How Freezing Arthropods taught me how to freeze embryos

They must have interesting Christmas parties:

A tiny, six-legged critter that suspends all biological activity when the going gets tough may hold answers to a better way to cryopreserve human eggs, researchers say.

Tardigrades, also called water bears, can survive Himalayan heights or ocean depths as long as they have moisture.

When they don't, they produce a sugar, trehalose, slowly dehydrate and essentially cease functioning until the rain comes, says Dr. Ali Eroglu, reproductive biologist and cryobiologist at the Medical College of Georgia.

Tardigrades are not alone in their amazing ability to outlast adverse conditions. A type of brine shrimp, often called a sea monkey, comes back to life with water. The Baker's yeast Dr. Eroglu uses when he bakes bread with his children does as well. Similarly arctic wood frogs use the sugar, glucose, to tolerate frigid temperatures until the summer thaw.

While humans don't naturally produce trehalose, researchers think they can use it to safely preserve human eggs - and those of endangered species - giving better options to young women facing cancer therapies that may leave them infertile and others who simply want to delay reproduction.

Reporter: So what do you do?
Scientist: I study how arthropods survive being frozen.
Reporter: What department are you in?
Scientist: Human reproductive medicine...yeah...we're kind of lax about that sort of thing...