methods of killing leps

[Doug Yanega]

>From: bugguy at webtv.net (David Albaugh)
>
>Why not just carefully put the specimen in an envelope and put the
>envelope in the freezer. If the specimen doesn't have any pain sensors
>freezing it should basically just cause it to go to sleep, right?

Pain sensors are different things from temperature sensors, to my
knowledge. As far as I was aware, the sensors that tell you that you've cut
your finger are different from those that tell you you're touching
something hot. Insects don't have the former type of sensor, but they DO
have the second type, so if you burn or freeze an insect, they can
presumably feel it. If this seems hard to conceive of, I think there is
something of an analogy in leprosy, where people retain the ability to feel
things, but their pain sensors are dead, so they can't distinguish a
harmless contact from an injury. I also think they can still feel hot and
cold. If I'm wrong on any of these points, I'd be happy to learn otherwise.

Peace,

Doug Yanega    Depto. de Biologia Geral, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas,
Univ. Fed. de Minas Gerais, Cx.P. 486, 30.161-970 Belo Horizonte, MG   BRAZIL
phone: 31-499-2579, fax: 31-499-2567  (from U.S., prefix 011-55)
                  http://www.icb.ufmg.br/~dyanega/
  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
        is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82