Table 3 Statistical results of supercooling temperature as a function of magnetic field strength, as described in the “Methods” section, for the groups shown in Fig. 3

From: Biophysical evidence that frostbite is triggered on nanocrystals of biogenic magnetite in garlic cloves (Allium sativum)

Treatment

Total # analyzed

# Exactly observed

# Right censored

Mann–Whitney–Wilcoxon test (2-tailed Wilcoxon rank-sum test)

Z value

n score

p-value

Comment

A. 1.0 mT

Field

91

21

70

2.061

+4.245

0.039

Field-treated freezes before sham

Sham

79

12

67

B. 1.5 mT

Field

80

22

58

−0.434

−1.065

0.664

Indeterminate

Sham

66

25

41

C. 2.0 mT

Field

175

90

85

−2.020

-9.345

0.043

Field-treated freezes after sham

Sham

180

116

64

  1. Field and sham experiments at a given current level were done using garlic bulbs from the same allocation to reduce the variability that might arise from uncontrolled factors such as age and magnetite content. Out of the 721 garlic cloves examined, there were 543 total cloves measured with thermocouples (Supplementary Data 1), of which 286 froze (Exactly Observed) according to the thermocouple spikes. The rest were censored as described in the “Methods” section. Use of the Wilcoxon test rather than a Log-Rank test is appropriate here because the probability of ice nucleation events is not constant with temperature57 (see ref. 53 for a discussion on the statistics).