back to article Boffins freeze brains, then thaw them – and they're in perfect order

Scientists have preserved and recovered cryogenically-frozen brains in near-perfect condition. Robert McIntyre and Gregory Fahy from 21st Century medicine were able to prevent neuron shrinkage that follows dehydration. The pair used ultrafast chemical fixation and a new cryogenic storage technique called aldehyde-stabilised …

  1. Jim84

    Show me

    I think this is one of those technologies that the public will wake up to if and when a small mammal is frozen and then revived.

    How long till they can preserve a kidney or other solid organ?

    1. AndyS

      Re: Show me

      It strikes me that the subtle, almost lost use of the word "slices" at the end of the sixth paragraph suggests that we are still a way from this technique being... useful.

      1. JLV

        Re: Show me

        Good catch, except that I am not sure that they actually meant to convey what you understood.

        From the link:

        >The result was an intact rabbit brain uniformly filled with such a high concentration of cryoprotectants that it could be vitrified solid and stored at -135 degrees Celsius.

        They go on about an intact pig brain. Maybe the slicing is for dissection and required to examine the cell-level impact of the thawing?

  2. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    "Robert McIntyre and Gregory Fahy from 21st Century medicine were able neuron shrinkage that follows dehydration."

    Able ALL THE NEURONS!!!

    Yeah, I know, corrections by e-mail, etc. Only the machine I'm on right now doesn't want me to, apparently. Sorry!

    1. chrisf1

      Via the sous vide method it looks like:

      we vitrified brains at 135C for indefinite long-term storage .

      1. Uncle Slacky Silver badge
        Headmaster

        Re: Via the sous vide method it looks like:

        Pretty sure they mean 135 Kelvin (at least I hope so!).

      2. jake Silver badge

        Re: Via the sous vide method it looks like:

        135C? You'd need a pressure cooker for that! That is WAY over cooked!

        I give my brains a light sauté in butter, ta you very much ...

      3. Simon Harris

        Re: Via the sous vide method it looks like:

        Now it says -135C

  3. Richard 12 Silver badge

    Washed out over several hours

    So they're definitely totally dead before starting to freeze them.

    Pickled even.

    This is not the cryonics you're looking for.

    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      It does however seem to strongly indicate that all the people who have been frozen up to now are well and truly dead and no amount of scientific advance will be able to repair their brain cells to a functional state.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        As I understand it, the people behind the current generation of cryonics are touting future nanomachines as being able to repair the damage.

        1. Gene Cash Silver badge

          Ah, nanomachines. The magic wand. They are to modern half-assed science fiction what "radiation" was to half-assed science fiction fifty years ago.

          1. JLV

            >Nanomachines. The magic wand

            True, but, if you are not religious, a darn sight more convincing as a future possibility than magically passing through the pearly gates if you've worshiped dutifully during your life.

            I think half of the question is actually why would anyone un-thaw you in 200 years. If you are one of the very few, sure. Or if you have very specialized knowledge useful for some reason. If you are one of millions upon millions of folks and if the planet is already crowded, why exactly? Unless you have a special trust fund set up for the purpose, your friends and family will all be dead already.

            Anyone remember the Twilight Zone episode (which was ripped off from a non-remunerated SF writer) where someone first gets paid to bring back the dead and then gets paid again to put them back?

            1. Allan George Dyer
              Coat

              Re: >Nanomachines. The magic wand

              "Or if you have very specialized knowledge useful for some reason."

              So COBOL programmers can expect to be revived for Y2.1K?

              and Y2.2, and...?

            2. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

              Re: >Nanomachines. The magic wand

              the people behind the current generation of cryonics are touting future nanomachines as being able to repair the damage

              Sure. That's more convincing for their particular gullible audience than "fairies and unicorns will fix you up".

              I think half of the question is actually why would anyone un-thaw you in 200 years.

              The texture's lousy if they just throw you into the pot frozen.

  4. AndrueC Silver badge
    Joke

    the Small Mammal Brain Preservation Prize

    There's a prize for that? Is it like The Oscars or something?

    1. Warm Braw

      There is, but it's not very big.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      The prize is known as a "Jerry", "Peter", or "Babe" depending on nomination category.

  5. Vinyl-Junkie
    WTF?

    Does your sub-heading writer...

    ....know that the story about Walt Disney having been cryonically preserved is an urban myth?

    http://www.snopes.com/disney/waltdisn/frozen.asp if you want chapter and verse.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Does your sub-heading writer...

      They threw out the head after a few decades, doesn't make it a myth though....

    2. Ugotta B. Kiddingme
      Joke

      Re: Walt Disney cryo-preservation a myth?

      No it isn't! The investigative journalists at Robot Chicken have video proof!

  6. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Go

    BTW if this works on other organs then lack of matching organs could be over

    Just store and thaw when a recipient come up.

    Astonishing progress.

    Of course still fails to answer the important question.

    Do they still taste as good when lightly fried with a little olive oil and garlic?

    1. Alister

      Re: BTW if this works on other organs then lack of matching organs could be over

      Do they still taste as good when lightly fried with a little olive oil and garlic?

      You forgot the Fava beans... and a little Chianti.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Flavour?

    No taste test?

    1. Martin Summers Silver badge

      Re: Flavour?

      The Zombies haven't found out yet shhh!

  8. PaulAb

    Brainfreeze

    I've been getting my brains frozen for years,....It's called Ice cream, people!

    You Scientists and your test tubes.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "This is not your father’s cryonics."

    -my what?

    -your fahjer

    -my what?

    -your faaah'cher

    -what?

    -your dad!

  10. Chris G

    Not there yet

    Next, is to stick a bunny in the freezer for a couple of years then the microwave on thaw. Within 24 hours it should be making little bunnys, otherwise, this is interesting research but a very long way from a cryogenic Lazarus effect.

  11. Stuart Halliday

    So all those people who got their heads frozen over the last 20 years will get a refund? ;)

    1. Hurn

      Contract probably referred to the actual freezing procedure as "experimental," meaning no refund.

      Besides, the big, big, big money isn't made freezing parts; it's in keeping said parts frozen year after year, decade after decade. Refunds would only apply if parts are allowed to thaw, accidentally like.

  12. Andrew Jones 2

    Hum..... maybe that guy who volunteered to have his head cut off, frozen, thawed and stuck on a different body - is now a little bit closer to surviving the experimental surgery! That having being said - just because the brain slices look "pristine" - that doesn't mean it would actually still perform it's functions.

  13. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

    near-perfect condition

    I suspect that some value of "near perfect" in their terms might not be what the rest of us were hoping for.

    On the other hand, it's a step in the right direction for the sales of frozen leaf vegetables.

    1. Tufty Squirrel

      Re: near-perfect condition

      > I suspect that some value of "near perfect" in their terms might not be what the rest of us were hoping for.

      It's still dead, innit. What more do you want?

  14. John Savard

    Some Progress

    Some progress in this area - and I think this research is an exciting milestone - is better than none.

    Having found the right version of "antifreeze" to use on the most critical part of the body (the rest can just be cloned, after all) is the major step to making cryopreservation work.

    Of course, it's up to the voters to demand that when it does work that it get included in the local equivalent of the National Health.

  15. Queasy Rider

    I'm surprised...

    ... that nobody here has associated this process with suspended animation of astronauts heading for the stars.

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