changes at the time when modern human behavior temporarily disappeared in sub-Saharan Africa."The basic idea
 conceptually is you can have individuals who are really great at inventing ideas and concepts and ways of approaching the world, but you need a certain population density to be able to have that stuff catch hold and spread," Potts told LiveScience.He added, "You could imagine that there may have been very innovative individuals on occasion, but with very small population sizes and mobile foragers who didn't run into other groups very often, those innovations were probably very short-lived and almost invisible in the archaeological record."



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Message #31724
From: James Clement <[email protected]>
Subject: "The Unincorporated Man" Book Review in h+ Magazine
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2009 19:11:51 -0700

--_277cb779-3baf-41a5-956d-3a36887492a1_


Dani and Eytan Kollin's The Unincorporated Man made our quarterly Recommended Book list in h+ Magazine (p. 78).  Dani, feel free to send us a graphic ad for the book (contact me at my email address) so we can put it on our site.

Best regards, 

James

James Clement
Publisher, h+ Magazine
[email protected]

--_277cb779-3baf-41a5-956d-3a36887492a1_

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