Today technology plays a vital role in every aspect of life. Increasing standards in technology in many fields particularly in medicine, has taken man today to high esteem. Nanotechnology is a new technology that is knocking at the doors. This technology uses atoms with a view to creating a desired product. The term nanotechnology has been a combination of two terms,”nano”and “technology”. The term nano is derived from a Greek word “nanos” which means “dwarf”. Thus nanotechnology is dwarf technology. A nanometer is one billionth of a metre.
The main application of nanotechnology is cryonics. Cryonics is nothing but an attempt of raising the dead. Cryonics is not a widespread medical practice and viewed with skepticism by most scientists and doctors today.
Cryonics:
The word "cryonics" is the practice of freezing a dead body in hopes of someday reviving it. A Cryonics is the practice of cooling people immediately after death to the point where molecular physical decay completely stops, in the expectation that scientific and medical procedures currently being developed will be able to revive them and restore them to good health later. A patient held in such a state is said to be in 'cryonic suspension’. Cryonics is the practice of cryopreserving humans and pets (who have recently become legally dead) until the cryopreservation damage can be reversed and the cause of the fatal disease can be cured (including the disease known as aging). However, there is a high representation of scientists among cryonicists. Support for cryonics is based on controversial projections of future technologies and of their ability to enable molecular-level repair of tissues and organs.
The central premise of cryonics is that memory, personality, and identity are stored in cellular structures and chemistry, principally in the brain.
We believe that revival is a real possibility because:
(1) Many biological specimens have been cryopreserved, stored at liquid nitrogen temperature where all decay ceases, and revived; these include whole insects, vinegar eels, many types of human tissue including brain tissue, human embryos which have later grown into healthy children, and a few small mammalian organs. Increasingly more cells, organs and tissues are being reversibly cryopreserved.
(2) The repair capabilities of molecular biology and nanotechnology increasingly point to a future technology that can repair damage due to aging, disease and freezing.
Cryonics patient prepares for the future:
How an Alcor patient's body is frozen and stored until medical technology can repair the body and revive the patient, or grow a new body for the patient.
Patient declared legally dead
On way to Alcor in Arizona, blood circulation is maintained and patient is injected with medicine to minimize problems with frozen tissue. Cooling of body is begun. (If body needs to be flown, blood is replaced with organ preservatives.)
At Alcor the body is cooled to 5 degrees
Chest opened, blood is replaced with a solution (glycerol, water, and other chemicals) that enters the tissues, pushing out water to reduce ice formation. In 2 to 4 hours, 60% or more of body water is replaced by glycerol.
Freezing the body
The patient is placed in cold silicone oil, chilling the body to -79°C. Then it's moved to an aluminum pod and slowly cooled over 5 days in liquid nitrogen to -196°C (minus 320° Fahrenheit), then stored.
The cryopreserved patient is stored upside down in large vats called ‘bigfoot dewars’ or ‘cryostats’ as shown above. It is said to be ‘suspended animation’.
Actual process starts:
After preserving the body for some days, they will start the surgery. As a part of it, they will apply some chemicals like glycerol and some advanced chemicals to activate the cells of the body. By doing so, 0.2% of the cells in the body will be activated. After that they will preserve the body for future applications. The cryonicists strongly believe that future medicines in 21st century will be useful to rapidly increase those cells that will help to retrieve the dead person back.
Storage vessel
Stainless-steel vats formed into a large thermos-bottle-like container. Vat for up to four bodies weighs about a ton; stands 9 feet tall.
At Alcor
A surgeon connects major blood vessels to a perfusion circuit.A cryoprotectant solution is circulated through the patient at a temperature near 0°C (the freezing point of water) for several minutes. This washes out any remaining blood. The cryoprotectant concentration is then linearly increased over 2 hours to one half the final target concentration. This slow introduction minimizes osmotic stress, and allows time for the cryoprotectant concentration to equilibrate (become the same) inside and outside cells. A rapid increase to the final concentration is then made, and the final concentration is held until the venous outflow concentration