Have you ever watched a sci-fi movie where someone freezes themselves to wake up in the future? It might sound like pure fiction, but this idea, known as cryonics, has been around since the 1960s. Cryonics is the process of using extremely low temperatures to preserve humans after they have been declared legally dead. But what does “legally dead” mean? It means that the heart has stopped beating, but the cells, tissues, and brain are still somewhat active.
Once a person is declared legally dead, their body is quickly taken to a cryogenics lab. Here, the water in their body is replaced with a special antifreeze solution. This helps prevent ice crystals from forming, which could damage the cells. The body is then placed in a chamber filled with liquid nitrogen, cooling it to a chilling minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit (or minus 196 degrees Celsius). The hope is that one day, when science has advanced enough to cure the illness that caused their death, these individuals can be revived.
As of now, no one has been successfully unfrozen and brought back to life. Scientists are still figuring out how to safely thaw a frozen body without causing harm. There are many unknowns and risks involved, such as potential damage to cells during the thawing process. However, nature provides some inspiration. Certain fish and amphibians can naturally freeze during winter and thaw in spring without any harm. They have special sugars in their blood that act like antifreeze, allowing their blood to keep flowing even when frozen.
Many people think cryonics is only for the super-rich, but that’s not entirely true. Freezing your entire body costs around $36,000. If you only want to preserve your brain, hoping to transfer your consciousness to a new body in the future, it costs about $12,000. Some people even choose to freeze their pets along with them.
In some countries where assisted suicide is legal, there’s a growing interest in freezing people while they are still alive and healthy. However, cryonics remains a controversial and unregulated field. It’s still unproven whether it will ever work, and many questions remain unanswered.
Is cryonics the key to living forever or exploring distant galaxies? Or is it just a wild experiment? We’d love to hear your thoughts! If you enjoyed learning about cryonics, check out our graphic novel on our website. Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to subscribe for more fun and educational content!
Research a real-life example of a person who has undergone cryonics. Prepare a short presentation to share with the class, explaining why they chose cryonics and what the current status of their preservation is. Discuss the ethical and scientific implications of their decision.
Participate in a class debate on the ethical considerations of cryonics. Divide into two groups: one supporting cryonics as a viable future technology and the other opposing it due to ethical concerns. Prepare your arguments and present them to the class, focusing on the potential benefits and risks.
Use your creativity to design a comic strip that illustrates the process of cryonics. Include key steps such as legal death declaration, antifreeze solution replacement, and storage in liquid nitrogen. Share your comic with the class and discuss the scientific concepts depicted.
Conduct a simple experiment to understand how antifreeze solutions work. Use water and a sugar solution to freeze small containers and observe the differences in ice formation. Record your observations and relate them to how cryonics aims to prevent cell damage.
Write an essay predicting the future of cryonics. Consider advancements in technology, potential breakthroughs, and societal acceptance. Discuss whether you believe cryonics will become a common practice and how it might impact human life and society.
**Sanitized Transcript:**
[Music] Can humans freeze themselves and come back to life? We’ve all seen the science fiction plot where someone enters an airtight chamber to freeze their body so that one day in the distant future they can be revived to live in a new world. This plot is actually not as far-fetched as it sounds. Humans have been freezing themselves since the 1960s. The process is called cryonics, which is the idea that you can use extremely low temperatures to preserve humans through cryogenic freezing. Currently, only humans who are legally dead can be frozen. After your heart stops beating, you are pronounced legally dead, but you are not completely dead; your cells, tissues, and brain are still functional.
So, immediately after death, the body is rushed to a cryogenics lab. The water in your body is then replaced with antifreeze, and you are placed into a liquid nitrogen chamber at minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit (or minus 196 degrees Celsius). The idea is that these frozen individuals will be revived at a time in the future when there is a cure for the illness that caused their death. So far, no one has been revived, and it is speculated that no one will be thawed until at least 2045. Currently, we only know how to freeze people; we do not know how to wake them up.
The process of unfreezing someone can be dangerous, as damage to cells and many unknowns come into play. However, nature already shows us examples of species that can freeze themselves for a cold winter and come back to life. Certain species of fish and amphibians have the natural ability to completely freeze over, yet sugars in their blood act as a natural antifreeze, allowing their blood to remain liquefied and continue circulating even when they are frozen solid. When spring comes around, these creatures can crawl or swim away without any bodily harm.
A common misconception about cryonics is that it’s only for the wealthy. However, the price tag to freeze your body is $36,000. If you only want to preserve your brain with hopes of transferring your consciousness into a new body, that will cost you $12,000. Most people who opt into the cryogenics program also choose to bring their pets with them.
Today, there is a strong push to freeze living humans in certain countries where assisted suicide is legal. People are asking to be frozen while they are still young and healthy. However, cryonics is unregulated, controversial, and unproven to work. There are certainly more questions than answers surrounding the topic.
So tell us what you think: Is this the way to cheat death and reach immortality? Will this be the tool that allows us to explore distant galaxies, or have we gone too far in some sort of experiment? If you like our after-school animations, then you’ll love our graphic novel. Head over to our website to check it out now. Thanks for watching, and please be sure to subscribe for more weekly animations. [Music]
Cryonics – The practice of preserving individuals at very low temperatures with the hope that future technology can revive them. – Scientists are exploring cryonics as a way to preserve human bodies until medical advancements can cure currently incurable diseases.
Freezing – The process of lowering the temperature of a substance to its freezing point, causing it to become solid. – Freezing is used in laboratories to preserve biological samples for future experiments.
Cells – The basic structural, functional, and biological units of all living organisms. – Plant cells have a rigid cell wall that provides structure and support.
Tissues – Groups of cells that work together to perform a specific function in an organism. – Muscle tissues contract to enable movement in animals.
Brain – The organ in animals that serves as the center of the nervous system, responsible for processing sensory information and controlling behavior. – The human brain is capable of complex thought processes and problem-solving.
Antifreeze – A substance that lowers the freezing point of a liquid, preventing it from becoming solid at low temperatures. – Some animals produce natural antifreeze proteins to survive in extremely cold environments.
Nitrogen – A colorless, odorless gas that makes up about 78% of the Earth’s atmosphere and is essential for living organisms. – Nitrogen is a key component of amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins.
Thawing – The process of warming something that has been frozen until it returns to its liquid state. – Thawing frozen food properly is important to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria.
Fish – Aquatic animals that have gills, fins, and typically a streamlined body, living in water environments. – Fish use their gills to extract oxygen from water as they swim.
Amphibians – Cold-blooded vertebrates that typically start life in water and undergo metamorphosis to live on land as adults. – Frogs are amphibians that begin their life cycle as tadpoles in water.
