In Search Of... Season 3 # 6, Cryogenics

With the help of chemicals and cooling systems scientific researchers preserve human tissue by cooling it down. Frozen alive on minus 167 degrees Fahrenheit sperms of cows are used for fertilization. Human sperm could possibly be preserved for thousands of years. When the process is introduced too quickly, cells die. Frozen blood-cells can be stored for millions of years and are defrosted in less than an hour.

With cows embryos are stored that way until they are used for implantation in a cow’s womb. The human body’s thermal condition is highly delicate. A decrease of merely 5% can cause death. Test done with mice show that a frozen mouse can be re-animated.

People who died by strokes or a young 14 year old girl for example are frozen in hope that one day treatment is possible. A thousand bodies are stored that way. Ethnical questions are raised and besides of all life-saving medical advances and suspended animation might be achieved. We might not be able to deal with the unknown consequences of frozen people.