cool turtles

A frozen animal is a dead animal.Try telling that to the baby painted turtles,who spend their first winter exposed to temperatures several degrees below freezing.These cool turtles can survive being frozen for at least 11 day!
frozen in time
painted turtle eggs are laid in a sandy underground nest.They hatch in the autumn, but to avoid predators, they stay in the nest all winter instead of digging themselves out.During the winter, temperatures in a painted  turtle nest can reach as low as -8 degree Celsius. that is 5 degrees celsius below the normal freezing point of the painted turtle's body fluids. 
freezing an animal cell will damage it beyond repair.Therefore, most animals cannot survive extended exposure to below-freezing temperatures because their body's cells would also freeze.Baby painted turtles, however, have a secret weapon.
a natural antifreeze

as the baby turtle begins to freeze, ice forms first on its skin.The cold gradually creeps inward until virtually all brain activity, breathing, blood flow, and movement stop. while fluids that are outside the cells freeze, such as blood plasma and urine, the fluid inside the cell stays liquid.This is because these young turtles have a special chemical that prevents the fluid inside the cells from freezing. The chemical acts much like antifreeze that is added to car radiators each winter. Some snakes, lizards, frogs, and other turtles have similar adaptations, but few can survive at such low temperatures for such a long time as the painted turtle hatchlings.
The wonders never cease!
As if freezing temperatures weren't enough, during their frosty first winter, baby painted turtles also face oxygen deprivation.Because oxygen supplies are limited underground, and because blood flow stops when the the turtles freeze, the turtles must be able to survive without oxygen. Another adaptation, called metabolic arrest lowers the rate at which cells use energy, extending the time that the turtles can survive on the limited supply of oxygen already in the body. Without metabolic arrest, the turtle's special antifreeze would be useless. The painted turtle maintains the ability to undergo metabolic arrest, but strangely, after their first year of life, the turtles lose the ability to survive being frozen alive.
cyrogenic creatures
What if scientists could create non toxic chemical that would prevent the fluid inside human cells from freezing? What are some ways this new technology could be put to use? for more on painted turtles click here.