[extropy-chat] National Geographic on cryonics

[Giu1i0 Pri5c0]

The National Geographic magazine has a good article on cryonics.
The prospect of cheating death raises a host of philosophical, moral,
and religious questions. But let's consider only the scientific
aspects.
Even proponents of cryonics, the practice of storing entire organisms
(or at least their brains) for future revival, admit there is no
scientific evidence that a cryopreserved human will ever be revived.
No one even knows what technology would have to be developed to
reverse the preservation.
Many questions surround the cryopreservation process itself. In
cryopreservation, cells and tissues are stored at frigid, cryogenic
temperatures - where metabolism and decay are almost stopped - for
future revival at normal temperatures.
But scientists have long known that the freezing process creates ice
crystals, which destroy cells and cellular structures.
A few years ago, cryobiologists discovered a new preservation process,
called vitrification, which virtually eliminates ice-crystal
formation. Rather than freezing the tissue, vitrification suspends it
in a highly viscous glassy state. In this mode, molecules remain in a
disordered state, as in a fluid, rather than forming a crystalline
structure.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/03/0318_050318_cryonics.html