Archive for the ‘Cryonics’ Category

Imagine waking up after being frozen for decades, only to discover youre broke. Thats a nightmare nobody wants, especially the rich. Making sure their wealth lasts is easier than reversing death, though.

Cryonics, or freezing the body after death in hopes of future revival, is attracting serious attention. According to Bloomberg Law, estate lawyers are developing "revival trusts" to keep wealth intact for those who opt for cryopreservation.

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Once considered a crazy idea, it is now somewhat trendy. Alcor Life Extension Foundation, one of the largest cryonics facilities, has about 5,500 people planning to be frozen, and some estate lawyers have already helped hundreds of people set up revival trusts to preserve their wealth until they can be revived.

Revival trusts are based on some big assumptions but are taken seriously enough to be discussed at industry conferences. These trusts differ from dynasty trusts because they aim to benefit the revived person. Across the country, the laws are already changing to allow trusts to last for centuries, with some states like Florida permitting trusts to continue for up to 1,000 years.

Despite uncertainties, the quest for immortality through cryonics is gaining traction. According to Business Insider, tech billionaires like Peter Thiel, Sam Altman, and Jeff Bezos invest heavily in anti-aging and cryonics research.

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Thiel plans to be cryogenically preserved, viewing it as an ideological statement. He believes humanity should "either conquer death or at least figure out why its impossible."

Altman has invested $180 million in Retro Biosciences, a startup that aims to extend healthy human life spans. Bezos has invested in Altos Labs, a startup that is developing therapies to stop or reverse aging.

The quest to cheat death is becoming more mainstream. Take Bryan Johnson, a tech executive known for his ambitious anti-aging efforts. Johnson reportedly spends $2 million a year on his anti-aging regimen. This includes taking 111 pills daily, eating all his food within a strict time frame between 6 a.m. and 11 a.m., and employing a light therapy mask. At one point, he even received blood plasma infusions from his teenage son, although he stopped this practice due to a lack of evidence supporting its benefits.

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HBOs docuseries How To with John Wilson explored cryopreservation in its final episode, offering a glimpse into this strange and futuristic world. The show stressed that its not just the wealthy interested in cryonics; many regular people are drawn to the idea, dreaming of a futuristic world or simply wanting to witness future progress.

Still, cryonics is expensive. Too expensive for the common folk. Alcor, for example, charges $80,000 to freeze a head and $200,000 for a whole body, plus annual dues. Most members pay for this by naming Alcor as their life insurance beneficiary.

Despite the high costs and uncertainties, people who hope for a second chance at life continue to invest in cryonics and revival trusts.

The pursuit of longevity and reversing aging is often driven by the belief that aging is a disease that science can eventually cure. While the technology to fully overcome aging isnt available yet, cryonics offers a hopeful bridge to that future.

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Back From The Dead And Broke? Not For The Wealthy 5,500 Betting On Cryonics: Ensuring Wealth Beyond The Grave - Benzinga

Around the world, hundreds of people have had their bodies frozen at extremely low temperatures, just after death in the hope that they can be revived in the future.

Some are so confident that theyll wake up in the future that their loved ones have left them voicemail messages.

But the moment when people can be revived by science could come sooner than we expect, according to Dennis Kowalski of Michigans Cryonics Institute.

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Kowalski told the Daily Star, If you take something like CPR, that would have seemed unbelievable 100 years ago. Now we take that technology for granted.

Cryonically bringing someone back to life should definitely be doable in 100 years, but it could be as soon as ten.

Companies pump peoples brains full of cryoprotectant fluid before being frozen in the hope the brains will last decades or even hundreds of years.

Many cryonics fans have their heads frozen not their whole bodies imagining that in the future, brain transplants will be possible.

Kowalski says that innovations in technologies such as stem cells may make it possible to revive frozen bodies at some point in the future.

Another tech company, Humai is monitoring developments in robotics, medical treatments and believes people will come back from the dead within 30 years.

The company believes that within three decades, technology will have advanced so that people can freeze their brains then have them transplanted into an artificial, robot-like body after death.

CEO Josh Bocanegra told Popular Science, Well first collect extensive data on our members for years prior to their death via various apps were developing.

After death well freeze the brain using cryonics technology. When the technology is fully developed well implant the brain into an artificial body. The artificial body functions will be controlled with your thoughts by measuring brain waves.

As the brain ages well use nanotechnology to repair and improve cells. Cloning technology is going to help with this too.

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Humans frozen by cryogenics 'could be brought back to life in 10 years' - Yahoo Canada Shine On

In recent weeks, Southern Cryonics the southern hemispheres only cryopreservation facility, located in rural New South Wales announced it had successfully cryopreserved its first patient.

There are only a handful of cryopreservation facilities across the globe two in the United States, and one each in Russia, China, Australia and Switzerland. If the claims made on their websites and in the press are accurate, these facilities likely have no more than 600 patients in cryonic storage in total.

Media reports however suggest interest in cryopreservation has risen since the onset of the COVID pandemic, and thousands of people around the world have signed up to be cryopreserved after their death.

So, what is cryopreservation and what are its legal ramifications?

Cryopreservation is the process of using extreme cold to preserve biological material (such as semen, blood and tissue samples) for an extended time. The first living thing to be cryopreserved was a fowl sperm in the 1940s; the first person was cryopreserved in 1967.

To cryopreserve a person, the most important step is a process called vitrification. First, the blood is pumped out of the body. It is replaced with a chemical protectant designed to partially replace the water in the bodys cells with a chemical mixture that prevents the formation of ice (not unlike the antifreeze found in car engines).

The body of the patient is then placed in something akin to a sleeping bag and sealed in a dewar a large vat of liquid nitrogen and maintained at a temperature of -196C until the time for resurrection comes.

The ultimate aim is for the cryopreserved patient to be reanimated at a future time when medical science has advanced sufficiently to cure them of whatever caused their initial death. However, theres no evidence to suggest it will ever happen in the future.

While its proponents describe cryopreservation as a second chance at life, scientists are quick to point out the chances of a successful reanimation are slim.

A person has to be declared legally dead before their body can be cryopreserved, meaning a successful reanimation would truly be a second (legal) life for the revived patient.

It could also be a legal minefield.

Questions that arise include:

are you the same person in your second life as you were in your first, or are you a new legal person entirely?

what happens to the legal obligations you undertook in your first life when you reawaken in your second?

are you still bound by the phone contract you entered into?

do you have to restart your mortgage repayments, and is your property even still your property?

The answer to the last question is likely to be no. A dead person cannot own property so when they die, their estate their money and material possessions is distributed to others according to their will (or, if they die without a will in place, according to the rules of intestacy).

This means, short of radically rewriting our succession laws, if someone is successfully reanimated, none of the wealth or belongings they previously enjoyed will be available to them.

This creates the possibility of cryonic refugees people who wake from cryopreservation in a future time with no social or community ties to rely on and no funds to live off.

In the US, one cryonics facility has attempted to get around this issue by encouraging patients to place their assets in long-term trusts.

A trust is a legal structure whereby Person A becomes the legal owner of a property, but can only use it for the benefit of Person B. There are particular rules about who Person B can be they have to be legally identifiable, for example, and must be able to claim the trust property within a set time period (80 years in many Australian jurisdictions).

In the case of the cryonics trust, Person B is the reanimated patient someone of uncertain legal identity (remember, we dont know if the reanimated patient is the same legal person across their two lives or not) with no guarantee of claiming the trust property within the necessary time period.

These are certainly reasons for lawyers to be sceptical. And of course, even if the trusts are upheld, there is no guarantee the assets they contain will retain their value in an unknown future world.

Even prior to reanimation, however, a cryopreserved patients finances can present legal difficulties.

While the upfront costs of the initial cryopreservation procedure which can come in at more than A$150,000 are often covered by life insurance policies or a one-off payment in a will, the fact that cryonic storage is intended to last for the very long term raises questions about how ongoing bills will be paid far into the future.

There are even historic examples of cryonics facilities threatening to remove patients from suspension unless outstanding storage bills are paid.

Would such an action constitute murder? Can you kill someone who is already dead?

To reach an answer, the law will likely require a test case.

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You can now be frozen after death in Australia. If you get revived in the future, will you still legally be the same person? - The Conversation

Cryonics startup Cradle was unveiled this week, boasting $48 million in funding and a mission to develop and prove the feasibility of whole-body reversible cryopreservation. Co-founded by venture capitalist and longevity pioneer Laura Deming and chief scientist Hunter C Davis, the company is built on the belief that pausing and restarting biological functions on demand is a solvable problem.

Were building reversible cryo technologies, said Deming in a post on X. Think the hibernation pods you see in space movies for long-term travel we want to build that.

Cradles approach to cryopreservation focuses on pausing molecular motion through cooling, thus preventing tissue damage that typically occurs during freezing. This concept leverages technologies like those used in in vitro fertilization (IVF), where embryos can be stored at cryogenic temperatures for extended periods.

By adapting and scaling these principles, Cradle seeks to achieve cryopreservation of larger biological systems, including human organs and potentially whole bodies. The companys web site states We are optimistic that human whole-body reversible cryopreservation is solvable.

Cradle has identified three areas of medicine that it believes its technology can potentially benefit. First, by cryopreserving neural tissue, the company aims to improve the accessibility of human brain tissue samples for research, potentially accelerating drug development and neuroscience research. Second, Cradle believes that cryopreservation could extend the viability window for donor organs, allowing more time for testing and matching, thereby reducing rejection rates and improving transplant outcomes. And finally, the company suggests its technology could allow patients with terminal illnesses to pause their biological time, giving them the opportunity to survive until effective treatments become available.

Cradle said its first major milestone, achieved in February 2024, involved recovering electrical activity in a cryopreserved and rewarmed slice of rodent neural tissue. The company claims this breakthrough serves as a foundational proof of concept, paving the way for its more ambitious goals.

Next steps for Cradle include demonstrating preserved synaptic function and long-term potentiation in cryopreserved neural tissue, and eventually, achieving functional preservation of whole organs and even entire organisms. The companys stated milestones include:

To achieve its objectives, Cradle says it is developing sophisticated engineering systems for vascular perfusion, vitrification, and rapid rewarming. Additionally, the company is working on new cryoprotectant molecules that address the toxicity issues associated with current approaches, as well as developing assays to measure neural tissue viability post-cryopreservation and creating surgical protocols for preparing organs and organisms for the process.

While the concept of reversible full-body cryopreservation may sound like science fiction to some, Deming addresses the doubters on Cradles web site, stating, I feel incredibly angry when I find problems which could help patients, but which arent worked on because they seem uncool or havent been well evaluated. I think we, as humans, should try as hard as we can to find the best path to cures for patients, and to look past cognitive biases that get in the way of perceiving them correctly.

