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Encyclopedia > Alcor Life Extension Foundation
This "bigfoot" Dewar is custom-designed to contain four wholebody patients and six neuropatients immersed in liquid nitrogen at −196 degrees Celsius. The Dewar is an insulated container which consumes no electric power. Liquid nitrogen is added periodically to replace the small amount that evaporates.
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This "bigfoot" Dewar is custom-designed to contain four wholebody patients and six neuropatients immersed in liquid nitrogen at −196 degrees Celsius. The Dewar is an insulated container which consumes no electric power. Liquid nitrogen is added periodically to replace the small amount that evaporates.

The Alcor Life Extension Foundation is a Scottsdale, Arizona, USA-based nonprofit company that researches, advocates for and performs cryonics, the preservation of humans after legal death in liquid nitrogen, with hopes of restoring them to full health when new technology is developed in the future. Download high resolution version (1656x3264, 729 KB)This bigfoot Dewar is custom-designed to contain four wholebody patients and six neuropatients immersed in liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees Celsius. ... Download high resolution version (1656x3264, 729 KB)This bigfoot Dewar is custom-designed to contain four wholebody patients and six neuropatients immersed in liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees Celsius. ... A Dewar flask is a vessel designed to provide very good thermal insulation. ... General Name, Symbol, Number Nitrogen, N, 7 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 15 (VA), 2 , p Density 1. ... Scottsdale (Pima: Vaá¹£ai Svaá¹£onÄ­) is a suburb of Phoenix in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA. Named by the New York Times as The Beverly Hills of the Desert and by Travel Channel as one of the most luxurious destinations in the nation, Scottsdale has become internationally recognized and regarded... Official language(s) None Capital Phoenix Largest city Phoenix Area  Ranked 6th  - Total 113,998 sq. ... A non-profit organization (often called non-profit org or simply non-profit or not-for-profit) can be seen as an organization that doesnt have a goal to make a profit. ... Cryonics (often mistakenly called cryogenics) is the practice of cryopreserving humans or animals that can no longer be sustained by contemporary medicine until resuscitation may be possible in the future. ... General Name, Symbol, Number nitrogen, N, 7 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 15, 2, p Appearance colorless Atomic mass 14. ...


As of August 2005, Alcor had 773 members, and 73 patients in cryopreservation, many as neuropatients. Cryopreservation of plant shoots. ... Neuropreservation is cryopreservation of the human brain with the intention of future resuscitation and regrowth of a healthy body around the brain. ...


Alcor accepts anatomical donations under the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act and Arizona Anatomical Gift Act for research purposes. The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act is one of the uniform acts that attempt to harmonize the law in force in the fifty U.S. states. ...

Contents


History

In 1964, a physics teacher named Robert Ettinger published The Prospect of Immortality, a book which promoted the concept of cryonics to a wide audience. Ettinger subsequently founded his own cryonics organization. Robert Chester Wilson Ettinger (born December 4, 1918) is known as the father of cryonics due to the impact of his 1962 book THE PROSPECT OF IMMORTALITY. He founded the Cryonics Institute and the related Immortalist Society and until 2003 served as their President. ...


In 1972, Alcor was incorporated as the Alcor Society for Solid State Hypothermia in the State of California by Fred and Linda Chamberlain. (The name was changed to Alcor Life Extension Foundation in 1977.) The nonprofit organization was conceived as a rational, technology-oriented cryonics organization that would be managed on a fiscally conservative basis. Alcor advertised in direct mailings and offered seminars in order to attract members and bring attention to the cryonics movement. The first of these seminars attracted 30 people. Fred and Linda Chamberlain are the founders of the cryonics organization Alcor Life Extension Foundation. ...


On July 16, 1976, Alcor performed its first human cryopreservation. That same year, research in cryonics began with initial funding provided by the Manrise Corporation. At this time, Alcor’s office consisted of a mobile surgical unit in a large van. Trans Time, Inc., a cryonics organization in the San Francisco Bay Area, provided long-term patient storage until Alcor began doing its own storage in 1982.


