It’s the technique of keeping corpses frozen for years on end to resurrect them one day. Today, this already works with embryos: fertilized eggs can remain in the “refrigerator” with good chances of surviving thawing – it is estimated that close to 60% of them manage to thrive, giving rise to a baby. So a lot of people believe that this will still work with whole human beings. So far, around 100 people have been frozen after death and are hoping for new life in the future.
what-is-human-cryogenics
The idea is fantastic: you die and the doctors put you in a tank of liquid nitrogen, stored at -196ºC, the temperature at which the corpse does not rot. Then, 500 years from now, scientists find a way to fight the disease that caused his death and thaw him out. A beauty, right? But the process is not so simple. “The very methods used to freeze a person cause damage to the cells that could only be repaired by technologies that do not yet exist”, says the American physicist Robert Ettinger, considered the great promoter of cryogenics. For now, freezing doesn’t work on people because the liquid that makes up the cells turns to ice, increasing in size and causing them to crack. With frozen embryos, this effect is avoided with the application of chemical substances that dribble the formation of ice crystals, preventing cell walls from being damaged. “But with developed human beings, the problem is that each type of cell requires a different protective substance, and many of them have not yet been invented”, says gynecologist Ricardo Baruffi, from Maternidade Sinhá Junqueira, in Ribeirão Preto (SP), a specialist in embryo freezing. Want to try your luck anyway? So it’s better to move to the United States, because the only two companies in the world with the structure to receive new “patients” are there. And if you want to take a pet with you so you won’t feel too lonely in 500 years, no problem. Ten cats, seven dogs and even a parrot have already entered into this cold with their owners.
dive into it
On the Internet:
https://www.alcor.org
One step away from eternity Freezing a body is easy. What scientists don’t know yet is how to resuscitate him.
1. As soon as a person dies, an employee of the cryogenics company cools the corpse with ice. At this stage, the body temperature is just above 0°C. It is not very cold, but it is enough to prevent, for a while, the proliferation of bacteria that would rot the corpse.
2. In this phase, the body also receives an injection of anticoagulant substances to keep the blood vessels clear. Afterwards, all the blood is pumped out and chemical substances enter in its place that will protect the cells from freezing, preventing the formation of part of the ice crystals, which break the cellular structure.
3. At the place where the body will be frozen, the cadaver undergoes gradual cooling in a dry ice chamber. To prevent cell damage, the intention is for all tissues to freeze at the same rate. The whole process takes place slowly and can last for two days, when the body temperature reaches -79 °C
4. After cooling, the body is slowly submerged in a tank of liquid nitrogen until completely covered. When this phase ends, after a week, the corpse is at -196ºC, prevented from rotting. He stays in the tank for eternity — or until someone invents technology to resurrect him.
Why do some urinals have lemon slices and ice in them?
Cost of cryogenics*
Alcor Company (United States)
Whole body: BRL 352 thousand
Only the head**: BRL 146 thousand
Crynics Institute (United States)
Whole body: BRL 82 thousand
Pet: BRL 17 thousand
* Values of the only two companies in the world that apply the technique
** To conserve the brain and, in the future, reattach it to another body