Theory 02/Cryobiology
Freezing Is a Delivery Problem
The claim
Freeze tolerance in wood frogs is set by the ratio of glucose delivery rate to ice propagation rate, so a fast freeze outruns the cryoprotectant even in a fully provisioned animal.
01Mechanism
Ice forms in extracellular spaces and must be matched by intracellular glucose before osmotic stress damages cells; the two rates are set independently.
02Predictions
- P1Survival should track the rate ratio.
- P2Glucose reserves alone should mispredict.
03Refutation
Survival tracking cryoprotectant concentration would remove the propagation term.
04Why it resists the grid
The animal must be partly frozen to survive being frozen — a state that breaks the usual organism/environment boundary.