Well be following developments at Cradle and across the cryopreservation space with great interest!

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Cradle emerges with $48m to build reversible cryonics technology - Longevity.Technology

The landscape of medical science and human longevity has witnessed a groundbreaking development in Australia with the recent cryogenic preservation of Southern Cryonics first client, aptly named Patient One. This milestone event has ignited a spectrum of discussions surrounding the science, ethics, and future implications of cryonics.

In May 2024, Southern Cryonics, headquartered in Holbrook, achieved a remarkable feat by cryogenically preserving Patient One, an octogenarian who breathed his last in a Sydney hospital. The journey towards cryonic suspension began immediately after his passing, marking a pivotal moment in the annals of cryonics history in the Southern Hemisphere.

Philip Rhoades, the facility manager at Southern Cryonics, provided insight into the meticulous procedures involved in the cryopreservation process. He described the intense preparation and execution required, underscoring the profound responsibility undertaken by the team to ensure the success of Patient Ones cryonic suspension.

The preservation process commenced with cooling the body to approximately 6 degrees Celsius in the hospitals cold room. Subsequently, at A OHare Funeral Directors, a cryoprotectant liquid was administered to prevent ice crystal formation, a crucial step in preserving cellular integrity. The body was then encased in dry ice, gradually reducing its temperature to minus 80 degrees Celsius before its transfer to Southern Cryonics Holbrook facility.

At the Holbrook site, the body underwent further cooling to minus 200 degrees Celsius using liquid nitrogen, culminating in its placement within a specialized vacuum storage vessel. This meticulous process, spanning over 10 hours, aimed to optimize the prospects of future revival, offering a glimmer of hope in the realm of life extension.

However, such groundbreaking endeavors in cryonics come at a considerable cost, with Patient Ones cryopreservation amounting to $170,000, in addition to fees for medical assistance during the preservation process. This financial investment underscores the profound belief in the transformative potential of cryonics, despite its speculative nature.

Cryonics, as a field dedicated to preserving human bodies at ultra-low temperatures in anticipation of future revival, remains both scientifically intriguing and ethically contentious. While proponents envision a future where medical advancements could reverse aging and disease, skeptics raise valid concerns regarding the feasibility and ethical implications of cryonic suspension.

Professor Bruce Thompson, head of the Melbourne School of Health Science, voiced skepticism about the feasibility of cryonics, likening it to Star Trek in play. He emphasized the significant challenges involved in reviving a cryonically preserved body, cautioning against unrealistic expectations.

Nevertheless, the future of cryonics holds promise, with Southern Cryonics Holbrook facility poised for expansion to accommodate a growing demand for cryonic preservation. The companys commitment to advancing cryonic research and technology underscores its dedication to exploring the frontiers of medical science and human longevity.

As the debate surrounding cryonics continues to evolve, it prompts reflection on the fundamental questions of life, death, and the human quest for immortality. While the feasibility of cryonic revival remains uncertain, the pursuit of scientific innovation and exploration knows no bounds, offering glimpses of hope for a future where the boundaries of life and death are redefined by the possibilities of tomorrow.

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Australian Cryonics Company Cryogenically Preserves First Client with Aim Of Bringing Him Back To Life In Future - NewsX

'Patient One' died on May 12 at a hospital in Sydney. (Representative pic)

A cryonics company has frozen its first client in Australia in the hope of bringing him back to life in the future. According to ABC News Australia, Southern Cryonics, which operates the Southern Hemisphere's first known cryonics facility, announced that it has cryogenically frozen its first client at its Holbrook facility. The client, a man in his 80s, died in Sydney before being frozen at minus 200 degrees Celsius. He has become what the company refers to as 'Patient One'.

"(It was) very stressful," Southern Cryonics' facility manager Philip Rhoades said, as per the outlet. "That was what was keeping me awake for a week because there are a number of different procedures to go through for different days, and there were a number of situations that might have gone wrong if we hadn't prepared properly," he added.

Mr Rhoades said even though his firm has been ready and preparing to accept bodies from this year, their first client was slightly unexpected. "There were a couple of other people who were existing members who we thought might be likely candidates for being the first but, as it turned out, it was someone who wasn't an existing member," Mr Rhoades said.

"His family rang up out of the blue and we had about a week to prepare and get organised," the manager stated. He explained that his team then tested all the cryonics equipment and were mostly prepared. "But it's still a little bit different when you are doing a real case," he said.

According to ABC News, 'Patient One' died on May 12 at a hospital in Sydney. The 10-hour process of preserving his body in the hope of bringing it back to life then began immediately. The man's body was moved into the hospital's cold room and packed in ice to bring it down to around 6 degrees Celsius. Doctors then pumped a liquid, which acts as a type of anti-freeze, through the body to help preserve cells and lower the body's temperature.

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The patient was then wrapped in a special type of sleeping bag and packed in dry ice. His body temperature was brought down to around minus 80 degrees Celsius, and he was transferred to Southern Cryonics' Holbrook facility the next day, where he remained on dry ice until a delivery of liquid nitrogen arrived. The man's temperature was then reduced further to minus 200 degrees Celsius before being deposited in a special tank that serves as a vacuum storage pod.

The whole process cost the client $170,000 with additional fees for medical teams to help with the preservation process, the outlet reported. This 10-hour process is designed to increase the likelihood of the person being resurrected, the company said.

Notably, the Holbrook facility currently holds one dewar that fits four bodies. The Holbrook site can fit up to 40 bodies with the possibility for expansion, which the company believes could soon be needed.

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Australian Cryonics Firm Freezes First Client In Hopes Of Bringing Him Back To Life In Future - NDTV

Science and technology are advancing significantly every day, and humanity continues to achieve new breakthroughs with each unveiling discovery. Another such field in which sizeable strides have been made is Cryonics.

In a recent development, a cryonics organization in Australia has recently cryogenically preserved its inaugural client with the aspiration of reviving him in the future. As reported by ABC News Australia, Southern Cryonics, the pioneer cryonics facility in the Southern Hemisphere, disclosed the cryopreservation of its first client at its Holbrook site.

The individual, an octogenarian male, passed away in Sydney before undergoing cryogenic freezing at a temperature of minus 200 degrees Celsius. He now represents what the company terms as Patient One.

(It was) very stressful, Southern Cryonics facility manager Philip Rhoades expressed, as per the outlet.That was what was keeping me awake for a week because there are a number of different procedures to go through for different days, and there were a number of situations that might have gone wrong if we hadnt prepared properly, he added.

Mr. Rhoades mentioned that although his company had been poised and preparing to receive bodies from this year onwards, their initial client came as a somewhat unexpected development. There were a couple of other people who were existing members who we thought might be likely candidates for being the first but, as it turned out, it was someone who wasnt an existing member, Mr Rhoades said.

His family rang up out of the blue and we had about a week to prepare and get organized, the manager stated. He explained that his team then tested all the cryonics equipment and were mostly prepared. But its still a little bit different when you are doing a real case, he said.

As per media sources, Patient One passed away on May 12 at a hospital in Sydney. Following his demise, the preservation process aimed at potentially reviving him commenced promptly, spanning ten hours. Initially, his body was transferred to the hospitals cold storage facility and surrounded with ice to reduce its temperature to approximately 6 degrees Celsius. Subsequently, doctors administered a liquid solution, functioning as a form of anti-freeze, throughout the body to aid in cell preservation and further lower its temperature.

Following these initial steps, the patient was enveloped in a specialized sleeping bag and surrounded by dry ice. This procedure brought his body temperature down to approximately minus 80 degrees Celsius. The subsequent day, he was transported to Southern Cryonics Holbrook facility, where he remained stored on dry ice until a shipment of liquid nitrogen was received. Upon its arrival, the mans temperature was further decreased to minus 200 degrees Celsius before being placed into a designated tank, functioning as a vacuum storage pod.

Reportedly, the entire procedure amounted to $170,000 for the client, inclusive of additional charges for medical teams aiding in the preservation process. According to the outlet, this 10-hour process is intended to enhance the chances of the individuals potential revival, as stated by the company.

In addition, its worth noting that the Holbrook facility presently possesses a single dewar capable of accommodating four bodies. However, it has the capacity to house up to 40 bodies, with potential for expansion, a need the company anticipates arising soon.

Cryonics is a procedure that involves freezing an individual after their death, with the ultimate goal of reviving them at a later point in time. The word Cryonics is derived from the Greek word Kryos which translates to icy cold. Crynonics involves freezing at very low temperatures usually around 196 C or 320.8 F or 77.1 K.

Cryonic preservation is conducted exclusively following the legal declaration of an individuals death. The process commences shortly after death, with the body being surrounded by ice and transported to a cryonics facility. At the facility, blood is removed from the body and substituted with antifreeze and organ-preserving compounds, referred to as cryoprotective agents. In this vitrified condition, the body is positioned in a chamber containing liquid nitrogen, where it theoretically remains preserved at -196 C until scientists develop the means to revive the body in the future.

The concept of cryonic preservation gained prominence through The Prospect of Immortality, a book authored by Robert Ettinger, first released in 1962 and formally published in 1964. Ettinger later earned recognition as the father of cryonics. Following his demise in 2011, his body underwent cryonic preservation and was housed at the Cryonics Institute in Clinton Township, Michigan.

The mainstream scientific community often greets cryonics with skepticism, commonly considering it a pseudoscience and questioning its validity. Furthermore, the practice of cryonics has frequently been criticized and labeled as quackery, reflecting doubts about its scientific basis and effectiveness.

We have come across the practice of cryonics in various sci-fi and space exploration movies. One good example of this would be Christopher Nolans Interstellar where the astronauts are poised to go for a long dive in space and in order to preserve their bodies from the effects of time they dive into a deep sleep in their cryogenic chambers that apparently preserve their bodies. This is the most common premise with which most cryo-tech these days is being advanced.

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Australian Cryonics Breakthrough: First Client Frozen, Awaiting Future Resurrection - NewsX

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The team led by Shao Zhicheng created a revolutionary cryopreservation method, dubbed MEDY, which preserves the structural integrity and functionality of neural cells, allowing for the preservation of various brain tissues and human brain specimens. This advancement holds immense promise not only for research into neurological disorders but also opens up possibilities for the future of human cryopreservation technology.

