X-Message-Number: 20799 Date: Mon, 6 Jan 2003 16:53:52 -0800 (PST) From: "D. den Otter" <> Subject: Freeze drying revisited As part of my neverending quest to find cheap(er) cryonics alternatives, I'm currently investigating freeze drying. Some preliminary results of this investigation (links, articles, pictures and some suggestions) can be found at http://www.transtopia.org/plastination.html#freezedry Possibly the most comprehensive cryonics-related freeze drying page on the web. ;) Anyway, after digging up some very encouraging postings by Mr. Skrecky, I came across the following message, which essentially seems to be saying "dry freezing is crap, forget about it". http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/dsp.cgi?msg=11805 Date: Sun, 23 May 1999 11:01:01 -0700 (PDT) From: Doug Skrecky <> Subject: freeze drying, alcohol dehydration, osmotic dehydration [...] "The best book on freeze-drying of entire animals is one by Rolland Hower from the Smithsonian Institution entitled "Freeze-Drying Biological Specimens: A Laboratory Manual". Time to freeze-dry a human brain at -30 C is 14 days. Weight loss was 80%. Note that although tissue may look good when it is freeze-dried, microscopic morphology of freeze-dried brain tissue is **unacceptable** [emph. mine] due to its high lipid content. Dehydration in alcohol gives vastly better results, and is much cheaper. Alcohol destroys cell membranes, but there is some evidence that lipid friendly ethylene glycol could be used instead." [...] What exactly is meant here by "unacceptable" -- how bad exactly *is* this damage? Evidence? Is it worse than with, say, straight freezing (as opposed to "gay freezing")? Can't possibly be worse than burial, in any case. Assuming that freeze drying isn't *completely* useless from an identity-preservation perspective, it could be a very decent "poor man's" cryonics alternative. The only really expensive part is the purchase (or construction) of a freeze drying machine. Freeze Dry Specialties, Inc's "Taxi-Dry" model, which could easily handle a human brain (apparently they're already being used for brain preservation by the University of Nevada's medical school), costs about $8,500, making it, afaik, one of the cheapest freeze dryers available. Though obviously too expensive for most individuals, $8,500 it is not a *huge* investment risk for a cryonics organization, or for a group of 10 or more low-budget immortalists. Say that if you include shipping etc. the thing costs $10,000 or so (or a bit more if it has to be shipped overseas), that would mean that a group of 10 people would pay $1,000 a piece, 20 people $500, and 50 $200. If so desired, up to 3 freezer units can be linked to 1 vacuum pump, so expanding the setup isn't as expensive as one might expect. According to a source mentioned by Mr.Skrecky in one of his postings, "Freeze-drying of a formalin fixed 1386 gram human brain took just 28 days at -30 C", and according to the Taxi-Dry's manufacturer, [the unit] "operates quietly on 110 Volt current for less than a dollar per day." 28 bucks for a full treatment, that's, well, *amazingly cheap*! Even 10 X as much would still be quite affordable. There might be some chemicals involved in the pre-treatment phase, but it doesn't seem likely that these will cost more than a few hundred USD/EURO per patient, possibly a lot less. Finally, then, one would need some kind of sturdy airtight container to place the brain(s) in, and a regular household freezer for cold storage. Again, taking into account that these things would be purchased collectively or by a cryonics organization, (or one could even use his own freezer for long-term storage; most people have, or can afford, one of those), this shouldn't add more than a few hundred USD/EURO. Annual electricity costs for a regular freezer are really negligible, even if it's an old and relatively inefficient machine (the newer ones tend to be very energy-efficient). The end result would be a means of preservation that actually costs *less*, or in any case not more, than a straightforward burial or cremation. Cryonics for the masses! Btw, the freeze drying unit could be used for pet preservation as well; in fact, purely "aesthetic" pet preservation seems to be something of a growing business (see links at website). It might not make you rich, but by providing 3rd party pet preservation services on the side you could further reduce the overall costs. So, unless someone has hardcore evidence that freeze drying will mess up your brain beyond all recognition, I'd say let's get together on both sides of the pond (or wherever), and start making some ice mummies! --- __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=20799