An Australian cryonics company has frozen their first client, with the hope that future medical advancements may one day revive him.
The man, in his 80s, passed away in a Sydney hospital before being transported to Southern Cryonics' facility in Holbrook, New South Wales, where his body was cryogenically preserved at -196C.
Peter Tsolakides from Southern Cryonics told Breakfast people will be kept suspended for "as long as necessary" until the science to bring people back from cryogenic freezing is developed.
"Essentially, the thinking is that probably in a few hundred years we'll have the capability to bring people back. Maybe 100, 200 years … there is no specified time."
He said people of all ages sign up for their programme, and at the time of their death the company will then "swing into action".
"Once somebody passes away, we are at their hospital bed. Our main objective is to keep dropping the temperature, so we get time," Tsolakides said.
He said the process begins after legal death when the body is moved to a cool room, before being covered in ice to further drop the temperature and is then shifted to a funeral home.
Then, various chemicals including dry ice and liquid nitrogen are used at the Southern Cryonics facility to drop the body temperature slowly.
By this point, Tsolakides said "biological processes have essentially stopped [and] they can stay there for hundreds of years".
He said scientists from Southern Cryonics work very closely with the two main US organisations who he said have been operating for "60 to 70 years" in this field already.
"No science is available at the moment to bring anybody back; we're looking to the science of the future to do that. So basically, we know how to suspend, we've been trained by very professional overseas organisations, and we are giving somebody time."
Tsolakides said the people who donate their bodies to this cause usually have an interest in science and are "very optimistic" about the future and scientific advancement.
He said the cost totals AU$150,000 (NZ$161,450) paid through life insurance.
"So you could say the cost is around, round numbers, $400 per year."
Asked whether he plans to freeze himself, Tsolakides replied: "Yes, of course.
"I'm one of the people who started the organisation. So yes, I will, I plan to," he laughed.
Globally, around 500 people have had themselves cryonically preserved and just over 4000 people have placed themselves on waiting lists for cryonic preservation in the hope of extending their lives.
SHARE ME