This is no science fiction. It ain’t no crazy back to the future trick. This is happening. Very recently scientists from the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species (New Orleans) and the Kato Ladies Clinic (Tokyo), produced kittens from what they labeled as frozen eggs. Due to the high fat content the female mammal ova has been hard to freeze. This experiment just proves the fact that it might be possible to freeze & unfreeze the ova.
I think this is a fascinating scientific event. For the first time ever, the cats are born from frozen eggs. This process is geared towards the preservation of endangered species. The freezing, thawing and fertilizing of the egg is just the start.
Roughly about 28 cells were put to test. Scientists used vitrification (a rapid cooling process) to freeze the eggs.The researchers are working on the next step: cryopreservation. Noriko Kagawa, a researcher at Kato Ladies Clinic mentions:
We hope to one day make it possible to preserve every type of animal.
The researchers are working on preserving the endangered Mexican wolf using the same process.With the successful preserving and thawing of 18 eggs and producing newborns, the researchers have proved that cryopreservation actually works. This is not just mini me trying to preserve himself by freezing in space. So, what’s next? Unfrozen humans?
Image Credit: pinktentacle