Professor Joao Pedro Magalhaes from the University of Birmingham K expressed profound astonishment at the development, hailing the technology's ability to prevent cell death and help preserve neural functionality as nothing short of miraculous. He speculated that in the future, terminally ill patients could be cryopreserved, awaiting cures that may emerge, while astronauts could be frozen for interstellar travel, awakening in distant galaxies.

The news has sparked fervent discussions on social media platforms, with many netizens drawing parallels to the concepts depicted in Chinese writer Liu Cixin's science fiction The Three-Body Problem. Interest in the feasibility of future human cryopreservation technology has surged, with individuals expressing a willingness to participate in human trials, eagerly anticipating awakening in a new era within robotic bodies.

"Now we just need a probe that travels at 1-percent speed of light, and can operate for thousands, millions of years on its own power while avoiding space debris, to reach the fleet of ships that's most of the way here already, as Three-Body Problem has illustrated," one netizen posted.

As the boundaries of possibility continue to expand, the realm of cryonics stands on the precipice of a profound transformation, offering glimpses into a future where the line between science fiction and reality grows increasingly blurred. Questions have also emerged as the boundaries expand: Will all the information and memory be indestructibly preserved too? Or, do we really have soul?

Global Times

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Chinese researchers successfully revive human brain frozen for 18 months - Global Times

Plans for Australias first cryonic storage facility have been set for southern New South Wales.

The Cryonics Centre would freeze bodies in the hope they will be revived years, decades or even centuries later.

A site has been scouted at Holbrook and is now waiting council approval.

Matt Fisher from Stasis Systems said freezing is a detailed process.

"We have cryoprotectants that essentially prevent the formation of ice crystals within the body during the freezing process."

If it goes ahead, the Cryonics Centre will be the first in the Southern Hemisphere.

Gavin Smith is one of many prospective customers already warming to the idea.

"The bits that make me me are here and they don't die immediately so if there's a way to hit pause, I'd love to do that, he told 7 News.

The process would cost around $80,000, possibly from your life insurance, to freeze and preserve your dead body.

But the method does have strong skeptics.

Bosch Professor of Histology Chris Murphy told 7 News cryonic preservation is pointless.

"When we use cryoprotectants we use them to preserve tissue for looking at in the microscope, not for bringing it back to life... the structure is still dead, he said.

At this point in time, scientists agree that cryogenics is not possible.

Supporters of the procedure, however, still have high hopes, holding faith in future technologies that will fill the gaps in our knowledge.

Mr Fisher said he does not doubt it will be a possibility one day.

"When you're talking about what happens in a thousand years or ten thousand yearsit's really difficult to put upper limits on what's possible, he said.

He hopes the centre will open next year.

News break March 3

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Cryonics Centre planned for southern NSW - Yahoo New Zealand News

In December 2014, Dr. Stephen Coles, a UCLA professor who studied aging, passed away from pancreatic cancer. While for many years Coles had made his home in Los Angeles, he chose to enter hospice care in Scottsdale, Arizona. That way, he could be close to the team of doctors who would

Once Coles was pronounced dead, that team arrived at his bedside. They restored his breathing and blood circulation with a heart-lung resuscitator, also known as a thumpera mechanical device used in emergency medicine to perform CPRand injected his body with anticoagulants to keep the blood flowing. All of this was done to protect the brain from damage that can occur after too long without oxygen. Next, the body was cooled in an ice water bath, the blood replaced with an organ preservation solution.

Finally, Coles body arrived at its final destination: Alcor, the nations oldest provider of cryonics, the freezing of human corpses and brains in liquid nitrogen that will one daytechnology willinglive again.

There, surgeons performed a neuroseparation, removing Coles head at the sixth cervical vertebra, and pumped cryoprotectants (medical-grade anti-freeze) into the now severed head. Then, a forensic pathologist opened the skull and removed the brain.

Coles had died around 10 a.m.; by dinner time, his brain was in a silver dewar, its thermostat set to -140 degrees Celsius.

The Patient Care Bay at Alcor holds a number of Bigfoot dewars, which are custom-designed to contain four whole-body patients and five neuropatients each. The dewar is an insulated container which consumes no electric power. Liquid nitrogen is added periodically to replace the small amount that evaporates.

Coles was Alcors 131st patient but one of its first to select brain-only cryopreservation, sometimes called neuropreservation or neurosuspension. A company announcement called Cole an unusual brain-only patient, and revealed that the unfamiliar nature of the procedure created several major challenges, with procedures being revised even as the surgery and perfusion were underway.

Ten years later, according to Emil Kendziorra, M.D., CEO of Tomorrow Bio, a German biotech firm that specializes in human cryopreservation, brain removal is not a big issue, and becoming more popular among those interested in cryonics. Storing a brain is faster, cheaper, anddespite the human taboo of decapitationpoised for a higher degree of social acceptance, Dr. Kendiziorra says, since anatomy departments and research institutions have been storing brains for years.

But what about the rest of the body? Wont future humans need their legs and arms when they wake up from their cryonic suspension?

While the brain is unique and cannot be recreated, the fundamental logic is that all the rest of the body can be recreated, Dr. Kendziorra tells Popular Mechanics. This means that by the time technology exists to cure death and reanimate the human brain, slapping together a real or virtual vessel should be a cinch.

These ideas may seem far-fetched, but Dr. Kendziorra is quick to point out that there was a time in the past when heart transplantationtaking one heart and connecting into another bodysounded pretty science fiction as well.

But as neuropreservation grows in popularity, the question remains: what will we do with all of these frozen brains in the future?

***

Dr. Kendziorra is a trained medical doctor-turned-cryonics evangelist. As a former cancer researcher, he was frustrated by the agonizingly slow pace of progress and never found it acceptable to tell a 25-year-old that they have incurable cancer and theyre going to die, he says. I think that everybody should live as long as they choose to.

Its important to point out that no human brain (or whole human for that matter) has ever been revived after death. The hope behind cryonics is that, eventually, very smart people using technology that hasnt been invented yet will figure out how to conquer death. For anyone with an untreatable diseaseor anyone who would like to live beyond their average lifespanto elongate their lives, they just need to freeze themselves, and then wait for those smart (and hopefully benevolent) people to wake us up.

Its also important to point out that freeze is the wrong word. Technically, cryonically preserved bodies arent frozen, theyre vitrified. Youve probably heard that the human body is 70 percent water; if you popped a corpse in the freezer, there would be a lot of cracking when ice crystals formed in the cells and damaged the body beyond revival. Upon thawing, the body would be mushy, thanks to the ruptured cell walls caused by cracking.

The Alcor operating theater in Scottsdale, Arizona. Here, surgeons perform initial procedures to gain access to the patients vascular system, replacing the blood with a cryoprotectant solution to prevent the formation of ice crystals during subsequent cooling.

Instead, cryopreservation involves vitrification, replacing the blood with a medical antifreeze, called cryoprotectant, then cooling the body gradually until it resembles glass.

The cost of these proceduresas well as transporting the body and storing it for untold yearsis not cheap. For full-body suspension, Tomorrow Bio charges 200,000. Thats why, although he always recommends full-body cryopreservation, Dr. Kendziorra says that, at the bargain price of 75,000, brain-only cryopreservation is an attractive option to those hoping to extend their time on Earth.

Dr. Kendziorra says he feels strongly about making cryopreservation possible at more price points, but its not just humans hoping to live forever that will benefit from increasing affordability. The field of cryonics needs an infusion of cash and research funding if it is going to maintain long-term storage facilities and figure out how to cure death. Theoretically, more bodiesor brainsin more tanks will lead to a greater investment in these endeavors by the scientific community.

Today, Alcors membership is split nearly evenly between whole-body and neuro cryopreservation. While neurosuspension is easier and less expensive, there are still some compelling reasons to consider whole-body cryopreservation.

For one thing, no one can be sure that the brain contains everything we would need to feel like ourselves upon reanimation. Without the central nervous system, the spine, the endocrine glands, and microbiome, would we recognize ourselves upon waking in the distant future?

Its a concern that led Becca Ziegler, a 23-year-old Tomorrow Bio member, to opt for whole-body preservation. From my understanding, everything that makes me me is in the brain, she says, but there are still some unknowns about consciousness and memories and how the brain interacts with the rest of the body. So I chose whole-body cryopreservation to ensure that there are no essential parts of my consciousness and memories that arent cryopreserved.

Dr. Kendziorra says that out of an abundance of caution, his company always recommends whole-body cryopreservation, unless its not within the budget of a perspective member. After all, rousing from a cryonic state hundreds of years in the future with only half of your identity would be a real disappointment. Better safe than sorry, says Dr. Kendziorra.

***

According to Dr. Kendziorra, there are currently four working theories for what future generations will do with thawed-out human brains. All of this is very speculative, he warns, but they have potential.

The first and perhaps most realistic, based on existing technology, is 3D printing.

We could 3D print all the other organs and connect the brain, Dr. Kendziorra says. This technology isnt there quite yet, but its probably not that far away anymore. Indeed, 3D organ bioprintingthe use of human cells to create three-dimensional tissueis a quickly evolving field, fueled by the hundreds of thousands of people who need organ transplants. Jennifer Lewis, a professor at Harvard Universitys Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, predicts the technology could be ready in a decade.

Another possibility will be the development of clones using DNA taken from brain tissue. The clone, of course, will need to be created without a brain, so that the old one can be transplanted. Since the birth of Dolly the sheep in 1996, scientists have cloned 22 animal species as well as a human embryo. Could brainless vessels be next?

Some scientists believe clones wont be necessary, and that reanimated brains could be transplanted in donor bodies, a method neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero called technically feasible, in a recent paper (published in a journal he is an editor of, it should be mentioned). After detailing how the cranial nerve and vascular system could theoretically be reconnected to the brain, the controversial scientist admitted there was lots of work still ahead, including cadaveric rehearsals, tests in brain-dead organ donors, and the development of new surgical tools. With appropriate funding, he argued, a long-held dream may finally come true.

The third way a reanimated brain could once again express itself is by being placed in an artificial body. In simpler terms, a robot body, says Dr. Kendziorra. Elon Musk thinks its possible and so does Michael S.A. Graziano, a Princeton neuroscientist. Graziano argued in a Wall Street Journal essay that uploading a mind into a robot body would take only two pieces of technology: an artificial brain and a scanning device with the ability to measure exactly how [a brains] neurons are connected to each other, to be able to copy that pattern in the artificial brain.

Then again, the robot might not even be necessary. We could reinstantiate the brain by connecting it to a computer, and all sensation inputs and outputs would be virtual, Dr. Kendziorra explains. On some abstract level, maybe theres not much a difference between real and virtual. Hes got a point; some scientists already believe were living in a simulation.

