Mind uploading closer than ever as scientists freeze brain in time

The team, led by Aurelia Song, Anna LaVergne and Borys Wróbel of Nectome Inc, found that blood washout and chemical fixation must begin within approximately 14 minutes of cardiac arrest to prevent irreversible damage from clotting (the “no-reflow” phenomenon).

Starting the process at around 18 minutes resulted in failed preservation, but under the 14-minute threshold, every neuron, synapse and molecular structure remained “beautifully preserved” across the whole brain.

The work, conducted on pigs as a human-sized proxy, refines aldehyde-stabilised cryopreservation: blood is replaced with fixatives to halt decay, followed by cryoprotectants that allow vitrification—a glass-like state at around -32°C—potentially stable for millennia.

Borys Wrobel, a lead scientist at Nectome, emphasised the shift towards scientific rigour in a technical manifesto: “I’ve introduced here a new kind of cryonics which I hope will move the field away from Pascal’s wager and towards a rigorous discipline that will become a mainstream part of end-of-life care.”

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/2185456/mind-uploading-closer-than-ever-freeze-brain