• Question: can humans be frozen and then woken up in 100 years??:):);):)

    Asked by mayerar01 to Carol, Ellie, John, Philip, Rebecca on 3 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: John Welford

      John Welford answered on 3 Jul 2012:

      Hi mayerar01,

      I mentioned this is my answer to how freezing food stops it from going off. Humans can be frozen, but they can’t currently be unfrozen and woken up!

      It’s called cryonics and the technology has existed for quite a while. Some people have paid to have their body preserved at very low temperatures, particularly if they have incurable diseases, in the hope that a cure will be developed in the future. Around 250 people have undergone the procedure since it was first proposed in 1962. Sometimes only the head or brain is preserved.

      These people are counting on the technology to bring them back being developed, as well as the cures to their illnesses. Things like bioengineering and nanotechnology are relevant to this, as well as something called “mind uploading” – transferring the concious mind from the brain onto something else, like a computer.

      The ability to revive them might exist in 100 years? Who knows!?

    • Photo: Rebecca Lacey

      Rebecca Lacey answered on 3 Jul 2012:

      Hey mayerar01

      This is called cryogenics and I’m not aware of this working over such a period of time as 100 years. However it has been known that people who have fallen into freezing cold water have survived for up to 20 minutes without any oxygen and they have not suffered any brain damage. This is because the core body temperature cools extremely quickly and protects the vital organs (such as the heart and brain).

    • Photo: Carol White

      Carol White answered on 4 Jul 2012:

      There two really big issues with freezing things:

      When you freeze something, the water bits expand as they turn to ice. You’d damage a lot of cells this way, so we really need a better way of freezing things.

      When you defrost something, it’s never exactly the same as when you froze it – because of this water-ice change!

      There is technology there for freezing human parts, but it’s really not perfect.. YET!

    • Photo: Philip Glasson

      Philip Glasson answered on 5 Jul 2012:

      Not Yet !!
      Like Carol said.
      were 80% water, and its in every one of our cells.
      When the water freezes, it expands………….BANG!

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