Andrew Ling

Al36859

Cryogenics

An almost science fiction approach to cheating death, cryogenics

is the idea of cooling the human body after death in order to have the
chance of revival in the far future. The idea of cryogenics first came
from the book The Prospect of Immortality in 1964. In the 1970s a
handful of companies formed to take advantage of this new fangled
idea. However the costs of maintaining a body in a suspended state of
animation were too high resulting in the bankruptcy and shutdown of
many of these companies. Today there are only 2 major corporations
still in the business, the Alcor Life Extension Foundation and the
Cryonics institute. In this point paper, I will reveal the science behind
cryogenics and the reasoning for its use.

Cryogenics is not freezing. The problem with freezing in general

is that shatters cells. For this reason, whenever you freeze food and
reheat it, the texture is different because after being brought to 0
degrees Celsius the ice crystals pierce the cells. Upon reheating, the
shattered cells lose their strength and turgidity. Also cryogenics is not
just used in attempts to cheat death, scientists study the effect of

freezing temperatures on a variety of objects both dead and alive.

Cryobiology studies the effects of low temperatures on living things.
Some species such as the Wood Frog can actually have 45% of their
body frozen and still survive once thawed. The Ice crystals that would
normally pierce and shatter cells are stored under the skin in-between
the frogs skeletal muscle. A part of hibernation, the frogs breathing,
heart rate, and blood flow slow to a halt. The freezing doesnt damage
the frog because of specialized proteins and glucose, which prevent
intracellular damage and dehydration.

In humans, the process of cryogenics is simple. The idea is to

keep the brain frozen in a state of suspended animation. After one is
declared legally dead the first thing that is done is replacing all of the
water in the cells with cryoprotectant, a glycerol-based chemical
mixture. This prevents the forming of ice crystals in the organs and
other vital parts of the body. After the water is replaced then the body
is placed on dry ice to cool until -130 C. Now the body is ready to be
placed into a vat of liquid nitrogen. The body is placed head down in
order to extend the time the brain is frozen should a leak occur.

One of the problems of cryogenics and the reason why no one

has ben successfully revived through it is that the warming process
required to bring the body back to room temperature must be

extremely precise. Warm too quickly and then the cooled body will
form ice crystals thus destroying cells in the process rendering the
cryogenics useless. Thus many bodies lay suspended in their frozen
hibernation waiting for the precise technology in the future.

With everything being said however, cryogenics may not be

ready for complete human revival but there are already many
applications in use today. Cryogenics is used in preservation of organs
for short periods of time during transplants. Blood and semen can be
stored indefinitely in liquid nitrogen. Human sperm and eggs for
fertility treatments also can be stored for large amounts of time. More
research needs to be done in the thawing process before the idea of
being frozen and brought back to life is feasible. In my eyes, there
needs to be more testing done on the other animals who have passed
away through old age. Scientists need to understand how to slowly
thaw out an organism and hopefully be able to revitalize their body
system. In order to do this, Id imagine there would need to be
advances in warming technology. As of now, the idea of heat and using
energy to successfully control heat is very lacking. In order for
cryogenics to be possible it is required that the warming of the body is
extremely control and precise down to the individual cell.
The harsh reality is that this science, while new and exciting is
reserved for the rich. There is no benefit in advancing technology in

this direction just so some rich guy can come back alive and live again.
Not when there are still problems of poverty and hunger dominating
many countries. Before mankind can work on problems like these they
must solve for the basics first.

Works Cited
"Can A Human Be Frozen And Brought Back To Life?" Zidbits. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 May
2015. <http://zidbits.com/2011/02/can-a-human-be-frozen-and-brought-backto-life/>.
From this source, I gained immense insight in the ethical aspects of cryogenics
as well as the pros and cons of such an endeavor. It discussed the probability
and the resources necessary for it to be even feasible in the best of conditions.
As for the validity, I viewed this piece as an opinion piece as there wasnt any
research behind it.

"Human Cryogenics Comes Closer to Reality with "Glassy Water"" The Daily Reckoning
Australia. N.p., 01 Nov. 2007. Web. 03 May 2015.
<http://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/human-cryogenics/2007/11/01/>.
This source revealed that in 2007, there was a breakthrough in technology. As a
result there was revitalized interest in the subject. However again, this was a

source reporting on a new phenomenon and not a study that discussed the
possibility of cryogenics.

"Lithobates Sylvaticus (Wood Frog)." Animal Diversity Web. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 May
2015.
<http://animaldiversity.org/site/accounts/information/Rana_sylvatica.html>.
This source gave me the information about the wood frog. The wood frog is
able to be frozen while hibernating and thus shows that it is possible. This was
important because it showed that in the world there is an organism who is able
to revive itself after being frozen avoiding the damage caused by freezing
water.
Pegg, D.e. "The Frozen Cell." Cryogenics 10.6 (1970): 536. Web.
This was my scholarly source and it discussed the intracellular freezing and the
effect it had on the cell. It also discussed the less harmful extracellular
freezing. This is more valid of a source as it was published in a scientific
journal. It gave me insight as to why freezing is harmful to living things in
general.
Watson, Stephanie. "How Cryonics Work." HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks.com, n.d.
Web. 03 May 2015.
<http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/genetic/cryonics1.htm>.
This source gave me a more detailed look into the corporate view of this
science. It showed the necessity and the cost of certain resources and the
possible dangers of this process. The validity of this article is the same as any

non journal related article on science, however howstuffworks is a large

corporations with a large audience and should they be incorrect the authors
would receive outrage from many science professionals. For this reason I
believe this resource more than others.