Each of us at least once watched a science fiction film or read science fiction literature, where in one form or another a person is frozen, followed by, of course, his revival. How else? Indeed, today mankind has the technology and resources to fly to the very nearest neighbor to us - the star, the Centaurus proxima, located 4.25 light years from Earth - in no less than 200 years. Other star systems are located even further. And how can you do without artificial sleep, freezing?
You can, of course, supply the ship with everything necessary for changing generations, organize a school there, raise young offspring, etc., etc., arrange greenhouses for cultivating crops, farms for raising pets ... But in this case, the dimensions of the ship will turn out to be that no Earth resources are enough to prepare an expedition with an unknown, by the way, result.
How much more convenient is the freeze option in this regard. The ship flew, gained cruising speed, the crew lay down in special chairs, clap - the covers were closed, cryogenic equipment buzzed, and forward to the dream. And when approaching the purpose of the trip, people, accordingly, came to life and jumped out peppy and joyful from their cryocapsules. And let's study the planets of the red dwarf proxima Centauri, populate them and multiply! ..
Why is the possibility of freezing so interesting
Of course, the possibility of interstellar expeditions inspires, but freezing is interesting to a person for a number of reasons. I would like to go not only to Aldebaran or the distant star Altair - with the help of such technology we could make a trip to the distant future.
After all, cryonics is nothing more than the possibility of indefinite preservation of the human body in its pristine, initial state, of a body protected from decomposition processes. Remember the wonderful film of the Pole Juliusz Makhulsky "New Amazons." Damn it would be interesting to freeze that way for a thousand years and unfreeze when the earthlings are fully exploring the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn, building colonies on Pluto, and only on the moon they fly on vacation.
But first of all, of course, we are interested in freezing people to prolong life. Unfortunately, a lot of diseases are walking around the Earth, which are still not being treated. But, analyzing the history, hopelessly sick people have the right to expect that after 100 or 200 years the means of treatment for their deadly ailments will be discovered. Do not forget about the eternal desire of the powers that be to prevail over their last rival - death itself. Who knows, suddenly in the future people will have the opportunity to extend their life for as long as they want.
Science cryonics
The word "cryonics" itself is derived from the Hellenic "cryos", which means "frost", "cold". It must be said that this branch of low-temperature physics is engaged not only in the development of the theoretical possibility of sending a person on a long journey or no less distant future. He has more practical applications. So, cryogenic equipment helps to store unlimited seeds of various plants, as well as the seeds of animals and people.
It is known that at temperatures from −120 ° and below, all known biological media remain unchanged for an unlimited time.
In this way, the seed material of endangered plants can be stored, a sperm and egg bank of rare animal species can be created, and at least in this way try to protect some of them from complete extinction.
Where do they get the cold
The operation of the equipment to obtain temperatures low enough for long-term storage of the material is based on the well-known physical phenomenon - surface cooling when liquid evaporates from it. As a working fluid (this is the same liquid that evaporates), liquid nitrogen is most often used.
Recently, cryonics is not the destiny of large research centers in rich countries, it is commonplace, and nitrogen is the most common gas on the planet, and its characteristics are suitable: liquefied nitrogen evaporates at a temperature of –196 ° .
Is it easy to freeze a person
If the question is formulated in this way, then the answer will be the following: yes, easy. If you ask: is it possible to revive a person after defrosting, then here, alas, the answer will not please. There are no successful examples in the world yet.
The fact is that when a person freezes, the cells of his body are severely damaged. To see firsthand how this happens, you can conduct a simple experiment. Pour water into a glass bottle and leave it in the cold (you can put it in the freezer). When water crystallizes in a container, the glass walls of the vessel will burst, since water, crystallizing , increases in volume. But the human body consists of 80% water.
Therefore, all experiments on freezing people have so far been unsuccessful. After defrosting, all cell membranes and capillaries are completely damaged. There is also an opinion that when freezing and thawing, all data from the brain is erased, and not only the memories of a happy summer, but all the information: who I am, how to breathe, how to beat my heart, how to work my ears, eyes, etc. like a computer without software.
Why do people go freeze
The answer is simple: hope for a miracle. The man hopes that by the time they learn to treat any disease, extend their life for as long as they can, they will probably be able to defrost the body, bringing it back to life.
Another category of people who want to freeze their body is the rich people of the planet who have achieved everything in this life: money, fame, power, unlimited influence ... And suddenly they are faced with a cruel fact: they will have to die just like everyone else. Such people decide to freeze in the hope that once waking up, they will find themselves in a world where they will live forever, well, or at least much longer than now.
Freezing technology
To reduce damage to cell tissues by water crystals, a person is frozen as follows: before cooling, a special solution is introduced into the blood vessels that reduces the expansion of water during crystallization. In some laboratories, blood is completely replaced with such a solution. After that, the body is gradually cooled to –196 ° .
But there are other technologies - freezing a person for a while. For example, in the USA they already know how to bring a person into a state of clinical death and, having cooled the body to 0 ° , transport him to a specialized medical institution.
Legal Aspects
But it must be remembered that freezing a person is not only a technical problem, but also a legal one. Indeed, you see, there is little use in freezing the already dead, which has begun to decompose the body. It is unlikely that even in the distant future technologies will appear that can revive such "patients".
On the other hand, legislation is unlikely to subject the procedure to replacing blood with a special solution followed by deep freezing of a living person. So how do people freeze to revive?
And this happens in the so-called "gray" zone, in fact, between life and death. In the same period, organs are removed from the patient for transplantation. The condition is characterized by brain death, but functioning internal organs and the absence of decay processes.
How are they going to revive
Scientists hope that the first patient will be revived around 2055, and people will be defrosted on the assembly line by the end of the 21st century. How are doctors going to overcome the problems?
So far, the highest expectations have been placed on nanorobots. And the scenario of such a revival will look something like this:
- the human body is gradually heated to a temperature of 0 ° C;
- the necessary amount of donor blood is injected into the vessels, which, under the action of a special device that replaces the heart and lungs for a period of recovery, is saturated with oxygen and circulates through the body;
- a huge number (up to a million or more) of tiny smart robots are introduced into the body, which, moving around all tissues and organs, independently assess the damage and eliminate them, controlled from a special center;
- at the end of recovery, the heart starts.
And we have?
The fashion for “eternal” life in liquid nitrogen did not pass us by. The freezing of people in Russia acquired the scale of the flow about 20 years ago. But if in the same States about 500 people are frozen today (the information is most likely incomplete - not all facts of freezing are made public), then in Russia this figure is an order of magnitude more modest.
In the Russian Federation, a contract for freezing is signed mainly by people dying of cancer, hoping that in the future they will be revived and cured.
Currently, cryonized bodies are in special containers, but in the future they plan to store them in large special rooms, where even relatives can enter, of course, in special spacesuits.
I must say that freezing people in Russia is gaining popularity among foreign customers. It's all about the price. So, in the United States freezing a person’s body completely (some customers, in order to save money, ask to freeze only their head) costs about half a million dollars, while Russians are ready to provide such a service almost ten times cheaper.