Immortality Becomes Real

Colonies of immortals may appear already in 50 years

Crionika is a science that studies the influence of cold on the human body, which allegedly allows to extend the life-span. Lyudmila Obukhova from the Institute of Biochemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that Russian scientists had managed to achieve certain progress in the field. "Experiments to reduce the human body temperature bring good results. A couple of degrees off can help an individual live for 120 or 150 years more. If is it possible to reduce the body temperature by two more degrees, we would achieve the biblical result - 700 or even 800 years of living! However, experiments are just getting started, so it is too early to announce it to the whole world that we have conquered death," Lyudmila said.

The notion of criotherapy appeared in 1975 in Japan. Japanese scientist Tosimo Yamauchi was watching rheumatology arthritis patients, when he suddenly discovered the positive influence of the cold on joints. Olga Gorishnaya from the Institute of Ecology and Evolution said: "It was Tosimo Yamauchi, who suggested using the cold air 100-180 degrees below zero (Celsius) to treat patients. He even built the first criosauna for those purposes."

Soon after that doctors attempted to treat skin diseases, colds, asthma and even snoring. A criosauna can be a very good stimulant for the immune system, it is also very good to help people struggle with excess weight: the intense heat emission cuts both age and weight.

"A criosauna is not the only way to conquer death with the help of the cold air. Scientists often talk about crionika, when people can be frozen and then revived in the future. This idea has been widely used in science fiction, but it is becoming real nowadays," Olga Gorishnaya said.

Crionika can be considered as a variant of a funeral ritual. In the USA, wealthy people already have an opportunity to choose, if they want to be just buried in the ground or frozen until the humanity invents a reviving technology. What about being frozen before the physical death?

"Ice crystals do not destroy cells, they just cut them into two, Olga Gorishnaya says. - A fish in a freezer does not turn to a  minced fish, a fish will remain the same, it will simply be frozen.  Something like that will happen, if you put a living fish in a freezer, although it will not be possible to bring it back to life later on. Certain conditions are needed to make a cell live and work."

Scientists believe, an ice-cut cell will live again, if one "sews" it together. Such methods have already been developed  within the scope of the scientific direction, which is called the nanotechnology. "It goes about the invention of a device, which could be capable of working with molecules and atoms, - Rudolf Nesmelov from the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Physics says. - This device is very small, one-billionth of one meter. Japanese scientists have already invented tiny molecule-sized robots outfitted with sensors and minicomputers. We have our developments in Russia as well. It will be possible to talk about experiments on living beings in 10 or 15 years. If they yield positive results, experiments on humans will be launched too. Molecular surgery is the restoration of a partially destroyed cell by means of manipulation with certain molecules, which may solve the immortality problem."

Rudolf Nesmelov says, this fantastic situation can develop as follows. A human body is frozen  in 2003 and then it is defrozen in 2033, for instance. Molecular robots start working in the body at once, analyzing the damage, which is caused with dying, freezing and storing periods. Robots exchange the information with each other and with the control computer outside the body. According to the analysis, robots repair the damage, revitalize and treat cells.

Storing a frozen body in a freezer is not necessary for such technologies. One can renew a human body several times during its life, making it last a lot longer. When molecular robots finish their work, they go out of a body either through circulatory or breathing systems. A 200-year-old man will feel like a young man again.

Mikhail Solovyov, Doctor of Medical Sciences, one of the main proponents of crionika, put forward an idea of an immortal society. The scientist says that there will be special farms built for the purpose, equipped with liquid nitrogen-producing devices. Crionika might become a cheap service, which will be available for a lot of people: the price will be around $2,000 for a body. People will practically stop dying. Mikhail Solovyov says, this idea may become true in about 20 years.

Crionika has an ethical aspect too. Will a person manage to adapt to a completely new life in 100 or 200 years? It is not excluded that a "resurrected" person might go crazy, a person might be completely disappointed in the new life. One should think about these issues, until a colony of immortals appears.

On the photo: A criosauna

Nezavisimaya Gazeta