Cryogenic Sleep For Space Travel And Future Cure Reading Answers

Our bodies aren't designed for space travel. This piece of information comes as a jolt to

fans of the science fiction genre, but we need to embrace the fact that our bodies require too much maintenance. Out there beyond the stars, it is impossible and even untenable to think about maintaining our needs for water, food and oxygen. The warmth we need to sustain ourselves will not be available in space. The temperature in outer space is somewhere around -455 degrees Fahrenheit. Even if we somehow manage to find resources to ensure our survival, we simply wouldn't have anything to do there! But, the air is rife with a possibility: Put yourself to sleep.

Back in the 1970s in a show called Time Slip, the characters were shown to be frozen in ice. Back then, it was just fantasy, and today we are close to achieving perfection in the field of Cryogenics- the science of producing very cold temperatures and studying its effects. Alcor, one the largest cryogenic companies in the world, believes that futurism is a valid school of thought. This company has chosen to opt for neuropreservation, which is freezing the brain instead of preserving the entire body. Cryopreservation is considered to be the apple of the eye of the futurism community.

The premise is indeed simple- the field of medicine is constantly growing. With this, the possibility of space travel for longer periods and futuristic cure is growing larger. Cryonics bridges the gap between today and the days to come in future. Before 50 years, if someone were to suffer from a heart attack and fall, the doctor would check for the pulse, and upon no response would declare the person dead.

With the advent of cryonics, this has changed. Some of the premises of cryonics are what one could call 'untestable' because no one has ever tried bringing a person back to life after cryogenic preservation. In spite of this, people with chronic diseases are being frozen in liquid nitrogen, with the hope of seeing a distant future.

Efforts to make the revival of the medically pronounced dead a possibility are being undertaken by companies such as Alcor. Once a person has been declared as dead, Alcor comes in and begins the process of preserving the body. This is very complex, with the first step being the transfer of the 'patient' from the hospital bed to a bed of ice and covering the cadaver with a slurry of ice.

Then, they use what is known as a heart-lung resuscitator to get the blood pumping again. After this, the preservation of the cells begins. Alcor uses about 16 different medications to protect the cells from dying after body functions cease. Since the patients are deceased, Alcor has the permission to use methods which may not pertain with the conventions of medical use. Soon, these patients are moved for surgery.

This entire process is high-risk, with the reward being determined by meticulous work. There is no room to slip up. They are freezing a lot of bodies in liquid nitrogen without knowing the actual outcome. But, gradual changes are occurring in the field of tissue regeneration, though the changes are small, they are occurring at a steady pace. Taking into consideration the efforts of another company, SpaceWorks, based in Atlanta has been studying the possibility of sending humans into deeper space.

They received grants from NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) to pursue research in what is known as Phase 1 of their "Torpor Inducing Transfer Habitat for Human Stasis to SpaceWorks". SpaceWorks believes that there is a medical procedure which is key to enabling deep space travel. "The nearest equivalent to hibernation currently experienced by humans is a medical condition called therapeutic hypothermia," says SpaceWorks researcher Doug Talk.

This process is often used to treat patients who have gone into cardiac arrest or infants who are born with defects. The body temperature of the individual is reduced by 10 degrees centigrade using either ice packs or an intravascular catheter. SpaceWorks believes that they can use the same technique to put human beings into a torpor, which a bear enters into to endure long winters. 

This torpor is what will enable humans to be transported across vast stretches of space. A centrally positioned robotic arm will move over the travellers, ensuring that all the needs of the body are met. Why freeze the bodies? Cold reduces the rate of metabolism, as a result of which the heart rate of an individual is reduced. This is beneficial as an unconscious person takes up less space as compared to a conscious one. With a team of dedicated scientists at

SpaceWorks and Alcor working on the application of cryogenics in the fields of medical science and space travel, both the areas seem to be on the brink of metamorphosis. Once the field of cryonics develops completely, humans will be able to conquer dimensions which were unheard of before. With research aimed at expanding knowledge and increasing longevity of the human species, there is very little that would be left to the imagination. These changes are beneficial and are a testimony to the evolution our minds are undergoing at a rapid rate.