Physics and life prolongation

NOV 01, 1966

New methods for freezing and storing at low temperatures might lead to many new potentialities for the human race, the most exciting of which would be the opportunity for dying individuals to avail themselves of future medical progress. Successful experiments have already been done with cells and lower animals, but many problems remain.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3047814

Gerald Feinberg

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY in the 20th century have made real many dreams of men in earlier ages. Among these are transmutation of elements and manned space flight. Another dream of many men in different places and times, that of elimination of aging and death, remains unfulfilled by us. Scientists who work on this problem do not know how to solve it or even whether it can be solved at all. I cannot answer these questions here, and I believe that physics is somewhat peripheral to their solution. Instead what I shall do is to present a somewhat novel way of looking at the matter, based on an optimistic estimate of future scientific progress. In addition, I shall discuss how some results of low‐temperature biology (cryobiology) open the possibility to those living of taking advantage of this progress before the problems of aging and death are solved. This possibility depends on development of reliable methods of freezing, storing at low temperatures and reviving humans.

This article is only available in PDF format

References

1. B. L. Strehler, Time, Cells and Aging, Academic Press, New York (1962).
2. R. Ettinger, The Prospect of Immortality, Doubleday, Garden City (1964).
3. L. Szilard, “The Mark Gable Foundation,” published in The Voice of the Dolphins, Simon and Schuster, New York (1961).
4. A. Clarke, Profiles of the Future, Harper and Row, New York (1963).
5. E. Tatum, reported in Science 153, 443 (1966).https://doi.org/SCIEAS
6. F. Johnson, H. Eyring, M. J. Polissar, The Kinetic Basis of Molecular Biology, J. Wiley, New York (1954).
7. A. U. Smith, Biological Effects of Freezing and Supercooling, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore (1961).
8. N. D. Levine, F. L. Anderson, J. Protozoology 13, 199 (1966).
9. C. Polge, A. U. Smith, A. S. Parkes, Nature 164, 666 (1949).https://doi.org/NATUAS
10. A. M. Karow, R. W. Webb, Cryobiology 2, 99 (1965).https://doi.org/CRYBAS
11. Cryobiology 2, 314–316 (1966).https://doi.org/CRYBAS
12. P. Popovic, V. P. Popovic, Cryobiology 2, 23 (1965).https://doi.org/CRYBAS
13. R. K. Andjos, F. Knopfelmacher, R. W. Russell, A. U. Smith, Nature 176, 1015 (1955).https://doi.org/NATUAS
14. F. R. Babich, A. L. Jacobson, S. Bubash, A. Jacobson, Science 149, 656 (1965).https://doi.org/SCIEAS

More about the Authors

Gerald Feinberg. Columbia University.