Scientists have moved a step closer to preserving our brains forever.
They are one of the first to successfully thaw brain tissue that has been cryogenically frozen – without damaging it.
Further, after being frozen, their neurons were still able to send signals as normal.
This has been a major challenge for science, because freezing the ultra-delicate, spongy brain usually damages it, making it useless when it’s thawed.
Not only is it a breakthrough for neuroscientists looking to study new drugs, it could also advance the sci-fi idea of bringing people back to life in the future.
The idea is that people could freeze their bodies, preserving them indefinitely, in hopes that in the future, science will be advanced enough to bring them back to life, healthy.
Professor Zhicheng Shao, a Harvard trained neuroscientist who works at Fudan University in Shanghai China, developed a complex chemical mixture nicknamed MEDY which protects neurons from being damaged while frozen.
He is not shying away from the idea that the research could be used for cryonics, which has been a fantasy among futurists for decades.
‘MEDY could be used for the cryopreservation of human brain tissue,’ Dr Shao said in his study, published in the journal Cell Reports Methods.
For a range of future-minded people, from the likes of Peter Thiel to Steve Aoki, who are banking on preserving their bodies in ice after they die, this should be welcome news.
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