Regardless of just what future humans do with cryonically preserved brains, Dr. Kendziorra believes its going to take a long time to figure it out. Medically and technologically we are not there yet, and we will not be there for many, many decades. Its going to take a significant amount of time. And in fact, it might never work.

But if theres a reason to stay hopeful about cryonics, Dr. Kendziorra says its because the other option isnt so great either. The alternative, he laments, is death.

Ashley Stimpson is a freelance journalist who writes most often about science, conservation, and the outdoors. Her work has appeared in the Guardian, WIRED, Nat Geo, Atlas Obscura, and elsewhere. She lives in Columbia, Maryland, with her partner, their greyhound, and a very bad cat.

Original post:
The Science of Frozen Heads: How the First Cryonic Brains Will Rise Again - Popular Mechanics

Freezing your body after death with the hope of coming back to life one day sounds like something out of a science fiction movie.

Southern Cryonics, the first body-freezing facility in the Southern Hemisphere, tries to turn this idea into reality.

Were sort of in a race against time, says Southern Cryonics director, Peter Tsolakides, to Neos Kosmos.

Cryonics, coming from the Greek word kros for icy cold, involves the preservation of legally declared dead bodies at extremely low temperatures for potential future revival.

The facility in Holbrook, New South Wales, uses this practice, with the expectation that one day, advancements in medical technology and science will restore patients to health and in the young body.

But the timeframe of this future remains uncertain.

Tsolakides says once you preserve a body, you can keep it (stored) for thousands of years, but the chance of coming back depends on when you freeze it.

A matter of life after death

He says, currently 50 people, are willing to take the risk for a chance at life after death, and the number is growing.

This group consists of 35 investors each contributing $50,000 to $70,000, and 15 subscribers or customers who have paid $150,000 through life insurance.

Tsolakides says there are no guarantees, despite how great the dream of being brought back from the dead might be for some people.

Most of them know something about it (cryonics), but they also look at it and say, look, theres no guarantees, but theres a chance.

And that chance versus being buried in the ground or cremated is a much higher chance coming back.

He estimates the chance of a well-preserved body being revived in 200 years to be around 20%.

He says although its hard to predict what the world will be like in be like in 1,000 years, bodies might be revived when technological advancements have found the key to immortality.

In the real world, nobody will be dying, and most diseases will be cured. So, we will know how to prevent death in a sense, and the next step is to bring back those who have already died, but in a good condition.

Tsolakides says that while they dont know how to bring a person back to life, current developments give you inklings, of what the future is going to be like.

He says progress has to start somewhere, and right now billions are invested in medical research aimed at disease cures.

This includes groups working on brain revival, organ regeneration, cloning, and advancements in artificial intelligence and nanotechnology.

How does cryonics work?

When a person is declared legally dead at the hospital, a cooling process begins.

Chemicals are used to stabilise the body, lowering it to about ice temperature.

Once taken to the funeral home, the body is further cooled and infused with an antifreeze substance until it reaches about -80C.

Next, it goes to the cryonics facility, gradually cooled to -180C and preserved below that temperature, in a large vacuum flask container filled with liquid nitrogen.

Southern Cryonics Greek-Australian director says, theres a brief window of a few hours after legal death, where no deterioration occurs to the body.

Once preserved in liquid nitrogen, it can be stored for thousands of years due to almost no chemical or biological activity at that temperature.

Its a race against time to keep the temperature going down, he says.

But is it possible to freeze a human brain to revive it later?

If you catch them (bodies) under our optimal time, very little damage is occurring to the brain, but that doesnt mean that 200 years from now, that damage cant be repaired, Tsolakides says.

The facility can currently hold up to 40 patients, with each container fitting 4 bodies, but can expand to hold up to six or seven hundred patients if necessary.

The birth and evolution of Southern Cryonics

Tsolakides got interested in cryonics from a young age.

When he came back to Australia around 2012 after working overseas, he saw there were only cryonics facilities in the US and Russia.

He connected with like-minded people and talked about building one in Australia.

We started getting what we call founding members, says Tsolakides, each contributing $50,000 to kickstart the project, eventually totalling 35 members of a non-profit organisation.

We started the facility and that was how it sort of developed.

He says, they chose Holbrook, a small town with about 1,500 people, for a few reasons.

Land there wasnt expensive, and it was halfway between Melbourne and Sydney, making it accessible to over half of Australias population.

Holbrooks nearby Albury airport is crucial for quick patient transportation, and the support from the local council made the decision easier.

Another advantage is its proximity to liquid nitrogen suppliers along the Hume Highway, crucial for the facility.

Holbrooks low history of natural disasters made it a safe choice after a thorough analysis of several years.

The legalities

Tsolakides says Southern Cryonics got all the official approvals from the NSW Department of Health and the local council, to operate as a cemetery but uses a recognised funeral home for mortuary work.

The government groups that we work with helped us a lot. It wasnt like we got resistance or anything like that.

A good idea but not for everyone

Tsolakides was born in Israel to Greek parents.

His mother was from the Greek island of Syros, and his father from Athens.

They briefly lived in Greece before moving to Australia in 1955 when Tsolakides was five years old.

He has a degree in Chemistry and later pursued one in Business Administration.

Throughout his career, he worked primarily in marketing for an oil company.

He grew up and lived in Melbourne for many years before moving to Sydney, a place he now calls home.

His passion in cryonics sparked at about18 after reading Robert Ettingers book, The Prospect of Immortality.

At that age, he didnt worry much about death.

He assumed this will be everywhere, by the time he got old, but soon realised that very few people worldwide were interested in it.

He says that while some are intrigued by cryonics, most view it as a good idea but not for themselves.

Even the US organisation have about five to six thousand members only, with 400 or 500 people suspended, and theyve been going for 50 years.

But that didnt stop him for pursuing his curiosity around cryonics.

Keeping an eye on scientific developments

Tsolakides is determined to improve their techniques and increase success chances, despite challenges or doubts about cryonics.

He says Southern Cryonics along with overseas organisations is monitoring the best way to store a body, leaving the revival work to other scientists.

Its (suspending the body) physically possible to do it now, he says, but of course, you can always improve the processes.

While cryonics remains a controversial field and the chances of revival seem low now, it is yet to be seen whether future technology will ever be able to bring the dead back to life.

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Is it possible to come back from the dead? Australia's first body-freezing facility explores the boundaries of mortality - Neos Kosmos

This story is a collaboration with

Sixty years ago this month, on April 22, 1964, the New York Worlds Fair opened in Flushing MeadowsCorona Park in Queens, New York. The Fair had the theme of Peace Through Understanding, and was dedicated to Mans Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe, as symbolized by the 140-foot-tall stainless-steel globe, known as the Unisphere, that towered over a massive reflecting pool.

The 1964 Worlds Fair wasnt the first one held in Flushing Meadows; the Unisphere was built on the same ground once occupied by the similarly spherical Perisphere, which was constructed for the 1939 Worlds Fair. To kick off the 1964 Fair, President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered opening remarks that evoked the 39 edition, which imagined the 1960s of the future:

But Johnsons reflections on human progress werent all positive. No one prophesied that half the world would be devastated by war, or that millions of helpless would be slaughtered, the President noted, just months after he approved the controversial National Security Action Memorandum 288 escalating the U.S.s involvement in the Vietnam War. No one foresaw power that was capable of destroying man, or a cold war which could bring conflict to every continent.

Overhead view of the 1964 Worlds Fair, showing the Unisphere and surrounding pavilions in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, New York.

Johnsons presence at the 1964 Worlds Fair underscored the somber reality facing America at the time. After all, an assassins bullet killed the intended speaker, his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, thrusting hima representative of Washington D.C.s old guardinto the role intended for JFK, a symbol of the New Frontier.

So, who could Fair attendees turn to for hopeful visions of Peace Through Understanding, and Mans Achievement on a Shrinking Globe? Only one man: Walt Disney.

Disney, who had been a weekly presence in American homes for the last decade through his television show, Walt Disneys Disneylandlater titled Walt Disney Presentscreated four attractions for the 64 Worlds Fair. These exhibits were a hit, drawing 135,000 visitors per day during the first season alone, according to The Walt Disney Family Museum.

Walt Disney at the 1964 New York Worlds Fair

Visitors line up to enter Its A Small World at the Worlds Fair in 1965.

Disneys attractions included Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln at the Illinois Pavilion, an animatronic replica of another President who represented hope, and who was also assassinated; Fords Magic Skyway for the Ford Motor Company, where guests rode in Ford vehicles past animatronic dinosaurs; and the now-iconic its a small world, which Disneys Imagineers built in collaboration with Pepsi-Cola as a tribute to UNICEF.

But it was the Carousel of Progress, located in General Electrics Progressland pavilion, that most epitomized Walt Disneys vision of the future. The rotating animatronic show guided audiences through the history of human innovation and provided a comforting escape with its optimistic theme song by the Sherman Brothers, promising, Theres a great, big, beautiful tomorrow/Shining at the end of every day.

In the aftermath of a national tragedy, Walt Disney became a beacon of optimism for fairgoers, and for Americans. His presence fostered a belief in a great big beautiful tomorrow.

Perhaps its that enduring optimism that fuels the persistent conspiracy that Disney, who died in 1966, might still be among us, secretly preserved in hopes of one day being revived.

In 1964, besides contributing to the Worlds Fair, Disney also released his most acclaimed live-action film yet: Mary Poppins. Just a few years earlier, during a screening of To Kill a Mockingbird, Disney had reportedly lamented, Thats the kind of film Id like to make, but I cant. Now, his tender musical adaptation of P.L. Travers novel had achieved the same milestone as Universals adaptation of Harper Lees seminal work: a nomination for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

Poster for Mary Poppins, touting the film as "Walt Disney's Greatest Achievement."

With his status finally solidified in the entertainment industry, Disney turned his sights to the futurenot of his film studio, but of humanity. Intent on using his renowned imagination to forge a brighter tomorrow, Disney envisioned a utopia designed to last forever. In 1964, the future looked bright for Walt Disney.

In less than three years, he would be dead.

On December 15, 1966, Walt Disney died as a result of complications from lung cancer. As Biography notes, a private funeral was held the next day, and on December 17, his body was cremated and interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Some conspiracy theorists, however, believe that Disneys remains arent actually at Forest Lawn. Theyll tell you, according to Biography, that Disneys body is instead suspended in a frozen state and buried deep beneath the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, awaiting the day when medical technology would be advanced enough to reanimate the animator.

