How Close Are We to Escaping Dying? The Current State of Cryonics

“This mainstream acceptance raises a key question: If vitrification can preserve embryos and organs like kidneys, why wouldn’t similar principles apply to brain preservation of cryonics?”

Most animals and organisms tolerate environmental changes. Few can tolerate extreme environments, especially freezing temperatures, without putting their lives in danger. Uniquely, the wood frog, woolly bear caterpillar, young painted turtles, tardigrades, alligators, and iguanas are part of a group of animals that can survive freezing temperatures by naturally producing their own biological cryoprotectants. This means that these animals have evolved with a metabolism that protects them from temperatures that would normally freeze their bodily fluids. In other words, they naturally prepare themselves by producing antifreeze compounds of glycerol, antifreeze proteins (AFPs), and sugars.

Humans do not have this ability. While I am not an expert scientist in this particular area, I do have specialized knowledge in the long-term memory of simple animals undergoing biostasis. Outside of my scientific research, my innovative projects on longevity include academic courses, lectures, and my own longevity practice as a hands-on innovator in the field. Being an innovator also means that I need to understand why a new science or technology is developed. This knowledge helps to find better loopholes and gaps, where advances in science and technology can potentially make the difference. With this in mind, I have learned that advances in the field of biostasis have followed the originations in nature and created very advanced cryoprotectants for cryonics to eliminate ice formation that would cause cellular damage. Recent innovations bring about a far greater degree of biological slowing and much more protection from the effects of cold temperatures.

To be clear, for the purposes of this discussion, there are three important terms worth noting: biostasis, cryopreservation, and cryonics. Biostasis is the general concept of preserving biological material. Cryopreservation is a specific method of biostasis using very cold temperatures, and cryonics is the controversial application of cryopreservation techniques to entire human bodies, with the goal of future revival.