• Question: Do you think that in the future life could be preserved?

    Asked by eamooo to Sive on 15 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Sive Finlay

      Sive Finlay answered on 15 Nov 2013:


      Hey eamoo,
      I guess theoretically yes but it would depend what kind of life you want to preserve and in what sort of state.
      If you mean freezing people so they could come back to life in the future then I guess it’s possible but it wouldn’t be as straightforward as sticking someone into your ordinary freezer. You would need to find some sort of preservative which would freeze cells without damaging their contents. And then something that wouldn’t just turn to mush when you’re thawed. Some animals such as wood frogs make their own natural antifreeze so they survive cold winters by freezing themselves – their heart slows and eventually stops before they thaw out again so I guess that’s one kind of preserving life.
      We can already preserve life in the lab using immortal cell lines. There’s a very famous cell line used for research called HeLa cells which come from a woman called Henrietta Lacks who died of cancer in 1951. As long as you keep giving them fresh culture to grow on, the cells continue to survive and reproduce. So does that count as preserving Henrietta’s life?
      There are even some animals such as sponges which are technically immortal. They’re made up of lots of little colonies of specialised cells which work together so, as long as it’s not damaged, the sponge never dies because new colonies are always being produced.
      As for making humans immortal, we’re definitely extending our lifespan every generation but I don’t think we’ll ever get to a stage of living forever – and I don’t think I would want to really!
      Sive

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