The rumored cryonic freezing of Walt Disney has no clear origin point that Biography could confirm. But its first documented mention is in a 1969 Ici Paris article, reportedly as a prank concocted by disgruntled animators who once worked for Disney seeking to have a laugh at their late taskmasker employers expense. Their motive was seemingly revenge for Disneys strict oversight, an aftermath of a labor uprising in the late 1930s that is chronicled in depth in The Disney Revolt: The Great Labor War of Animations Golden Age.

Initially, whispers suggested Disneys entire body was preserved in a secret facility, but soon the tale focused on the animators head alone, frozen beneath iconic Disneyland attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean, the Matterhorn, the Partners statue at the center of the park, and even the Magic Kingdom castle. Over time, it seems every corner of Disneyland has been rumored to shelter its founders frozen head.

The notion of Walt Disneys icy remains hiding within park attractions might stem from the actualsecrets of Disneyland. There is indeed a hidden space at the top of the Matterhorn, but its home to a basketball court for bored Disney staff, not a frozen former CEO. And while early versions of Pirates of the Caribbean did feature real skeletons from UCLAs medical school, according to SFGate, none belonged to Disney himself.

The grim idea that only Walt Disneys head was placed in cryostasis might have caught on due to its eerie, sci-fi feel, with modern cryonics offering both full-body and head-only preservation options. That singular detail adds a creepy wrinkle to the conspiracy, evoking images more akin to the 1962 horror flick The Brain That Wouldnt Die than the reality of a Hollywood moguls legacy.

Nevertheless, the tale of Walt Disneys frozen head persisted, specifically resurfacing in two biographies released years after his death: Leonard Moselys 1986 Disneys World and Marc Eliots 1993 Walt Disney: Hollywoods Dark Prince, which further embedded the legend into popular culture.

Eliots controversial biography, which was criticized by Disneys family and historians alike for its speculative content, included unfounded allegations against Disney, including claims that he was an FBI informant (which evidence suggests he was not), and that he refused to have flags at half mast at Disneyland when JFK died (which photographic evidence disproves). Nevertheless, Hollywoods Dark Prince fed into a desire to find the dark side of a man often propped up as the symbol of Americana, pushing both the cryonics rumor and the assertions of Disneys rampant antisemitism (also notably debunked) into the mainstream.

Disneys family has firmly denied the rumor that he was cryogenically frozen, and as Biography points out, it has been further discredited by those pointing to the existence of signed legal documents that indicate Disney was in fact cremated and that his remains are interred in a marked plot (for which his estate paid $40,000) at Forest Lawn, the exact location of which is a matter of public record. Plus, the first instance of a person being cryopreserved after his death, James Bedford, didnt occur until nearly a month after Disneys cremation, debunking the timeline of the rumor that Disney was frozen.

Walt Disneys grave site at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Diane Disney, Walts daughter, wrote in a 1972 biography about her famous father that she doubted her father had even heard of cryonics.

Nonetheless, even skeptics who reject the frozen head story might concede that Walt Disney, a famously forward-thinking futurist, could have been aware of cryonics. The concept gained attention in 1964, the same year Disney shifted his focus from film to envisioning his utopian future.

If you were browsing the New Releases shelf at a bookstore in 1964, you might stumble upon an intriguing non-fiction book in between copies of Ernest Hemingways A Moveable Feast and the Warren Commissions The Warren Report: Robert Ettingers The Prospect of Immortality.

Most of us now living have a chance for personal, physical immortality, Ettinger claims in the very first sentence. All you need to do, Ettinger says, is join one established fact with one reasonable assumption.

The fact: At very low temperatures it is possible, right now, to preserve dead people with essentially no deterioration, indefinitely.

The assumption: If civilization endures, medical science should eventually be able to repair almost any damage to the human body, including freezing damage and senile debility or other cause of death.

Six decades later, while we havent mastered the art of repairing all human body damage, our cryopreservation methods have advanced significantly, particularly with the introduction of vitrification by Greg Fahy and William F. Rall in the 1980s. And recent scientific advancements suggest that what we currently understand as death might be more reversible than previously thought.

Some excerpts from Ettingers book resonate with the futuristic optimism of Walt Disneys Tomorrowland. For example, Ettinger writes,If civilization endures ... if the Golden Age materializes, the future will reveal a wonderful world indeed, a vista to excite the mind and thrill the heart. However, even if Disney had encountered Ettingers work, his imagination had already been sparked by another piece of literature before he died.

In May 1960, Horizon magazine published Out of a Fair, a City, an article in which architect Victor Gruen envisioned transforming the 1964 Worlds Fair site into a domed city to test solutions for societal challenges. According to Imagineer Marty Sklars 1999 book, Remembering Walt, Gruens philosophy (further elaborated in Gruens 1964 work, The Heart of our Cities: The Urban Crisis, Diagnosis and Cure,) was a significant influence on Disney during his final yearsso much that he began an ambitious plan to build a community in Florida that would never cease to be a living blueprint of the future.

Disney, utilizing land his corporation discreetly bought in Florida, set out to build an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow adjacent to his planned East Coast theme park. The community aimed to eliminate traffic jams, offer abundant green spaces, and showcase efficient public transportation with the use of a monorail system.

EPCOT world showcase at Walt Disney World Resort, 1982

After Walt Disneys death, the Florida land earmarked for his future city was transformed into EPCOT, the second theme park at Walt Disney World Resort. EPCOT features a Future World section with educational attractions and a World Showcase with international pavilions, operating as a perpetual Worlds Fair.

In his last years, Walt Disney was introspective, focusing not on the prospect of immortality, but on a different sentiment. While the 1964 song Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow planted the seed in millions of young minds, it was another tune by the Sherman Brothers from the same year that resonated deeply with Disney as he reflected on his life. Richard Sherman recalls:

There is little left of the 1964 New York Worlds Fair in Flushing MeadowsCorona Park. The spot where the Carousel of Progress once played in GEs Progressland is now an athletic field. The Vatican pavilion has been replaced by a stone bench. The Unisphere, however, still remains, towering over a park whose occupants have little memory, or even awareness, of the Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow promised at the park 60 years ago.

The Unisphere in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in March 2024.

For the Baby Boomers who experienced Disneys contributions to the 1964 Worlds Fair, the event offered hope and a last optimistic vision of the future from Uncle Walt. And while today, these visitors can encounter preserved pieces of the Fair at the Queens Museum and experience its a small world at Disney parks worldwide, they cant turn that athletic field back into Progressland. And they cant bring back the man who made it possible.

Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse at the Rose Parade in 1966.

Walt Disneys legacy extends far beyond his films and theme parks. He symbolizes something greater than a sprawling entertainment empire. As biographer Neal Gabler put it in the final pages of Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination, he demonstrated how one could assert ones will on the world at the very time when everything seemed to be growing beyond control and beyond comprehension.

For conspiracy theorists who want to believe Walt Disney is a frozen head, waiting for revival, perhaps its because they want to believe he asserted his will over the one thing no one has been able to do before. That maybe, if the Golden Age materializes, Walt Disney could even come back to life. And with him would come, once again, the promise of a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow. A promise he made in Queens 60 years ago.

Michael Natale is the news editor for Best Products, covering a wide range of topics like gifting, lifestyle, pop culture, and more. He has covered pop culture and commerce professionally for over a decade. His past journalistic writing can be found on sites such as Yahoo! and Comic Book Resources, his podcast appearances can be found wherever you get your podcasts, and his fiction cant be found anywhere, because its not particularly good.

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The Truth About Walt Disney's Frozen Head and His Quest to Live Forever - Popular Mechanics

The cryonics industry and those who support cryonics refer to those who undergo the procedure after death as "cryonauts." ValentynVolkov /iStockPhoto

To some, its the possibility of another life for themselves or a loved one. To others, its science fiction.

Whatever it is, cryonicsdefined by the Alcor Life Extension Foundation as the science of using ultra-cold temperatures to preserve human life with the intent of restoring good health when technology becomes available to do so has now been around for 60 years, since the death of retired psychology professor James H. Bedford. Alcor, the company that still has his body in a frozen chamber, calls him the first cryonaut. (Cryonics is sometimes incorrectly referred to as cryogenics.)

Bedford was frozen long before Alcor was formed in 1976, but today thats where he rests with 148 others, in the Patient Care Bay in Scottsdale, Arizona. After his death, aged 73, of kidney cancer, his body was put on ice, The New York Times Magazine wrote in 1997. Then his body was processed by experts from the Cryonics Society of California, the Times wrote.

Sam Shaw of This American Life got a little more detail on what happened when the first cryonaut was frozen. He interviewed Bob Nelson, a TV repairman who became president of the society, a nonprofit consisting mostly of people who wanted to be cryonically preserved. What he discovered: like Nelson, most of the societys members were amateurs, and the scientists they had persuaded to work on the theoretical question of cryonics were skeptical. They wanted to take things slow, conduct research, publish papers, Shaw says. Then James Beford asked to be frozen, and they decided to go for it in spite of the fact that theyd lose the scientific communitys support.

When Dr. Bedford died on January 12, 1967, they were all caught off guard. Dr. Bedfords nurse had to run up and down the block collecting ice from the home freezers of neighbours. Cryonics was still just a theory, and the proceedings had the slightly manic quality of a local theater production, forced to open a couple of weeks early.

Bedford has been frozen ever since, although both his container and the place where he rests have changed. After his body was preserved, Alcor writes, he was handed over to family. His very devoted son stored him at a succession of locations over some two decades before transferring both his care and custody to Alcor, the foundation writes. According to the Times, his body was kept at a warehouse in Anaheim, a cryonics facility in Emeryville, somewhere else undisclosed and Fullerton before coming to Alcor. The reason for so many moves: fifty years ago, there was no cryonics industry and it was a fringe idea at best.

Around Bedfords body, the landscape of cryonics has also transformed dramatically, but despite Alcors strict protocols, theres no proof that its method of cryopreservation is actually working, writes George Dvorsky for Gizmodo. For all we know, every single person at the facility is a goner. Cryonics is still only the hope of a future for those preserved, even, as Dvorsky writes, when theyre terminally ill children.

If Bedford is ever re-animated, he will be in some strange company, writes Stacy Conradt for Mental Floss: mathematician Thomas K. Donaldson, a man who changed his name to FM-2030, Alcor vice president Jerry Leaf and both baseball player Ted Williams and his son John-Henry Williams are on ice at Alcor.

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The First Cryonic Preservation Took Place Fifty Years Ago Today

The CI AdvantageStability, Safety, And Security

We have a proven track record of financial security and stability, as well as price stability. CI is the only cryonics organization with no debt, no stockholders, and no landlords. We own our patient care facilities outright, and all of our member officers and directors donate their services voluntarily. Were one of the oldest cryonics organizations in existence and the only such organization that has never raised its prices, even in high-inflation times like the late 70s and early 80s. Adjusting for inflation, our prices have actually steadily declined, and we hope to continue that trend.

