Cryonics involves preserving animals or humans at very low temperatures to halt the decay process, with vitrification being a modern technique that rapidly cools the patient without ice formation. Critics argue that medical science may never advance enough to revive a vitrified body, but proponents cite molecular nanotechnology as a potential means of awakening cryopreserved patients. Over a hundred patients are currently cryopreserved in the US, including baseball star Ted Williams.
Cryonics is the practice of preserving animals or humans at very low temperatures to halt the decay process. In futurist circles, cryonics is seen as a possible way to cheat death by preserving oneself until medical science can revive the patient without harm. Animals have already been frozen for hours and reanimated with today’s science, although more complex animals like felines tend to suffer some brain damage.
Freezing is not the only technique used by cryonicists: vitrification is also used in modern cryonics. In vitrification, a cryoprotectant such as glycerol is injected into the patient in high concentrations resulting in rapid cooling without ice formation. Glycerol is the same substance used by some frog species to survive almost completely submerged in ice for days or weeks. Vitrification differs from freezing because the patient is cooled so rapidly that the biological tissue does not have time to deform into a crystalline pattern; the original model is preserved with high integrity, hardened like glass.
Critics of cryonics have argued that medical science will never advance to the point where it can revive a vitrified body, even after thousands or millions of years. Still others argue that no one in the future will care enough to revive human bodies preserved during this era, even if the technology were available and cheap. Most proponents of cryonics cite molecular nanotechnology as the likely future means of smooth and complete awakening for cryopreserved patients.
At least four organizations offer cryonics services in the United States. Patients are cooled to temperatures between -150°C and -200°C (-238°F and -328°F) and stored in secure containers. Currently, over a hundred patients are kept. Arguably, the most famous person to be cryopreserved is baseball star Ted Williams. His crysuspension created controversy in late 2002. Over a thousand people are currently enrolled in cryopreservation when their bodies deanimate. As medical science continues to improve, the likelihood of a successful revival of cryonics patients will also increase.
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