In fantastic stories about the future, there is always the theme of human immortality. This is how the world appears to modern people centuries later - there are no diseases, wars and, of course, death in it. But, unfortunately, modern science cannot give a person eternal life and is just starting to work on creating technologies that would allow you to always stay young and he althy. Many seriously ill people hope that in the distant future, doctors will be able to easily cure cancer, Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's. They are warmed by the idea that their body after death can be placed in a special tank called a cryogenic chamber. In the future, when medicine reaches a new level, they can be resurrected and given a new life. A tempting prospect, isn't it? Let's find out what a cryogenic chamber is, and what are the prospects for defrosting a person.
Cryonics: a brief description
Cryonics isa scientific technology that allows you to preserve a living organism at low temperatures and store it in this state until defrosting or other manipulations.
The very name "cryonics" came into our speech from the Greek word for "cold". This characterizes the technology in the best possible way, because it is designed to preserve cells from decomposition using low temperatures.
Currently, freezing the bodies of dead people is not prohibited in the world, but it is simply impossible to resurrect them with this level of technology and medicine. It is not known whether a technique will ever be invented that allows, without harm to cells, to bring them out of a state of freezing and bring a person back to life. So far, all this is just the hope of cryonics fans and science fiction writers.
Resurrection of man: myth or reality
Disputes about cryonics have been going on for many years, scientists are conditionally divided into two camps - opponents of freezing and its ardent supporters. But, despite the discussions in scientific circles, cryonics has a lot of evidence of the viability of its method.
Scientists have long been interested in the ability of cells to come back to life after deep freezing. Similar experiments have been repeatedly carried out on animals and their cells. At one time, the scientific world dreamed of the return of mammoths, which were planned to be recreated from frozen cells. But scientists were in for a serious disappointment - for the entire time they were in permafrost, the bodies of giants were repeatedly exposed to temperature extremes,which made their biomaterial unsuitable for recovery. Thus, scientists came to the conclusion that only if the temperature is kept unchanged, cells are suitable for cloning.
Numerous experiments were almost always successful, but scientists had problems with defrosting. Not every method was effective. For example, in one of the experiments, brain neurons, extracted after two hours after the death of a person and frozen in a cryochamber, showed an amazing ability to function and form new connections after being removed from a sleeping state. But in another case, the cells died in the process of defrosting.
Therefore, scientists can only freeze bodies in anticipation of a new round in the development of science, which will someday make a serious breakthrough in cryonics. Today it is possible to freeze the whole body or one head, but the defrosting and resurrection of a person will already be in the range of responsibility of the people of the future.
Cryogenic chambers: types
The possibilities of low temperatures are used by modern scientists in many industries, so you should not think that a cryochamber can only freeze dead people.
The cryogenic chamber can be subdivided depending on its purpose:
- medical;
- industrial;
- for human.
Each of the types has its own characteristics, but in general the equipment is very similar in general terms.
Medical cryochambers
The cryogenic chamber has long been used in medicine. She isused for one purpose - storage of living organisms or reagents, but may vary in power and cooling element.
Don't believe that cryotechnology has long been used in medicine? Then our information will definitely be useful and interesting for you. See where this equipment is used:
- virus strains developed by biologists and virologists are stored in special cryobanks;
- when organ transplants are transported in a cryochamber;
- many medicines are stored for a long time in small cryoboxes;
- biomaterials (such as eggs or male sperm) are kept in a cryogenic chamber until they are used.
Now medicine cannot imagine its existence without freezing various biological materials, experiments in this area do not stop even for a minute.
Industrial cryochambers
Industry is also quite successful in using freezing technology to harden steel. This technique is used in the field of oil production, electronics and the military industry. Low temperatures allow not only to make the alloy stronger, but also to find out how any material will behave when frozen. In many industries, this information could save lives.
Usually, industrial cryogenic plants are large and versatile.
Cryocenter chambers
These cameras are designed and made for people. They areallow you to save the whole body (such an installation is called a dewar) or one head. In the latter case, the heads of completely different people under certain numbers can be in one cell.
In itself, a cryogenic chamber for a person is quite expensive, its maintenance is even more expensive for a cryocenter. But in recent years, interest in freezing one's body has been steadily growing, and even in our country there is a special center that provides such services.
Cryogenic chambers description
All cryochambers operate on the same principle - they maintain a certain temperature level due to constant circulation in a closed gas system. Liquid gas in the cryogenic chamber continuously circulates, sometimes cooling, sometimes reaching a boil and taking away heat from the equipment. Most often, liquefied nitrogen is used for this purpose. It is currently used in all cryogenic centers in the world.
Cryogenic chamber: human freezing procedure
If you have a good financial income, then during your lifetime you can start saving money for cryofreezing. Theoretically, every person on the planet can carry out this procedure.
First of all, you need to choose a cryocenter. For example, the most influential organization in America involved in freezing and storing the bodies of dead people is the Alcor company. In Russia, the organization "KrioRus" is engaged in this, it is located in the Moscow region and so far is the only one in the country.
After youmake a decision on cryopreservation, it is necessary to conclude a service contract with the company. The cost of the contract includes the preparation of the body, its storage and a cryogenic chamber. The price directly depends on how the patient will be frozen. If you need to store the whole body as a whole, then the price will vary within thirty-five thousand dollars. Keeping the head costs about fifteen thousand dollars. The contract is concluded for twenty-five years, in the future it must be extended or the body will be given to relatives for burial.
The freezing procedure looks something like this:
- after death, the body must be cooled to zero degrees, to achieve the result, you can use dry ice;
- the body is connected to a special device and all the blood is pumped out through it;
- instead of blood, a cryoprotectant is poured - a solution that prevents cell crystallization;
- after the manipulations, the body is placed in a dewar or biksa, if we are talking about storing the head.
The cryonics process takes about four hours. In Russia, the bodies of thirteen patients are now in the stage of freezing, but cooperation agreements with the KrioRus company continue to be concluded, which indicates the interest of Russians in this technique.
Who is frozen in a cryogenic chamber today: famous people who dreamed of immortality
Stories about the freezing of various celebrities are quite popular in America. For example, for quite some time nowThe country has a rumor about the cryopreserved body of W alt Disney. But no organization has yet confirmed this information.
It is known for certain that the body of the famous baseball player Ted Williams has been in a frozen state for fifteen years. His children decided not to cremate their father, but in the hope of a future resurrection, place him in a cryochamber.
The organization "Alcor" is the body of the first cryonics man in the world - scientist James Bedford. He became a pioneer of cryonics, and the date of his freezing is celebrated as a special holiday.
Three years in a cryogenic chamber Hal Finney, who invented one of the most popular cryptocurrencies in the world. He suffered from an incurable disease and bequeathed to cryonics his entire body.
Conclusion
Cryonics is an unexplored but promising technology. And the people who believe in it are not so short-sighted. After all, progress does not stand still, and every year scientists move further and further in their knowledge. Who knows, perhaps in another century, cryogenic chambers will be commonplace in our lives, and people will be able to resurrect at any time programmed by them. Who knows?
