Share:
Experiment Is there a life after death? German scientists want to freeze themselves
Is there a life after death? For religious people the answer is clear. Scientists, on the other hand, usually negate the question. But not all. A German researcher has now announced that he wants to freeze after death, to be thawed later - when deadly diseases are curable.
Freeze corpse with antifreeze and nitrogen
A few weeks ago, a 14-year-old cancer patient from the UK had been reported to have fought in court to freeze after death. Shortly before her death, the teenager wrote: "I'm only 14 years old and I do not want to die, but I'm going to die. I think being frozen gives me the chance to be healed and awakened - even if it's been hundreds of years. "For the adolescent, the question of whether there is a life after that was also linked to future medical advances. A German researcher looks similar. He wants to freeze after death with antifreeze and nitrogen.
Religious people assume that life will somehow continue after death. Some scientists also believe that. A German researcher has now announced that he will freeze after death, to be thawed later - when deadly diseases are curable. (Image: ufot / fotolia.com) Plan looks like something out of a grotesque science-fiction movie
The Ulm age researcher Klaus Sames is considered a pioneer of cryonics in Germany. In this method, organisms or individual organs are frozen in liquid nitrogen in order to "revive" them later.
Possibilities so far exist only in Russia and the USA, which is why the body of young people from England is also kept in America.
Although it is unclear whether the damage to cells and organs resulting from freezing is reversible, Sames evidently assumes that the method is also applicable to the entire human body.
As the news agency dpa reports, the Ulm age researchers want to freeze after his death and in a few hundred years thaw again - then just when deadly diseases are curable.
Believe in life after death
But even if he believes in a life after death, he prefers to try on a pig's heart first. In the embalming institute in Ulm, where he will one day lie, he explains, while holding a sharp saw to his neck: "In the throttle pit we make a small cut."
According to him, they were able to practice on a body two years ago. "We've learned everything there is to know about doing something," says Sames.
The thorax should be opened and pumped through a heart-lung machine antifreeze into his bloodstream. Only then should the corpse be cooled below zero degrees without the formation of destructive crystals.
Decay process continues
Frank-Michael Weigner of the Association of German Taxidermy, however, says: "This is a pipe dream." In the dpa message, he explains that the body cells are filled with liquid. "If you cool that down, the liquid expands, then all cells burst."
And even if it were possible to freeze people without major damage: "When you thaw, the normal decay process continues."
It's good that people die too. "At some point must also be the end," said Weigner.
"Interrupting dying"
Sames, on the other hand, says: "You can save everyone." He claims: "You can stop dying." However, he also knows that a human being can hardly be frozen without damage.
Nevertheless, the researchers consider the preservation of complete human organs in principle possible, which is why he soon wants to cool a pig's heart to minus 130 degrees and then revive.
As the message in the agency says, it hurts him that his science is not taken seriously. He came out only after his time as a physician as a cryonics trailer. Now he dreams of the "Breakthrough to Medical Seriousness".
Natural scientific project character should be emphasized
According to the information, Sames has founded an association around his "competence team", as he calls it. Also involved is Karen Conrad. "It's funny," says the 46-year-old nurse for intensive care: "Everyone wants to live longer. But hardly anyone wants to take the chance to live longer. "
Sames explains: "I first wanted to master the finiteness of being religious." The former theology student continues: "I thought I was a believer, but then it stopped."
"I'm afraid of dying, but horror of death," says the cryoniker, who does not want to be labeled as such. "It has such a sect sound." He tries to emphasize the scientific project character.
Body should be kept at minus 196 degrees
According to dpa, he reports of children who were recovered after an hour of icy water and revived. And in the US, a thawed kidney was successfully planted in a rabbit.
Next year, he wants to tackle the project. If the experiment with the pig's heart works, he continues to dream: "And what is a human except a collection of large organs?"
According to his statement, he wants to one day in a plastic bag with dry ice "cozy ship to America" leave. The Cryonics Institute, he had already paid $ 28,000 so that they keep him hanging at minus 196 degrees upside down.
"That's at least as serious as the Mars project," says Sames. He is already thinking about the future: "There will be someone who is programmed to introduce me to the new reality," says the researcher. Then he wanted to drink champagne. (Ad)