As members, each and every one of us has a vested interest in the long-term viability of our organization our facilities, cryostats and finances are built to last into the future were striving toward.

We have a flexible and rapid system of emergency patient care based on widely available networks of mortuary assistance. This means that in the critical early stages, we can bring qualified professionals to you throughout most of the world. In particular, London-based F.A. Albin & Sons funeral directors are trained, practiced, equipped, and prepared to fly a team anywhere in Europe on short notice to help European CI members, tourists or business travellers.

Our prices are lower than any other organization in fact, the most affordable prices anywhere in the world. This is in keeping with our membership philosophy to provide ourselves reliable cryonic services at a reasonable and affordable cost. If we were to raise prices, wed only be charging ourselves more.

Our minimum whole-body suspension fee is $28,000. (For members at a distance, transportation costs and local help will be additional.) Our $28,000 fee is a one-time only payment, with no subsequent charges.Its easily funded by insurance or other means. (For last-minute cases, where the patient was not signed up beforehand, we ordinarily charge $35,000 rather than $28,000, if arrangements can be worked out at all.)

Does that lower fee mean lower quality patient care or services?Absolutely not.We believe that our non-profit status allows us to more successfully control costs. We believe that specific methods and research offered by alternative cryonics organizations differ only slightly from ours and that our procedures and policies give an equal or better chance for patient survival than competing organizations.

See for yourself. Read ourFAQand review The CI Advantage. Remember, many CI members could afford the higher prices of other organizations for themselves and their families, but weve chosen CI because we know its our best bet. And yours.

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About CI - The Cryonics Institute

When an 87-year-old Californian man was wheeled into an operating room just outside Phoenix last year, the pandemic was at its height and medical protocols were being upended across the country.

A case like his would normally have required 14 or more bags of fluids to be pumped into him, but now that posed a problem.

Had he been infected with the coronavirus, tiny aerosol droplets could have escaped and infected staff, so the operating team had adopted new procedures that reduced the effectiveness of the treatment but used fewer liquids.

It was an elaborate workaround, especially considering the patient had been declared legally dead more than a day earlier.

He had arrived in the operating room of Alcor Life Extension Foundation located in an industrial park near the airport in Scottsdale, Ariz. packed in dry ice and ready to be cryopreserved, or stored at deep-freeze temperatures, in the hope that one day, perhaps decades or centuries from now, he could be brought back to life.

As it turns out, the pandemic that has affected billions of lives around the world has also had an impact on the nonliving.

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Cryonics During the Pandemic - The New York Times

1976 ROBERT ETTINGER FOUNDS THE CRYONICS INSTITUTE

Then in 1976 a separate organization was formed: the Cryonics Institute, to offer cryostasis services: careful preparation, cooling, and long term patient care in liquid nitrogen.

Our goal was maximum reliability and affordability. And we achieved it. The Cryonics Institute offers clear-cut advantages over all other providers. Such as:

Our prices are lower than any other organization in fact, the most affordable prices anywhere in the world. Our minimum whole-body suspension fee is $28,000. (For members at a distance, transportation costs and local help will be additional.) Our $28,000 fee is a one-time only payment, with no subsequent charges. Its easily funded by insurance or other means, and funds the best care available for our member patients. (For last-minute cases, where the patient was not signed up beforehand, we ordinarily charge $35,000 rather than $28,000, if arrangements can be worked out at all.)

Does that lower fee mean lower quality patient care or services? No. The major part of other organizations fees are earmarked for investment provisions totally unrelated to patient care and preparation. Methods and research differ, but overall we believe our procedures and policies give a better chance for patient survival than any other organizations and this web site will show you the detailed reasons why.

See for yourself. Read our FAQ and see The CI Advantage that compares the different cryonics organizations and why we think CI gives you and those you love the best possible chance for future survival. Remember: most CI members can afford the higher prices of other organizations for themselves and their families and often do give more, in bequests and donations. But weve chosen CI because we know its our best bet. And yours.

We have a unique, proven track record of financial security and stability. Price stability too. CI is the only organization with no debt, no stockholders, and no landlords. We own our patient care facilities outright, and all our officers and directors donate their services voluntarily. Were one of the oldest cryonics organizations in existence and the only such organization that has never raised its prices, even in high-inflation times like the late 70s and early 80s. Adjusting for inflation, our prices have actually steadily declined, and we expect this to continue.

Financially, we are the soundest cryonics organization in existence.

We have a uniquely flexible and rapid system of emergency patient care based on universally available networks of mortuary assistance (and often medical assistance). This means that in the critical early stages, we can bring qualified professionals to you faster than any other system to you, and to travelers, vacationers, and members throughout most of the world. In particular, London-based F.A. Albin & Sons funeral directors are trained, practiced, equipped, and prepared to fly a team anywhere in Europe on short notice to help European CI members or tourists and business travelers.

And finally, we provide a comprehensive source of information here on CIs website. The site youre reading will lead you to everything you need to know about the subject of cryonics, and more. It offers you free information, free books, the latest news, hundreds of links to thousands of sources covering health, science, cutting-edge medicine, nanotechnology, financial help and resources, and supportive people and organizations. And if thats not enough? We personally will answer any question you might have about cryonics or the Cryonics Institute directly by email, or direct you to someone who can. In the world of cryonics, this is the source to visit, and the place to be.

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History Timeline - The Cryonics Institute

International Cryonics Museum has been chosen as the Sight of the Week by the editors of Roadside America.  Estes Park Trail-Gazette

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International Cryonics Museum has been chosen as the Sight of the Week by the editors of Roadside America. - Estes Park Trail-Gazette

The environment was something of a shift for Drake, who had spent the previous seven years as the medical response director of the Alcor Life Extension Foundation. Though it was the longtime leader in cryonics, Alcor was still a small nonprofit. It had been freezing the bodies and brains of its members, with the idea of one day bringing them back to life, since 1976.

The foundation, and cryonics in general, had long survived outside of mainstream acceptance. Typically shunned by the scientific community, cryonics is best known for its appearance in sci-fi films like 2001: A Space Odyssey. But its adherents have held on to a dream that at some point in the future, advances in medicine will allow for resuscitation and additional years on Earth. Over decades, small, tantalizing developments in related technology, as well as high-profile frozen test subjects like Ted Williams, have kept the hope alive. Today, nearly 200 dead patients are frozen in Alcors cryogenic chambers at temperatures of 196 C, including a handful of celebrities, who have paid tens of thousands of dollars for the goal of possible revival and ultimately reintegration into society.

But its the recent involvement of Yinfeng that signals something of a new era for cryonics. With impressive financial resources, government support, and scientific staff, its one of a handful of new labs focused on expanding the consumer appeal of cryonics and trying anew to bring credibility to the long-disputed theory of human reanimation. Just a year after Drake came on board as research director of the Shandong Yinfeng Life Science Research Institute, the subsidiary of the Yinfeng Biological Group overseeing the cryonics program, the institute performed its first cryopreservation. Its storage vats now hold about a dozen clients who are paying upwards of $200,000 to preserve the whole body.

Still, the field remains rooted in faith rather than any real evidence that it works. Its a hopeless aspiration that reveals an appalling ignorance of biology, says Clive Coen, a neuroscientist and professor at Kings College London.

Even if one day you could perfectly thaw a frozen human body, you would still just have a warm dead body on your hands.

The cryonics process typically goes something like this: Upon a persons death, a response team begins the process of cooling the corpse to a low temperature and performs cardiopulmonary support to sustain blood flow to the brain and organs. Then the body is moved to a cryonics facility, where an organ preservation solution is pumped through the veins before the body is submerged in liquid nitrogen. This process should commence within one hour of deaththe longer the wait, the greater the damage to the bodys cells. Then, once the frozen cadaver is ensconced in the cryogenic chamber, the hope of the dead begins.

Since its beginnings in the late 1960s, the field has attracted opprobrium from the scientific community, particularly its more respectable cousin cryobiologythe study of how freezing and low temperatures affect living organisms and biological materials. The Society for Cryobiology even banned its members from involvement in cryonics in the 1980s, with a former society president lambasting the field as closer to fraud than either faith or science.

In recent years, though, it has grabbed the attention of the libertarian techno-optimist crowd, mostly tech moguls dreaming of their own immortality. And a number of new startups are expanding the playing field. Tomorrow Biostasis in Berlin became the first cryonics company in Western Europe in 2019, for example, and in early 2022, Southern Cryonics opened a facility in Australia.

More researchers are open to longer-term, futuristic topics than there might have been 20 years ago or so, says Tomorrow Biostasis founder Emil Kendziorra.

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Why the sci-fi dream of cryonics never died - MIT Technology Review

In case you missed it, link below to the CBS Sunday Morning segment about the Cryonics Museum  Estes Park Trail-Gazette

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In case you missed it, link below to the CBS Sunday Morning segment about the Cryonics Museum - Estes Park Trail-Gazette

cryonics, the practice of freezing an individual who has died, with the object of reviving the individual sometime in the future. The word cryonics is derived from the Greek kros, meaning icy cold.

Cryonic preservation can be performed only after an individual has been declared legally dead. The process is initiated shortly after death, the body being packed in ice and shipped to a cryonics facility. There the blood is drained from the body and is replaced with antifreeze and organ-preserving compounds known as cryoprotective agents. In this vitrified state, the body is placed in a chamber filled with liquid nitrogen, where it will theoretically stay preserved at -196 C until scientists are able to find a way to resuscitate the body in the future.

A chamber filled with liquid nitrogen in which individuals are preserved at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona.(more)

Cryonic preservation is expensive, full-body preservation potentially costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nonetheless, by 2023 about 500 individuals had been cryonically preserved, the majority of them in the United States. Dozens of pets had also been preserved. Some individuals chose to have their entire bodies frozen, whereas others wanted only their heads preserved, a process known as neuropreservation. The option to cryonically preserve only a persons head is based on the belief by many cryonics adherents that cryonically preserved personalities may one day be downloaded into robot bodies or be transferred into entirely new bodies grown from stem cells.

