Each of us at least once watched a science fiction film or read science fiction literature, where, in one form or another, a person is frozen, followed, of course, by his revival. How else? Indeed, today mankind has the technologies and resources that allow it to fly to the closest neighbor to us - the star, Proxima Centauri, located 4.25 light years from Earth - in no less than 200 years. Other star systems are even further away. And how can we do without artificial sleep, freezing?
It is possible, of course, to supply the ship with everything necessary for the change of generations, organize a school there, educate the growing offspring, etc., etc., arrange greenhouses for cultivating crops, farms for raising domestic animals … But in this In this case, the dimensions of the ship will turn out to be such that none of the Earth's resources will be enough to prepare an expedition with an unknown result, by the way.
How much more convenient is the freezing option in this regard. The ship took off, gained cruising speed, the crew lay down in special chairs, clapping - coversclosed, cryogenic equipment buzzed, and forward to the dream. And when approaching the destination of the journey, people, respectively, came to life and jumped out cheerful and joyful from their cryocapsules. And let's study the planets of the red dwarf Proxima Centauri, populate them and multiply!..
Why freezing is so interesting
Of course, the possibility of making interstellar expeditions inspires, but freezing is interesting for a person for a number of reasons. I would like to go not only to Aldebaran or the distant star Altair - with the help of such technology one could travel to the distant future.
After all, cryonics is nothing but the possibility of indefinite preservation of the human body in its original, original state, a body protected from decomposition processes. Remember the wonderful film by the Pole Juliusz Machulsky "The New Amazons". It would be damn interesting to freeze for a thousand years and unfreeze when earthlings are in full swing mastering the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn, building colonies on Pluto, and even flying to the Moon on vacation.
But above all, of course, we are interested in freezing people to prolong life. Unfortunately, there are many diseases on the Earth that cannot be cured yet. But, looking at history, terminally ill people have a right to expect that in 100 or 200 years the cures for their deadly ailments will be discovered. Do not forget about the eternal desire of the powerful of this world to prevail over their last rival - death itself. Who knows, maybe in the futurepeople will be able to extend their lives for as long as they want.
Cryonics Science
The word "crionics" itself is derived from the Hellenic "cryos", which means "frost", "cold". I must say that this section of low temperature physics is engaged not only in the development of a theoretical possibility to send a person on a long journey or no less distant future. It also has more practical applications. Thus, cryogenic equipment helps to store the seeds of various plants for an unlimited time, as well as the seeds of animals and people.
It is known that at temperatures from -120 °C and below, all known biological media remain unchanged for an unlimited time.
In this way, you can store the seed material of endangered plants, you can create a sperm and egg bank of rare species of animals, and at least in this way try to protect some of them from complete extinction.
Where do they get cold
The operation of equipment to obtain temperatures low enough for long-term storage of material is based on a well-known physical phenomenon - cooling of the surface when liquid evaporates from it. As a working fluid (this is the same liquid that evaporates), liquid nitrogen is most often used.
Recently, cryonics is not the lot of large research centers of rich countries, it is commonplace, and nitrogen is the most common gas on the planet, and its characteristics are suitable: liquefied nitrogenevaporates at -196°C.
Is it easy to freeze a person
If the question is phrased this way, the answer is yes, easy. If you ask: is it possible to revive a person after defrosting, then, alas, the answer will not please. There are no successful examples in the world yet.
The fact is that when a person is frozen, the cells of his body are severely damaged. To see with your own eyes how this happens, you can conduct a simple experiment. Pour water into a glass bottle and leave it in the cold (you can put it in the freezer). When the water in the container crystallizes, the glass walls of the vessel will burst, as the water, crystallizing, increases in volume. But the human body consists of 80% water.
Therefore, all experiments on freezing people have so far been unsuccessful. After defrosting, all cell membranes and capillaries are completely damaged. There is also an opinion that when freezing and thawing, all data from the brain is erased, and not only memories of a happy summer, but all the information: who I am, how to breathe, how to beat my heart, how to work my ears, eyes, etc. This like a computer without software.
Why do people freeze
The answer is simple: hope for a miracle. A person hopes that by the time they learn to treat any diseases, to prolong their lives for as long as they like, they will surely be able to unfreeze the body, bringing it back to life.
Another category of people who want to freeze their bodies are the rich people of the planet who have achieved everything in this life: money,fame, power, unlimited influence … And suddenly they are faced with a cruel fact: they will have to die in the same way as everyone else. Such people decide to freeze in the hope that, once they wake up, they will find themselves in a world where they will live forever, or at least much longer than now.
Freezing Technology
To reduce damage to cell tissues by water crystals, freezing of a person is carried out as follows: before cooling, a special solution is introduced into the blood vessels, which reduces the expansion of water during crystallization. In some laboratories, the blood is completely replaced with such a solution. After that, the body gradually cools down to -196 °C.
But there are other technologies - freezing a person for a while. For example, in the USA they already know how to bring a person into a state of clinical death and, having cooled the body to 0 ° C, transport it to a specialized medical institution.
Legal
But it must be remembered that freezing a person is not only a technical problem, but also a legal one. After all, you see, there is little use in freezing an already dead body that has begun to decompose. It is unlikely that even in the distant future there will be technologies that can revive such "patients".
On the other hand, it is unlikely that legislation will allow the procedure for replacing blood with a special solution, followed by deep freezing of a living person. So how do people freeze to revive?
And this happens in the so-called "gray" zone, in fact, between life anddeath. During the same period, organs are harvested from patients for transplantation. The condition is characterized by brain death, but functioning internal organs and the absence of decay processes.
How are they going to revive
Scientists hope that it will be possible to revive the first patient around 2055, and the defrosting of people will be on the conveyor by the end of the 21st century. How are the doctors going to overcome the problems?
So far, the biggest expectations are for nanobots. And the scenario of such a revival will look something like this:
- the human body gradually heats up to a temperature of 0 °C;
- the necessary amount of donor blood is injected into the vessels, which, under the action of a special device, for the period of revitalization replacing the heart and lungs, is saturated with oxygen and circulates through the body;
- a huge number (up to a million or more) of tiny smart robots are introduced into the body, which, moving through all tissues and organs, independently assess damage and eliminate them, controlled from a special center;
- at the end of the recovery, the heart starts.
What about us?
The fashion for "eternal" life in liquid nitrogen has not bypassed us either. The freezing of people in Russia acquired the scale of a stream about 20 years ago. But if in the same States about 500 people have been frozen today (the information is most likely incomplete - not all the facts of freezing are made public), then in Russia this figure is an order of magnitude more modest.
In the Russian Federation, the freeze agreement is signed mainly by people whodying of cancer, hoping that in the future they will be revived and cured.
Currently, cryonized bodies are in special containers, but in the future they are planned to be stored in large special rooms where even relatives can enter, of course, in special spacesuits.
I must say that the freezing of people in Russia is gaining popularity among foreign customers. It's all about the price. For example, in the United States, freezing a person's body completely (some customers ask to freeze only their head in order to save money) costs about half a million dollars, while Russians are ready to provide such a service almost ten times cheaper.
