Article content
“I want it to be clear that we are not trying to send people to Saturn.”
(ZH) – One of the biggest problems of exploring the farthest reaches of the universe is the enormous amount of time it requires.
However, it will not be possible without advances in biophysics that would allow human beings to enter a state of suspended life (or travel at speeds higher than the speed of light).
Now, however, it seems that doctors have made real progress in truly freezing and reviving human beings.
Breakthrough in scientific understanding.
Professor of the School of Medicine at the University of Maryland Samuel Tisherman led the team that actually put a human being into a state of suspended life.
For New Scientist magazine Tisherman said that he replaced the person’s blood with an ice-cold physiological solution (the problem with freezing living beings is the crystallization of water, which damages cellular structures and the subsequent reheating of the body).
He called the whole experiment “a bit bizarre”.
The patient was then taken out of the cooling system and moved to the operating room, where he underwent a two-hour operation, after which his blood was returned and his body was warmed to normal temperature.
Tisherman says that he will report the entire procedure in a new scientific study, which will be published in 2020.
His goal is rather to interrupt life for a time long enough to perform an emergency operation than to use the technology for space travel.
He recalled the story of a young man who was stabbed and did not have enough time to undergo surgery:
“Only a few minutes before he had been a healthy young man, and then he was suddenly dead. If we had had enough time, we could have saved him. I want it to be clear that we are not trying to send people to Saturn. We are trying to buy more time to save lives.”
However, it is only a matter of time before everyone’s favorite tech entrepreneur (“I can’t help but take an interest in other people’s discoveries, and if you don’t believe me, ask Vernon UNSWORTH”) gets involved and will undoubtedly note how it could be used for space travel and to support his PR agenda.
Tisherman also did not say how many studies had been conducted before this successful one. The experiment had the blessing of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which did not require patient consent because it was not possible to save him otherwise.
Conclusion:
The biggest obstacle remains preventing damage to the person during rewarming – reperfusion injury.
“So far we have not identified all the causes of reperfusion injury,” Tisherman said.
“Either way the future we could only imagine in films now stands at our door …”