The concept of cryonic preservation was popularized in The Prospect of Immortality, a book by Robert Ettinger that was initially released in 1962 and formally published in 1964. Ettinger subsequently became known as the father of cryonics. His body was cryonically preserved upon his death in 2011 and was stored at the Cryonics Institute in Clinton Township, Michigan. The first human to be cryonically preserved was James Bedford. On January 12, 1967, Bedford died from liver cancer that had metastasized to his lungs. Bedford died before all the arrangements for his cryonic preservation could be completed. As a result, his body was injected with cryoprotective agents without first draining his blood, and his body was then packed in dry ice. Bedfords body was later immersed in liquid nitrogen and transferred from one facility to another, finally ending up at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona.

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Cryonics | Description, Process, Popularization, & Facts

It is most important that the cryonics patient is a CI member and has completed all of the necessary documents with their funding arrangements in place. This will allow CI to accept the patient without hesitation or delay. Time is of the essence for a successful cryopreservation and being prepared before an emergency arises can make all the difference. If a patient is near death, the Cryonics Institute should be notified immediately at 1-586-791-5961 and kept updated of any changes.

It is also suggested that, if possible, a cryonics patient relocate themselves to Michigan, near the CI facility, before death occurs. Delay in transfer to the facility can be avoided this way. If this is not an option, it is strongly advised that the CI member, or their next of kin, make arrangements with a local funeral director before the time of need. The funeral directorcan then be better prepared to act during an emergency.

Initial Cool-down and Transport.

If possible, CI Members should arrange to have a cryonics standby team standing by their bedside when they are in a terminal condition. Such a team can initiate rapid cool-down and provide other helpful stand by procedures.

The patient should be pronounced dead as soon as possible after clinical death (which usually means after cessation of heartbeat and breathing). The patient should then be cooled immediatelyespecially the headby application of ice. A slurry of ice water can cool much faster than ice cubes alone, so an inflatable basin for giving shampoos can be filled with ice and water to cool the head. Even better would be cooling the entire body of the patient in a body bag filled with ice water. The best scenario is for the patient to die at home under hospice care, with trained personnel morticians or Cryonics Institute (CI) volunteers on hand. (No guarantee is made that CI volunteers can be found.)

An anticoagulant should be injected to prevent the blood from clotting, which will help to improve the patients perfusion. When using the anticoagulant, Heparin, a dose of 30,000 units is given for patients weighing up to 200 lbs. and a dose of 40,000 units is given for patients weighing 200 lbs. or more. Once the heparin is injected, Cardio Pulmonary Support (CPS) (chest compressions) is required for at least 5 minutes to circulate the heparin throughout the body.

During transportation from the place of death to the funeral home if the patient dies outside of Michigan, or to the CI facility if the patient dies in Michigan, CPS should be given, if feasible, manually or by machine (thumper or Lucas) in order to minimize deterioration, help cool the patient, and to help distribute the heparin.

If the patient can be moved to Michigan near the CI facility before death occurs, this will eliminate transportation delays. Patients living outside of Michigan will require the services of a funeral director near them to cool the patient in ice and arrange for transportation to Michigan. The out of state funeral director will obtain the necessary transit permits and arrange for the patient to be transported to Michigan, by airline or vehicle, whichever is fastest, while keeping the patient in ice. If the patient is flown to Michigan, CI personnel will arrange to have the patient picked up from the Detroit Metro Airport (DTW) and brought back to the CI facility.

Perfusion

Upon arrival at CIs facility, the patients blood is removed as CryoProtectant Agents (CPAs, substances that prevent ice formation) are introduced to replace the patients blood and body water, a process known as Perfusion. Blood vessels are accessed and cannulated for the perfusion and a licensed funeral director performs the perfusion.

The cryoprotectant used by CI is called CI-VM-1, a Vitrification Mixture which was developed by CIs former in-house cryobiologist, Dr.Yuri Pichugin. Vitrification solutions can completely eliminate ice formation. The perfusion with vitrification solution is done at increasing concentrations, until a target concentration of 70% CI-VM-1 is reached. The patient is kept cold through the process, as the lower concentration CPAs are stored and introduced at refrigerator temperature. The 70% CI-VM-1 has been stored in a freezer, so it is below freezing temperature. Thermocouples are placed in the nasopharynx for monitoring the patients brain core temperature through the perfusion.

CI protocol is to perfuse the entire body, by way of the carotid arteries. The funeral director gains access to the blood vessels by small incisions along the clavicle. The right and left carotid arteries are carefully incised for the insertion of the cannulas required for perfusion. Both arteries are cannulated towards the heart and towards the brain to achieve a full body perfusion. To protect the integrity of the vascular system and ensure a successful perfusion, the pressure and speed at which the cryoprotectant is introduced into the patient is monitored very carefully.

The right and left jugular veins are also cannulated for drainage and for sampling of the effluent. A refractometer is used to measure the refractive index of the effluent from the jugular veins. Perfusion continues until the refractive index of the effluents is matched with the refractive index of CI-VM-1. Once this is achieved, the perfusion is halted. Perfusion will be halted before the refractive index of CI-VM-1 is reached only if there is considerable edema evident in the patients brain.

When the perfusion is complete, the incisions are sutured by the funeral director. The patient is then sheathed with a light weight cover for dignity and placed in an insulation pouch before being moved from the operating table to a stretcher where they are secured to a backboard for support. The stretcher is used to transport the patient from the perfusion room to the computer controlled cooling unit, inside the CI facility.

Further Cool-Down and Storage

The patient is carefully placed in the cooling unit on their backboard. The insulation pouch is opened slightly to allow for consistent cooling. The appropriate program is selected to steadily cool the patient to liquid nitrogen temperature. The process of cooling the patient to -196c takes five and a half days. The cooling is done by CIs computer-controlled cooling unit. The computer-controlled cooling unit constantly monitors the temperature inside the cooling unit via a thermocouple.

At the end of the cooling process, the patient is carefully removed from the cooling unit and the insulation pouch is closed. Once ID tags are attached to the patient for identification purposes, the patient is ready to be transferred to the cryostat (long term storage unit). The patient transfer is done quickly, but carefully, while the insulation pouch is saturated with nitrogen, so there is no appreciable warm-up during transfer. The ropes that are attached to the patients backboard are secured to an electric lift and the patient is safely lowered into the cryostat. Cryostat liquid nitrogen levels are monitored daily to ensure the safety of the patients. CI staff adds liquid nitrogen from the facilitys bulk tank to the cryostats when needed.

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Guide to Cryonics Procedures - The Cryonics Institute

"I think of it more as an ideological statement."Anti-Death Activist

Billionaire tech entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel says he's freezing his body when he dies if only as a moment of anti-death activism.

Thiel explained his "just in case" cryonics aspirations to journalist and former Twitter Filer Bari Weiss on Weiss' podcast, Honestly, in a lengthy podcast episode published last week.

"I think of it more as an ideological statement," Thiel told Weiss, as quoted by Fortune.

"I don't necessarily expect it to work," he continued, "but I think it's the sort of thing we're supposed to try to do."

In other words: cryo might not ultimately work, but as one of the most vocal leaders on the immortality-seeking technological crusade, he's duty-bound to freeze his ol' bag o' bones nonetheless. Gotta walk the walk if you talk the talk.

As for where he's seeking to freeze himself, Thiel told Weiss that he's eyeing Alcor, the prominent cryo firm that back in 2009 was accused of both accidentally decapitating and accidentally freezing what appeared to be a can of tuna to the icy head of baseball great Ted Williams.

Thiel's cryo plans aren't all that surprising, as the billionaire's enthusiasm for immortality tech has been widely documented. Along with making some notable investments into immortality tech firms, Thiel was famously accused of seeking blood infusions from young donors. And back in 2014, the VC took anti-aging to a whole new level when he declared to the Telegraph that he was "against" the concept of mortality.

"People have a choice to accept death, deny it or fight it," Thiel told Telegraph. "I think our society is dominated by people who are into denial or acceptance, and I prefer to fight it."

Thiel reiterated a version of that 2014 argument in his recent conversation with Weiss, saying that we should at least understand whyhumans are doomed to toil away in our mortal meat suits.

"We haven't even tried," the PayPal and Palantir cofounder lamented. "We should either conquer death or at least figure out why it's impossible."

Of course, the answer to that latter point may well be answered by simple biology. And to that end, immortality-seeking cryo has been decried by some experts as something along the lines of a pseudoscientific hail mary.

Regardless, whether Thiel's anti-death investments will one day pay off remains to be seen. But even if he's ultimately unable to attain immortality, at least he'll die trying.

More on immortality tech: Elon Musk Says That Immortality Tech Would Be Very Dangerous

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Billionaire Peter Thiel Says He's Freezing His Body After Death Just in ...

Despite movies like Passengers, the science behind cryonics is still a long way from reviving people who have been frozen after theyve died.

What if you had a life-threatening disease and someone offered an ambulance ride to a hospital that may hold the cure? Youd take it, right?

What if that ambulance was actually a cryonic state that kept you preserved and that hospital existed 200 years from now? Would you still go?

Cryonics, in the simplest terms, is the act of freezing someone whos been declared legally dead. The idea is to conserve the body until science can catch up and provide treatment to whatever caused the person to die.

When that scientific breakthrough occurs, the person is then revived, given the necessary medical treatment, and goes on living.

The practice recently made headlines when a 14-year-old United Kingdom girl with cancer sought the legal right to be frozen. Her parents were divorced and her father didnt agree with her intentions. The teenager asked the court to designate that only her mother could dispose of her remains so she could get her wish. In October a judge ruled in her favor.

Im only 14 years old and I dont want to die, but I know I will. I think being cryo-preserved gives me a chance to be cured, even in a hundred years time I want to live and live longer and I think that in the future they may find a cure for my cancer and wake me up, she wrote to a judge before her recent death.

Read more: Facing death at an early age

The theory of cryonics was first broached more than 50 years ago by Robert Ettinger.

In 1964, his book, The Prospect of Immortality, first introduced the idea on a mass scale. A dozen years later, he founded the Cryonics Institute.

Over the past five decades, cryonics has held on to a small but dedicated group of supporters. Today, hundreds if not thousands of people are betting on the science.

Dozens of institutions, nonprofits, and businesses around the world offer cryonic services to anyone who can afford it. Ettingers Cryonics Institute in Michigan and Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Arizona are two of the better known cryonics providers in the United States.

Those who are in favor of it say cryonics is ultimately about scientific exploration. Those who are opposed to the say it takes advantage of people in vulnerable positions.

In order for a body to get to a preserved, frozen state, a person must first be declared legally dead. Once that is determined, the freezing process involves a complex set of protocols. Its designed to cool the body, so that everything slows down at a molecular level, according to Dennis Kowalski, chief executive officer of the Cryonics Institute.

