I've heard that after (or before) death you can be cryogenically frozen and brought back to life in the far future as long as your brain is intact. However, there seem to be a lot of problems with this like cell damage and memory loss. How could these things be prevented? Also, has any living organism successfully been revived?
They do it with sperm cells all the time.
They've done it with bacteria:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7019473 And to a limited degree with vertabrates:
http://www.goamazing.com/content.asp?id=654
Rob wrote:
"I've heard that after (or before) death you can be cryogenically frozen and brought back to life"
With respect to humans ... it is at this time ... total nonsense.
May not be in the future. But that IS the future not the present.
And why would it be in society's best interest to condone such a practice. Just another promotion of personal selfishness.
Cells and small stuff can be cryopreserved, large organisms cannot. Crystallization of water punctures cell membranes. Obtaining amorphous water requires flash freezing and thawing or chemical control.
A single cell or a very small organism can be flash frozen and thawed, or rapidly perfused and deperfused. A substantial organism, with a much lower surface/volume ratio, is hopeless. Brains and hearts are strictly aerobic metabolism. Anerobic stress destroys them.
No revivable corpsicles.
DA Morgan,
For one thing, it would be a great help to historians.
Uncle Al,
what if liquid nitrogen was used?
Rob wrote:
"For one thing, it would be a great help to historians."
For a civilization that doesn't care a bit about history! Why? Simple but significant question. What is the origin in American history of the reason why a city in Ohio is named Cincinatti.
It, in fact, honors one of the most important events in American history.
Fine, perhaps it is 'just another promotion of personal selfishness', but keeping in mind that people born in the future will be able to lead longer lives and know more about the universe than the people of today, are you saying that given the opportunity to be like those people, you would refuse it?