- #1
SkepticJ
- 244
- 1
Recently I've been thinking about old, preserved scientific specimens in alcohol.
While the preservation mechanisms are simple, it's really quite extraordinary if you think about it. There are dead animals filed away in jars of alcohol that never rot. Never. Some of them, in cramped archives of old European universites, have to be around three centuries old. Unlike with formalin "preserved" specimens, their DNA is still intact; only cosmic radiation will break the chemical bonds over time.
Just for the novelty, I thought I'd preserve some meat in a 70% solution for a lengthy period, then cook it up and eat it.
A few of Napoleon's starving troops raided specimen cabinets for food after the military boondoggle in Russia.
If there's any chance I could give myself botulism, or some other fun food poisoning, I don't want to do it. Can anything survive in 70% alcohol? I wouldn't think so, but those extremophilic bacteria are pretty surprising. It's a good thing Deinococcus radiodurans doesn't cause anything, because sterilizing food with radiation wouldn't be as easy.
While the preservation mechanisms are simple, it's really quite extraordinary if you think about it. There are dead animals filed away in jars of alcohol that never rot. Never. Some of them, in cramped archives of old European universites, have to be around three centuries old. Unlike with formalin "preserved" specimens, their DNA is still intact; only cosmic radiation will break the chemical bonds over time.
Just for the novelty, I thought I'd preserve some meat in a 70% solution for a lengthy period, then cook it up and eat it.
A few of Napoleon's starving troops raided specimen cabinets for food after the military boondoggle in Russia.
If there's any chance I could give myself botulism, or some other fun food poisoning, I don't want to do it. Can anything survive in 70% alcohol? I wouldn't think so, but those extremophilic bacteria are pretty surprising. It's a good thing Deinococcus radiodurans doesn't cause anything, because sterilizing food with radiation wouldn't be as easy.