Once the blood is pumped out of the body, its cooled even further but in a way that preserves the organs and hinders tissue damage. The body is then placed into a large thermos-type bottle of liquid nitrogen where it stays indefinitely. Or until science can provide a viable cure.

I guess its about optimism. Its also about hope, Kowalski told Healthline.

But hope is not cheap. At Cryonics Institute, cryonic services costs $28,000. That price, Kowalski said, is competitive.

Part of the funds go the groups endowment, which is used to cover the long-term expenses of keeping bodies frozen for potentially hundreds of years. Kowalski does not take a salary for his work at the institute. Instead, he works full time as an emergency medical technician.

He added that if someone is interested in cryonics and is quoted a cheaper price, hed be skeptical about that organizations ability to keep a body preserved in a proper way with all the safeguards intact.

Read more: The changing definition of what is brain dead

If cryonics sounds like the stuff of science fiction, thats because it is.

A number of well-known films such as Sleeper, Space Odyssey 2001, and the soon-to-be-released Passengers starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence all employ some version of cryonics as the crux of their story line.

In these movies, the protagonists are put to sleep or frozen and wake up in the distant future to an entirely new world.

Usually these movies scenes unfold as if these people are waking up from a really good nights sleep. Waking up is the crucial part of a cryonics equation. But Kowalski readily admits, science has yet to figure out how that will unfold for people who are in a cryonic state.

We are not even close to being able to revive people, he said.

Modern medicine does currently employ freezing methods to treat patients. Its the preferred technique to store stem cells, embryos, and small tissues.

Kowalski added that all three examples are capable of being restored free of damage from the subzero temperatures. Even hospital emergency rooms are starting to see the benefits of a lowered body temperature, he noted. Sometimes its used in the treatment of gunshot wounds and heart attacks.

He says these examples show that its only a matter time before the human body will be able to endure similar treatment.

The trend certainly seems to be heading that way, he said. Could be 20 years from now. Could be 2,000 years.

Detractors say the science and technology needed to revive and treat people are far into the future. Encouraging people to spend thousands of dollars on a yet to-be-proven medical procedure calls into question the ethics behind the industry.

I can understand why people are interested, Ryan F. Holmes, assistant director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University in California, told Healthline.

His concern is that people get lost in the hope of cryonics and dont really ever consider that it isnt going to work.

It seems overly hopefully and that for me is the hardest ethics part, he said.

He doesnt advocate that people should be prevented from choosing cryonics when they die, such as the case with the United Kingdom girl. But anyone who does make this choice must understand that there are a multitude of unknown factors about the science and technology.

This wouldnt even qualify as a phase 1 trial, he said. This falls into the category of experimental treatment.

Whats more, he said potential candidates should be made aware that revival if it can even occur doesnt guarantee that quality of life will be what it once was before they were sick.

We have no evidence that theyd be who they were in a very meaningful sense, he said.

Read more: Where we die: Less in ER and more at home

Kowalski said the nonprofit does not guarantee to its clients that cryonics will work.

We make every effort to educate people about their choices and what we offered. We also understand the potential for misunderstanding and misconception about what we are doing, he said. We try very hard to explain our position and provide as ethical a service as possible.

Right now they have about 1,400 people as members and around 150 bodies are frozen.

Kowalski said that people usually come to the institute in two ways.

The first group is people who are interested in cryonics and sign up by their own free will. These clients are required to fill out extensive paperwork and are given an interview as well.

Others are the result of a person dying and family members scrambling to have them embalmed.

The nonprofit adheres to a list of rules when they get an urgent cryonics request. In these situations, if they accept the body it will be held for two weeks to ensure that cost and paperwork are completed. Anyone who has been declared dead for up to 48 hours is turned away. Kowalski said overall theyve turned down about half of the post-mortem requests.

We have returned funding many times when [a] family cannot agree on disposing remains, he said. There is a series of events that must be followed or we back out to protect both ourselves and the family from mistakes.

For Kowalski, signing up for cryonics is something he got interested in as a kid. He and his family are all on board. When asked what he thinks the future will be like should the revival process work, he said he envisions a world that will be even better than today.

Im excited to see the future, he said.

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Cryonics: The Science Behind Freezing Bodies - Healthline

When he was 14, Kai Micah Mills brought home a long-haired tabby cat and named it Cat. Growing up in Utah, they were inseparable. Mills, a soft-spoken, antisocial teenager, had dropped out of high school and earned an income running Minecraft servers from his basement. He didn't have many friends, but he always had Cat.

Cat is getting on in years. But if his owner's new business works out the way he hopes, Cat will never die.

These days, Mills has turned his sights to something more macabre than gaming. He is a rare entrepreneur in the field of cryonics: the process of storing humans and animal remains at deep-freeze temperatures with the hope that scientific advances can one day revive them.

The startup he founded, Cryopets, aims to establish a network of veterinary clinics that provide regular check-ups and emergency care, and upon a pet's death, owners would have the option to preserve their companions. The pets would then be shipped to a Utah facility, where they wait in metal vats for resurrection day. In doing so, Cryopets embodies a "full-stack" approach to care, encompassing life, death, and the possibility of return.

Though the idea might seem far-fetched, Peter Thiel the billionaire investor who's funded artificial intelligence, reusable rockets, life extension, and seasteading would beg to differ.

In February, Thiel's foundation announced Mills and 19 others as the next class of Thiel Fellows. Each receives $100,000 over two years to start a company, on the condition they pause their college studies. Mills is one of the few high school dropouts ever admitted.

At 24, with a slim build and hair past his shoulders, Mills has spent the better part of a decade planning for a future where there is no death. Cryopets, he said, is part one.

Someday, he hopes to expand to human preservation, as the science matures and pet owners warm to the idea. "It's a gateway drug to humans," he said of his startup.

"In the end I'm interested in keeping people from dying," he explained, "not just for a little bit, but completely."

Mills' plan is starting to come together. He's spent the last year and a half fundraising, buying equipment, and assembling a scientific advisory board. Cryopets' waitlist now includes about 500 dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, and one monkey. Later this year, Cryopets will kick off the search to hire its first veterinarian and begin research into organ-warming methods.

The timing feels right to Mills. The longevity sector, according to a report by the British news outlet Longevity.Technology, clinched $5.2 billion in financing last year. Sam Altman poured $180 million into Retro Biosciences, which aims to extend the healthy human lifespan up to a decade. And Laura Deming, a venture capitalist focused on longevity, is quietly working on advancing organ cryopreservation. Deming's new startup, Lorentz Bio, hasn't been previously reported.

With backing from the tech world's top transhumanist, Mills now has to convince people to take a gamble on his animal hospital for immortal pets. And here's the rub: He may be long dead by the time they can be revived.

Growing up in the Mormon church, Mills always figured he'd live forever. Even after he fell out of religion in his teens, he didn't give up on the idea of everlasting life.

On YouTube, he came across Russian millionaire Dmitry Itskov, who had sold his media empire and funded research with the goal of cheating death. "Eternal life not through faith but science," Mills said. "I really loved that approach."

For years Mills sat on the idea. He sold his server business at 16 and started another company, Branch, making virtual offices where workers moved around rooms like a video game. Branch rode pandemic trends to the tune of $1.6 million from investors like Homebrew and Naval Ravikant. But the company felt more like his cofounder's brainchild than his, and, in 2021, Mills left to dig into longevity.

He joined an incubator and spoke to many experts in aging, but his conversations left him with a sense of dread.

"We have such a long way to go to curing aging," Mill said. "It didn't seem like something that was plausible in my lifetime."

He started to think about how he could buy himself more time. Then he thought about Cat.

For any number of reasons, animals make better cryonics-guinea pigs than humans. It's cheaper to freeze pets because of their small size, Mills explained, and it avoids hairy legal battles. But their big advantage is that there's higher predictability around their deaths.

When a pet is close to death, it may be euthanized at an animal hospital, which is ideal for getting the body ready for cryopreservation. The process includes cooling the body in an ice bath, pumping out the blood, and replacing it with an antifreeze solution that prevents cold damage.

It's important, according to Alcor, a leading cryonics organization, to start the preparations shortly after death to prevent decay. "Longer delays place a greater burden on future technology to reverse injury and restore the brain to a healthy state," Alcor's website says.

"Humans don't get euthanized," Mills said. "We die in some sudden death fashion."

So, he decided to tackle cryonics for pets first.

The plan for Cryopets is to open an animal hospital for piloting this model of caring for pets in life and death, plus a storage facility. Eventually,it wants to partner with other hospitals, training them on how to prepare the bodies and then storing them at its facility.

Cryopets is not the first to market. The Cryonics Institute in Detroit, Michigan, and Alcor in Scottsdale, Arizona, will preserve the furry friends of its human members, for an additional cost that ranges up to $132,000. The price comes down if the person opts to have only the head stored. Cryopets, however, will only offer full-body cryopreservation.

Mills hasn't figured out a pricing structure yet, but says pet owners will make a payment that covers their pet's storage for as long as necessary.

Insider asked Mills what happens when a pet's owner dies too. They might have arranged for their own cryopreservation, he explained, so they can come back at a future date with their pet. If not, Mills says Cryopets will put the frozen animal up for adoption. He imagines a time-traveling critter would be quite popular.

"Can you imagine," Mills said, "the line of people who would be more willing to take care of a cat from the 1800s?"

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Pet owners will freeze their dying animals to one day bring them back ...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Human and pet preservation by freezing

Cryonics Institute (CI) is an American nonprofit foundation that provides cryonics services. CI freezes deceased humans and pets in liquid nitrogen with the hope of restoring them with technology in the future.[1][2]

The Cryonics Institute was founded by the Father of Cryonics Robert Ettinger on April 4, 1976, in Detroit, Michigan, where he served as president until 2003. Ettinger introduced the concept of cryonics with the publication of his book The Prospect of Immortality published in 1962.[3][4][5] Operations moved to Clinton Township, Michigan in 1993,[6] where it is currently located.

The cryonics procedure performed by the Cryonics Institute begins with a process called vitrification where the body is perfused with cryoprotective agents to protect against damage in the freezing process. After this, the body is cooled to -196C over the course of a day or two days in a computer-controlled chamber before being placed in a long-term storage container filled with liquid nitrogen. The Cryonics Institute utilizes storage units called cryostats, and each unit contains up to eight people.[citation needed] The process can take place only once the person has been declared legally dead. Ideally, the process begins within two minutes of the heart stopping and no more than 15.[7][8][9]

The Cryonics Institute also specializes in Human Cryostasis, DNA/Tissue Freezing, Pet Cryopreservation, and Memorabilia Storage.[10][11]

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Cryonics Institute - Wikipedia