Editing Cryonics (section)

==Cryonics in practice==
Cryonics is expensive. {{asof|2018}}, the cost of preparing and storing corpses using cryonics ranged from US$28,000 to $200,000.<ref name=hta-cost>{{cite web |publisher=[[Human Tissue Authority]] |title=Things to consider when making your decision on cryonics |url=https://www.hta.gov.uk/things-consider-when-making-your-decision-cryonics |date=26 September 2018 |access-date=3 October 2019 |archive-date=30 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190930062932/https://www.hta.gov.uk/things-consider-when-making-your-decision-cryonics |url-status=live}}</ref>

At high concentrations, [[cryoprotectants]] can stop ice formation completely. Cooling and solidification without [[crystal]] formation is called [[Cryopreservation#Vitrification|vitrification]].<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Fahy GM, MacFarlane DR, Angell CA, Meryman HT|date=August 1984|title=Vitrification as an approach to cryopreservation|journal=Cryobiology|volume=21|issue=4|pages=407–26|doi=10.1016/0011-2240(84)90079-8|pmid=6467964}}</ref> In the late 1990s, [[Cryobiology|cryobiologists]] [[Greg Fahy|Gregory Fahy]] and [[Brian Wowk]] developed the first cryoprotectant solutions that could vitrify at very slow cooling rates while still allowing whole organ survival, for the purpose of banking transplantable organs.<ref name="Fahy GM, Wowk B, Pagotan R 167–75">{{cite journal|display-authors=etal|vauthors=Fahy GM, Wowk B, Pagotan R|date=July 2009|title=Physical and biological aspects of renal vitrification|journal=Organogenesis|volume=5|issue=3|pages=167–75|doi=10.4161/org.5.3.9974|pmc=2781097|pmid=20046680}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|display-authors=etal|vauthors=Fahy GM, Wowk B, Wu J|date=April 2004|title=Cryopreservation of organs by vitrification: perspectives and recent advances|journal=Cryobiology|volume=48|issue=2|pages=157–78|doi=10.1016/j.cryobiol.2004.02.002|pmid=15094092}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fahy|first1=G|last2=Wowk|first2=B|last3=Wu|first3=J|last4=Phan|first4=J|last5=Rasch|first5=C|last6=Chang|first6=A|last7=Zendejas|first7=E|year=2005|title=Corrigendum to "Cryopreservation of organs by vitrification: perspectives and recent advances" [Cryobiology 48 (2004) 157–178] |journal=Cryobiology |volume=50 |issue=3 |page=344|doi=10.1016/j.cryobiol.2005.03.002 |doi-access=}}</ref> This has allowed animal brains to be vitrified, thawed, and examined for ice damage using light and [[electron microscopy]]. No ice crystal damage was found;<ref name="lemler">{{cite journal |vauthors=Lemler J, Harris SB, Platt C, Huffman TM|date=June 2004|title=The arrest of biological time as a bridge to engineered negligible senescence |journal=Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences |volume=1019 |issue=1 |pages=559–563 |bibcode=2004NYASA1019..559L |pmid=15247086 |s2cid=27635898 |doi=10.1196/annals.1297.104}}</ref> cellular damage was due to dehydration and toxicity of the cryoprotectant solutions.

Costs can include payment for medical personnel to be on call for death, vitrification, transportation in dry ice to a preservation facility, and payment into a trust fund intended to cover indefinite storage in liquid nitrogen and future revival costs.<ref name="independent chilling facts">{{cite news|title=Cryonics: the chilling facts|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/cryonics-the-chilling-facts-2326328.html|access-date=21 February 2016|work=[[The Independent]]|date=26 July 2011|archive-date=14 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614171545/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/cryonics-the-chilling-facts-2326328.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="nytimes dying hope">{{cite news|title=A Dying Young Woman's Hope in Cryonics and a Future|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/us/cancer-immortality-cryogenics.html|access-date=21 February 2016|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=12 September 2015|archive-date=2 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180802161847/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/us/cancer-immortality-cryogenics.html|url-status=live}}</ref> As of 2011, U.S. cryopreservation costs can range from $28,000 to $200,000, and are often financed via life insurance.<ref name="independent chilling facts" /> [[KrioRus]], which stores bodies communally in large [[Cryogenic storage dewar|dewars]], charges $12,000 to $36,000 for the procedure.<ref name="ft" /> Some customers opt to have only their brain cryopreserved ("neuropreservation"), rather than their whole body.

As of 2014, about 250 corpses have been cryogenically preserved in the U.S., and around 1,500 people have signed up to have their remains preserved.<ref name="moen" /> As of 2016, there are four facilities that retain cryopreserved bodies, three in the U.S. and one in Russia.<ref name="guardian keep cool" /><ref>{{cite news|title='The ultimate lottery ticket:' Inside one of four cryonics facilities in the world|url=http://koin.com/2016/02/17/oregon-cryonics-the-ultimate-lottery-ticket/|access-date=21 February 2016|work=[[KOIN]] (CBS Portland)|date=18 February 2016|archive-date=4 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704073553/http://koin.com/2016/02/17/oregon-cryonics-the-ultimate-lottery-ticket/|url-status=live}}</ref>

A more recent development is Tomorrow Biostasis GmbH, a [[Berlin]]-based firm offering cryonics and standby and transportation services in [[Europe]]. Founded in 2019 by Emil Kendziorra and Fernando Azevedo Pinheiro, it partners with the European Biostasis Foundation in [[Switzerland]] for long-term corpse storage. The facility was completed in 2022.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tomorrow Biostasis |url=https://www.tomorrow.bio/ |access-date=26 December 2023 |archive-date=15 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231115144732/https://www.tomorrow.bio/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title='Want to live longer? This Berlin startup aims to bring you back from the dead|url=https://tech.eu/2023/01/26/tomorrow-biostasis-wants-you-to-live-forever/|access-date=26 December 2023|work=tech.eu|date=26 January 2023|archive-date=11 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230811023629/https://tech.eu/2023/01/26/tomorrow-biostasis-wants-you-to-live-forever/|url-status=live}}</ref>

It seems extremely unlikely that any cryonics company could exist long enough to take advantage of the supposed benefits offered; historically, even the most robust corporations have only a one-in-a-thousand chance of lasting 100 years.<ref name=decline>{{cite journal |journal=Cogent Social Sciences |author=Stodolsky DS |title=The growth and decline of cryonics |doi=10.1080/23311886.2016.1167576 |volume=2 |year=2016 |issue=1 |page=1167576|doi-access=free}}</ref> Many cryonics companies have failed; {{asof|2018|lc=yes}}, all but one of the pre-1973 batch had gone out of business, and their stored corpses have been defrosted and disposed of.<ref name=hta-law>{{cite web |publisher=[[Human Tissue Authority]] |title=The law on cryonics |url=https://www.hta.gov.uk/law-cryonics |date=26 September 2018 |access-date=3 October 2019 |archive-date=30 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190930062900/https://www.hta.gov.uk/law-cryonics |url-status=live}}</ref>