Cryonics

Cryonics

Cryonics definitions

Cryonics is the practice of preserving individuals at ultra‑low temperatures with the aim of halting the biological and physical processes of decay in the hope that future advances in medicine and technology will enable their revival and cure of the ailments that caused their death. The procedure typically involves replacing the blood with a cryoprotectant solution to prevent ice formation, followed by gradual cooling to liquid nitrogen temperatures (around -196 degrees celsius) and long‑term storage in specialized dewars.

Cryovitrification, also known as vitrified cryopreservation, is a rapid-freezing technique that transforms aqueous biological specimens--ranging from isolated macromolecules and subcellular organelles to whole cells, tissues, organs and animals--into a glass‑like, amorphous state without the formation of damaging ice crystals. By employing ultra‑high cooling rates (typically >10⁴ °C min⁻¹) together with cryoprotective agents (e.g., dimethyl sulfoxide, ethylene glycol, or trehalose), the water within the sample bypasses the crystalline phase transition and solidifies as a metastable vitreous matrix. This preserves native structural integrity, biochemical activity, and metabolic potential far better than conventional slow‑cooling methods, facilitating downstream applications such as high‑resolution cryo‑electron microscopy, single‑cell transcriptomics, and medical ?time travel. Cryovitrification is a common practice in cell biology labs and, for example, in in vitro fertilization for germ cell storage and embryo storage.

Talks and transcripts

transcript: James Bedford Day 2026

transcript: Nectome and glutaraldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation (2018)

Papers

Aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation (2015)

Fahy, G. M., et al. (2009). functional survival of kidneys subjected to extracorporeal freezing and reimplantation

Vita-More, N., & Barranco, D. (2015). Persistence of Long-Term Memory in Vitrified and Revived Caenorhabditis elegans. Rejuvenation Research.

High-resolution whole-brain staining for electron microscopic circuit reconstruction. Nature Methods (nmeth.3361).

Vitrifying the connectomic self: A case for developing aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation into a medical procedure

Improved tissue cryopreservation using inductive heating of magnetic nanoparticles

Aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation

perry metzger again is the only person who has read ?Nanosystems and says: "Aldehyde-Stabilized Cryopreservation has been suggested in the past. In fact its potential advantages were discussed extensively in chapter 9 of Eric Drexler’s 1987 book “Engines of Creation”… To our knowledge, 21CM’s recent experiments are the first and only serious attempt to test this Aldehyde-Stabilized Cryopreservation technique’s ability to preserve a whole mammalian brain."

Gas persufflation and cooling

".. we’re funding work at Keinice Bio, whose groundbreaking cryopreservation technology employs ultra-cold helium gas in lieu of traditional liquid perfusates. This method results in vitrification so rapid that no biologically significant ice crystal formation occurs, whilst also avoiding the toxicity associated with traditional cryoprotectants."

Selective breeding for cryonics

Instead of only varying the chemical and cooling parameters for cryonics, it's important to also vary the genetic content of the organisms that you are attempting to cryopreserve. Therefore, one possibility is to develop a selective breeding program to develop organisms that are better able to tolerate cryonics and cryopreservation.

The proposed method involves iterative freezing of populations (or specific organs/cell lines first), thawing them, and breeding the survivors or those that heal the fastest. The goal is to create a reservoir of biological templates (genomes) that handle phase transitions better than wild-type mammals, eventually applying these genetic modifications to human physiology via gene therapy, embryo selection, or even germline genetic engineering.

From the logs: "... i think that even if modern-day cryonics does not work that we should be working on selecting populations of important organisms (humans, pets, whatever) for those members of the population that are capable of freezing, thawing and surviving so that in a few generations even if we totally fail now, we will have a population that can be freeze stored indefinitely if necessary and also, the genetic differences between pets that are capable of cryopreservation and cryoresuscitation could be analyzed to determine likely gene modifications to enable human cryopreservation."

Drama

1970s CSC failure. KrioRus stolen bodies. etc.. lots of drama in cryonics! Pick your slop/poison.

Other

Suda Experiment (1960s): Logs mention a cat brain frozen for 7 years that allegedly showed EEG activity upon thawing.

carbon nanotubes: "I keep thinking there should be a workaround for cryonics that is more in the realm of pure physics. Like, thread the tissue with carbon nanotubes to make it thermally conductive or perfuse with a bunch of tiny spheres loaded with the chemicals for high energy density endothermic reactions."

"for cryonics, one idea I have is to exploit compression and expansion of diamond in perfusable micromachines as a rapid heat removal mechanism when a high intensity magnetic field is applied, they roll to make the round edges press together and deform, releasing heat. then perfuse while under the field, and switch it off. returning to the unstressed shape, they absorb heat."