Bedford, an American billionaire, became the world's first frozen man at the timeAs agreed at the time,In 2017It was the time of his thaw.
Now that 6 years have passed, what is his current situation?
In 1965, at the age of 73, Bedford was already in the advanced stage of kidney cancerHe was also suffering from illness all the time.
The medical conditions at that time were not enough to cure his cancerSo he spent a lot of money looking for ways to save his life.
That's when Robert. Dr. Ettinger's"The Prospect of Immortality".Published in the United States, this is a book about the reversal of life and death, and the most critical of them is cryonics.
The book gave Bedford so much hope that when cryonics expert Nelson approached him, he didn't hesitate to say yes.
Because Bedford believesIn the future, the medical conditions will definitely be very developed, and you will definitely be able to cure your own cancerSo he decided to have his body frozen in his own handsResurrected after 50 years.
After much discussion, the two signed the agreementBedford thus became the first person in the world to perform cryonicsHe spent $5,000 on a freezer and liquid nitrogen, and $500,000 for future maintenance of the company.
On January 12, 1967, Bedford died of sudden heart failure, and according to the agreement, Nelson was required to freeze the patient immediately after death.
But because of the limited conditions at the time, when Nelson and his team rushed to Bedford's body, they arrivedIt's already hours later
Therefore, the Nielsen team hurriedly followed the content of the agreementSoak his body in cold water to cool his body.
After that, all of Bedford's blood was drainedInject a large amount of dimethyl sulfoxide to prevent tissue damage.
Finally, Bedford's body was wrapped in a blanket and placed in a stainless steel tank filled with liquid nitrogen, and the body was soaked in liquid nitrogen, and the heat was carried away by the liquid nitrogenIt was eventually cooled to minus 196.
After all was done, Bedford was transferred to a cryogenic care facility in Phoenix, Arizona.
After having the first case of cryonics, Nelson's fame grew, and all kinds of people approached him to ask to freeze himself, and Nelson made a lot of money because of itHis freezing scale has expanded.
But the technology at that time was never mature enoughMany of the liquid nitrogen tanks used to keep the "frozen people" were damaged without maintenance, and many families could not afford the high costs of the follow-up, so they eventually had to give up.
They also took Nielsen to court, arguing that he was suspected of extortion, and Nielsen eventually lost the lawsuit and paid $800,000He also gave up research on cryonics, and those cryocans were gone.
Frozen Man Bedford was also transferred several times, until it was finally transferred to a new storage location, which calmed down.
As agreed in the agreement at that time,January 2017 was the day of the thaw in Bedford, the "frozen man".So is Bedford really "resurrected"?
You know, before the cryonics expert Nielsen was exposed to cryonics technologyIt's just an electrician who hasn't even graduated from high schoolHe also saw Robert. Dr. Ettinger's The Prospect of Immortality became interested in cryonics only later.
After death, the organs of the body do not immediately lose their function, but gradually failHowever, Nelson did not freeze Bedford immediately after his deathSome of the organs of his body must have failed.
The best way to do this is for Bedford's team to be by his side when he is about to die, and the moment his heart stops, Nielsen freezes.
Dimethyl sulfoxide may protect tissues from damage, but only after the use of this compoundThe human brain is then susceptible to damage.
In 2017Nelson, who is 80 years old, announced that the world's first "frozen man" Bedford will be thawed this yearAnd he believed that Bedford could be resurrected.
The news caught the world's attention, and people around the world were waiting for a miracle to happen, but when Nielsen announced, it wasThere was no follow-up.
If Bedford had really been resurrected, then Nielsen and the cryonics company would have made a lot of hype, rather than disappearing from people's sight like this, and now that there is no follow-up, then it is clear whether the results of the experiment were successful or not.
In fact, even if Bedford is really "resurrected".Relying on the current level of medical care, there is still no way to completely cure the advanced stage of kidney cancerHe was still facing death.
Today, Bedford's body is still preserved in the United States, and the Alcor Life Extension Association may be more symbolic.
This failure means that with the current level of technology, it is still impossible to successfully resurrect the "Frozen Man".But there are scientists who have succeeded in freezing the ice for nearly 2A case of a 40,000-year-old creature successfully resurrected.
Russian scientists have found a 0 in the permafrost of SiberiaThe 2 mm invertebrate, called the vermiculus rotifer, requires a microscope to see them, and although they are small, they have a strong vitalityAbility to survive in harsh environments for long periods of time.
In general, vermiculous rotifers can live for 10 years in a frozen state, but scientists found that after using radiocarbon dating to determine the age of vermiculated rotifersIt exists in about 240,000 years ago.
Once thawed, the vermiculous rotifers are able to begin to reproduce asexually, which means that the vermiculous rotifers are 240,000 years successfully resurrected.
Stas Malavin, a researcher at the Laboratory of Soil Cryogenics at the Biological Research and Scientific Center in Pushino, Russia, said: "Multicellular organisms can be frozen and stored for thousands of years and then resurrected, which is the dream of many ** writers." ”
Of course, the more complex the organism, the more difficult it is to cryopreserve, and for mammals, of course, it is impossible, but the rotifers found this time are organisms with intestines and brains, albeit microscopic organismsBut it is also a big step in the development of related research.
And this is not the first time that scientists have succeeded in resurrecting paleontologyScientists have also succeeded in resurrecting Antarctic moss stems that have been sealed in permafrost for 1,000 years.
Scientists also found a 3Squirrels 20,000 years agoThe squirrel had a seed from a camping flower in its body, and the scientists managed to make the seed germinate.
The study of vermiculated rotifers has been published on June 7, 2021Current BiologyIn the journal, the researchers said they would continue to explore samples from the Arctic to find other organisms that could survive long-term freezing.
And want to learn more about the biological mechanisms that make rotifers and others survive at low temperaturesIn order to obtain the technical clues of cryopreservation of complex and higher organisms.