Suspending Life: The Science of Cryonics

However, proponents of cryonics believe that future technologies will provide answers to all of the problems introduced during vitrification and thawing, not to mention curing the health problems that led to the death of the preserved body in the first place. “Cryonicists have been envisioning cell repair augmentation by drugs, synthetic enzymes, viruses, and macrophages since the 1960s,” states the Alcor website. Today, hope lies in the field of nanomedicine - using microscopic devices to treat disease - and Alcor believes that developments in nanotechnology could revive cryopreserved patients.

Other cryonics experts are not convinced. “As a scientist, while no one ever says this is impossible, the probability is extremely low—partly because of the complexity involved when cells and tissues deal with freezing and partly because of what we don’t know,” says John Baust, the director of the Institute of Biomedical Technology at Binghamton University in New York state. Many scientists believe that relying on future technology to solve problems places cryonics outside the scope of science and into the realm of faith or religion. “Cryonics as it stands is not bad or evil, but it’s not scientific. It’s a faith-based initiative,” says Storey.

For more information:

Alcor Life Extension Foundation
http://www.alcor.org/

Kenneth Storey's Lab at Carleton University
http://http-server.carleton.ca/~kbstorey/