Suspended Animation: Life after Death

(Pic #1: Title for Cryonics with a person frozen in ice)

I. Introduction

What if we were able to stop the vital organs in our body and then start them up again later on? This process is called suspended animation. This seemingly science fiction idea may actualy have some truth to it, or at least that is what the scientists at Alcor and many other Cryonic research facilities believe. By using cryogenic procedures plus upgraded science equipment they have been able to preserve people, frozen in tubes for preservation. If they do in fact achieve this, and bring people back to life then couldn't we question, what is death?

II. History/Inventor

(Pic #2: Pictured above is James Bedford)

The first case in which someone was cryonically preserved was back in 1967. This first subject was Dr. James Bedford(Pic #2). Although all he preserved was his head. Though this may have been the first case in which the whole procedure was preformed, it is in no way the first time the theory has been brought up. The idea of this process has been going around for awhile but no one has gone out and tried to make it a reality until ACS and Alcor, to name a few, were created.

III. How it works

(Pic # 3: One of many Cryonic tubes)

When a person, who has signed up/paid for his or her body to be cryonically stored dies, a group of scientists will be there as soon as possible to prepare the body. So far there have been 100 people go through the procedure of cryonic preservation and put into tubes (Pic #3). The video below will show the procedure in detail:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb07pKsCOjI&feature=related

The only problem to this is cost. You either have the choice to preserve your brain/head or your whole body. The brain/head is considerably less compared to that of the whole body. Going by ACS() costs there are three options: Option 1= $155,000, Option 2= $53,000, Option 3= $33,000. The highest priced option uses the most advanced form of preservation then the other 2 options. Another reason as to why it is so expensive is because they have to maintain the tube also with liquid nitrogen so you don't thaw out.

IV. Effect on Humanity

(Pic #4: Pictured above is a Cryo tube from the videogame Halo: CE)

As many scientists are saying, cryonic sleep isn't that far away from our grasp. If scientists working for cryonic organizations do in fact figure out a way to freeze a person then bring them back from being frozen, there could be many uses for it in the future. Some of these could be: freezing someone until a cure for the disease they died with is created and space travel. If someone were to die of cancer, for instance, if they were to be frozen and brought back later on when we had a cure, it could save their life and many others. Though this depends on whether or not the person was not damaged in the cryogenic procedure. As seen in many video games/ movies, cryonic sleep(Pic #4) has been used to make long space voyages shorter.

V. Journal Article

This journal article talks about how suspended animation could be used for saving lives and how it would help with surgery. He/she says they could use suspended animation to do research on other diseases in an attempt to find the cure for them. It also talks about how cryonic procedures have been used and what had been learned from the results of those tests.

Source: http://journals.lww.com/ccmjournal/Abstract/1996/02001/Suspended_animation_for_delayed_resuscitation.4.aspx
VI. References

Pics:

1. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.perfectmemorials.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/cryonic_tank.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.perfectmemorials.com/blog/cryonics-how-about-a-raincheck/&usg=__SV9TBcC5ivcZEN574_rNzetaM8c=&h=300&w=300&sz=18&hl=en&start=0&sig2=_H7WgXMLhRMEa5Qqd2pBSg&zoom=1&tbnid=UIbn29coD3BuBM:&tbnh=142&tbnw=146&ei=q5O9TfWCKIbVgQf9qtijBw&prev=/search%3Ftalks about how suspended animation could be used for saving lives and how it would help with surgery. He/she says they could use supended animation to research other diseases in a hope to cure them. It also talks about how cryogenic procedures have been used and what had been learned from the results.

q%3Dcryonics%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26rlz%3D1R2ADSA_enUS404%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D711%26tbm%3Disch%26prmd%3Divnslb0%2C202&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=676&vpy=298&dur=1607&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=124&ty=106&page=1&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:24,s:0&biw=1259&bih=711
2. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/File:Cryo_pod_01.png

3. http://www.alcor.org/Library/html/BedfordSuspension.html

4. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.pharmainfo.net/files/u4934/cryonics-top.png&imgrefurl=http://www.pharmainfo.net/vbsishwarya/cryonics-science-immortal-life&usg=__Fms2qvmUFgo96QhhpeVDKPVJ8wU=&h=247&w=400&sz=143&hl=en&start=53&sig2=icdRv_lyh-9oHjdbGvuf8Q&zoom=1&tbnid=a8EZHAcaTb85eM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=161&ei=XhK-Ta3OEcXUgQfqzIjrBg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Damerican%2Bcryonics%2Bsociety%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26rlz%3D1R2ADSA_enUS404%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D711%26site%3Dsearch%26tbm%3Disch0%2C907&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=574&vpy=376&dur=7551&hovh=176&hovw=286&tx=192&ty=80&page=3&ndsp=29&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:53&biw=1259&bih=711
Video:

5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb07pKsCOjI&feature=related

Websites:

6. What Cryonics is (n.d.) Retrieved April 29, 2011. from Alcor Web site: http://www.alcor.org/

7. Prices/Funding (n.d.) Retrieved April 29, 2011. from American Cryonics Web site: http://americancryonics.org/prices.html