Is it possible to freeze a human body and bring it back to life? Cryonics is a process that promises to preserve a person’s body until a future time when humanity can reverse death. James Bedford was the first person to be cryogenically frozen in 1967, but the question is whether it’s currently possible to freeze a human, preserve them indefinitely, and then safely thaw them out.
To revive people in the future, it’s important to properly preserve them in the present. Cryobiology is the scientific field that studies the effects of low temperatures on various living systems. It’s true that decreasing an organism’s temperature also decreases its cellular function. For example, at temperatures below -130 degrees Celsius, human cellular activity comes to a halt. If an entire human body could be brought below that temperature, theoretically, it could be preserved indefinitely.
However, the challenge is to do this without damaging the body. For instance, let’s consider freezing a single red blood cell, which typically sits at a temperature of 37 degrees Celsius in a solution of water and chemical solutes. When the temperature drops below freezing, the water inside and outside the cell hardens into ice crystals that can cause osmotic shock. Without any intervention, these factors can destroy the red blood cell before it reaches -130 degrees Celsius.
Many animals have evolved to survive extreme conditions. Some cold-tolerant fish synthesize antifreeze proteins to prevent ice formation at sub-zero temperatures, and freeze-tolerant frogs use protective agents to survive when up to 70% of their body water is trapped in ice. By researching these adaptations, scientists have developed remarkable preservation technologies that are already employed in medicine. However, researchers are still trying to improve cryopreservation technology to better manage the ice problem.
Vitrification is an approach that many cryobiologists are using to solve the issue of preserving complex living materials. This technique uses chemicals known as cryoprotectant agents to prevent ice formation. These agents allow researchers to store living systems in a glassy state with reduced molecular activity and no damaging ice. Vitrification is ideal for cryonics and can help preserve organs and other tissues for medical procedures. However, it’s incredibly difficult to achieve, and the chemicals can be toxic in high quantities required for large-scale vitrification.
Even if vitrification is successfully achieved for complex living material, it needs to be uniformly warmed to prevent ice formation or cracks. To date, researchers have been able to vitrify and partially recover small structures like blood vessels, heart valves, and corneas. However, none of these are anywhere near the size and complexity of a whole human being.
As a result, the sad truth is that current cryonic preservation techniques only offer false hope to patients. These techniques are both unscientific and deeply destructive, irreparably damaging the body’s cells, tissues, and organs. While some people argue that this damage may be reversible one day, even if scientists could revive people through cryonic preservation, there are ethical, legal, and social implications that cast doubts on the technology’s overall benefits. For now, the dream of cryonics is still on ice.