In fantastic stories about the future, there is always a theme about the immortality of man. This is how the world seems to modern people a century later - there are no diseases, wars, and, of course, death. But, unfortunately, modern science cannot give people eternal life and is just starting work on creating technologies that would always remain young and healthy. Many seriously ill people hope that in the distant future, doctors will be able to easily cure cancer, Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's. They are warmed by the idea that after death, your body can be placed in a special tank called a cryogenic chamber. In the future, when medicine reaches a new level, they can be resurrected and give a new life. A tempting prospect, isn't it? Let's find out what a cryogenic chamber is, and what are the prospects for defrosting a person.
Cryonics: a brief description
Cryonics is a scientific technology that allows you to preserve a living organism at low temperatures and store it in this state until defrosting or other manipulations.
The very name "cryonics" came to our speech from the Greek word "cold". This characterizes the technology as well as possible, because it is designed to preserve cells from decomposition with the help of low temperatures.
At the moment, freezing the bodies of dead people is not prohibited in the world, but it is simply impossible to resurrect them with this level of technology and medicine. It is not known whether a technique will ever be invented that will allow them to be taken out of a state of freezing and brought back to life without harm to the cells. All this so far is just the hope of fans of cryonics and science fiction.
The Resurrection of Man: Myth or Reality
Disputes about cryonics have been going on for many years, scientists have conventionally divided into two camps - opponents of frost and its ardent supporters. But, despite discussions in the scientific community, cryonics has a lot of evidence for the viability of its method.
Scientists have long been interested in the ability of cells to return to life after deep freezing. Similar experiments were repeatedly carried out on animals and their cells. At one time, the scientific world dreamed of the return of mammoths, which were planned to be recreated from frozen cells. But scientists were faced with serious disappointment - for the entire time they were in permafrost, the bodies of giants were not once exposed to temperature extremes, which made their biomaterial unsuitable for recovery. Thus, scientists came to the conclusion that only with maintaining the temperature unchanged, the cells are suitable for cloning.
Numerous experiments were almost always successful, but scientists had problems with defrosting. Not every method was effective. For example, in one of the experiments, brain neurons, extracted after two hours after a person’s death and frozen in a cryochamber, showed an amazing ability to function and form new connections after being removed from a sleeping state. But in another case, during the defrosting process, the cells died.
Therefore, scientists so far can only freeze bodies in anticipation of a new round in the development of science, which will ever make a major breakthrough in cryoinics. Today you can freeze the whole body or one head, but the defrosting and resurrection of a person will already be in the range of responsibility of the people of the future.
Cryogenic chambers: types
Modern scientists use the possibilities of low temperatures in many industries, so do not think that using a cryochamber you can only freeze dead people.
The cryogenic chamber can be divided depending on its purpose:
- medical;
- industrial;
- for a person.
Each of the species has its own characteristic, but in general the equipment is very similar in general terms.
Medical cryochambers
The cryogenic chamber has long been used in medicine. It is used for one purpose - the storage of living organisms or reagents, but can vary in power and cooling element.
Do not believe that cryotechnology has long been used in medicine? Then our information will definitely be useful and interesting to you. See when similar equipment is used:
- virus strains developed by biologists and virologists are stored in special cryobanks;
- during organ transplantation, transportation is performed in a cryochamber;
- many medicines are stored in small cryoboxes for a long time;
- biomaterials (such as eggs or male spermatozoa) are located until use in a cryogenic chamber.
Now medicine does not imagine its existence without freezing various biological materials, experiments in this area do not stop even for a minute.
Industrial cryochambers
The industry is also quite successfully applying freezing technology to harden steel. This technique is used in the field of oil production, electronics and the military industry. Low temperatures can not only make the alloy stronger, but also find out how any material will behave during freezing. In many industries, this information can save the lives of many people.
Typically, industrial cryogenic plants have impressive dimensions and are universal.
Cameras in Cryocenters
These cameras are designed and designed for people. They allow you to save the whole body (such a setting is called a dewar) or one head. In the latter case, the heads of completely different people under certain numbers may be in the same cell.
By itself, a cryogenic chamber for a person is quite expensive, its content in the cryocenter is even more expensive. But in recent years, interest in freezing your body has been steadily growing, and even in our country there is a special center that provides such services.
Cryogenic chambers: description
All cryochambers work on the same principle - they ensure the preservation of a certain temperature level due to the constant circulation in a closed gas system. Liquid gas in the cryogenic chamber continuously circulates, then cooling, then reaching a boil and taking heat from the equipment. Most often, liquefied nitrogen is used for this purpose. Currently, it is used in all cryocenters of the world.
Cryogenic chamber: human freezing procedure
If you have a good financial income, then during your lifetime you can start saving money for freezing. Theoretically, every person on the planet can carry out this procedure.
First of all, you need to choose a cryocenter. For example, the most influential organization in America engaged in freezing and storing the bodies of dead people is Alcor. In Russia, the organization KrioRus is engaged in this; it is located in the Moscow Region and so far is the only one in the country.
After you make a decision on cryonization, you must conclude a service agreement with the company. The contract price includes preparation of the body, its storage and cryogenic chamber. The price directly depends on how the patient will be frozen. If you need to store the whole body as a whole, then the price will vary within thirty-five thousand dollars. Head storage costs about fifteen thousand dollars. The contract is concluded for twenty-five years, in the future it must be extended or the body will be handed over to relatives for burial.
The freezing procedure is approximately as follows:
- after death, the body must be cooled to zero degrees, to achieve the result, you can use dry ice ;
- the body is connected to a special apparatus and all blood is pumped out through it;
- instead of blood, a cryprotector is poured - a solution that prevents the crystallization of cells;
- after the manipulations, the body is placed in a dewar or bix, if we are talking about keeping the head.
The cryonization process lasts about four hours. Thirteen patients are currently in the stage of freezing in Russia, but cooperation agreements with KrioRus continue to be concluded, which testifies to the interest of Russians in this technique.
Who is frozen in a cryogenic chamber today: famous people who dreamed of immortality
In America, stories about the freezing of various celebrities are quite popular. For example, a rumor has been wandering around the country for a long time about the cryonized body of Walt Disney. But no organization has yet to confirm this information.
It is known for certain that the body of the famous baseball player Ted Williams has been in a frozen state for fifteen years. His children decided not to cremate his father, but in the hope of a future resurrection, put him in a cryochamber.
In the organization "Alcor" is the body of the first cryonized person in the world - the scientist James Bedford. He became a pioneer of cryonics, and the date of his freezing is celebrated as a special holiday.
Three years in a cryogenic chamber, Hal Finney, who invented one of the most popular cryptocurrencies in the world. He suffered from an incurable disease and bequeathed to cryonize his body completely.
Conclusion
Cryonics is an unexplored but promising technology. And people who believe in it are not so short-sighted. After all, progress does not stand still and every year scientists are moving further in their knowledge. Who knows, maybe in another century cryogenic chambers will be commonplace in our lives, and people will be able to resurrect at any time programmed by them themselves. Who knows?