In 1977, articles of incorporation were filed in Indianapolis by the Institute for Advanced Biological Studies (IABS) and Soma, Inc. IABS was a nonprofit research startup led by a young cryonics enthusiast named Steve Bridge, while Soma was intended as a for-profit organization to provide cryopreservation and human storage services. Its president, Mike Darwin, subsequently became a president of Alcor. Bridge filled the same position many years later. IABS and Soma relocated to California in 1981. (Soma was disbanded while IABS merged with Alcor in 1982.) The Indianapolis skyline Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana. ... Michael G. Darwin (Mike Darwin) was the President of the cryonics organization Alcor Life Extension Foundation from 1983 to 1988, and Research Director until 1992. ...


In 1978, Cryovita Laboratories was founded by Jerry Leaf, who had been teaching surgery at UCLA. Cryovita was a for-profit organization which provided cryopreservation services for Alcor in the 1980s. During this time Leaf also collaborated with Michael Darwin in a series of hypothermia experiments in which dogs were resuscitated with no measurable neurological deficit after hours in deep hypothermia, just a few degrees above zero Celsius. The blood substitute which was developed for these experiments became the basis for the washout solution used at Alcor. Together, Leaf and Darwin developed a standby-transport model for human cryonics cases with the goal of intervening immediately after cardiac arrest and minimizing ischemic injury. (Leaf was cryopreserved by Alcor in 1991; since 1992 Alcor has provided its own cryopreservation as well as patient-storage services.) Today, Alcor is the only full-service cryonics organization that performs remote standbys. Jerry D. Leaf was Vice President of the cryonics organization Alcor Life Extension Foundation, and President of the cryonics service firm Cryovita, Inc. ... In medicine, ischemia (Greek ισχαιμία, isch- is restriction, hema or haema is blood) is a restriction in blood supply, generally due to factors in the blood vessels, with resultant damage or dysfunction of tissue. ...


Alcor grew slowly in its early years, before the concept of nanotechnology helped to legitimize the possibility that future science could repair cell damage caused by freezing. The organization counted only 50 members in 1985, which was the year it cryopreserved its third patient. Molecular gears from a NASA computer simulation. ...


In 1986 some of Alcor’s members formed Symbex, a small investment company which funded a building in Riverside, California, for lease by Alcor. That same year, Eric Drexler introduced the concept of nanotechnology in his landmark book, Engines of Creation. Alcor moved from Fullerton, California, to the new building in Riverside in 1987. Alcor cryopreserved a member’s companion animal in 1986, and two people in 1987. Three human cases were handled in 1988, and one in 1989. Riverside is the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... K. Eric Drexler (born April 25, 1955) is best known for popularizing the potential of molecular nanotechnology. ... Engines of Creation (ISBN 0-385-19973-2) is a seminal molecular nanotechnology book written by K. Eric Drexler in 1986. ... Nickname: Motto: Official website: http://www. ...


By 1990 Alcor had grown to 300 members. In response to concerns that the California facility was too small and vulnerable to earthquake risk, the organization purchased a building in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1993 and moved its patients to it in 1994. In 1997, after a substantial effort led by then-president Steve Bridge, Alcor formed the Patient Care Trust as an entirely separate entity to manage and protect the funding for cryopatients. Alcor remains the only cryonics organization to segregate and protect patient funding in this way. Scottsdale is the name of several places: Scottsdale, Tasmania, Australia Scottsdale, Arizona, United States of America This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Official language(s) None Capital Phoenix Largest city Phoenix Area  Ranked 6th  - Total 113,998 sq. ...


In 2001 Alcor adapted cryoprotectant formulas from published scientific literature into a more concentrated formula capable of achieving ice-free preservation (vitrification) of the human brain (neurovitrification). In 2005 the vitrification process was applied to the first whole-body subject (as opposed to brain-only). This resulted in vitrification of the brain and conventional cryopreservation of the rest of the body. Work is continuing towards achieving whole-body vitrification, which is limited by the ability to fully circulate the cryoprotectant throughout the body. A vitrification experiment for the study of nuclear waste disposal at Pacific Northwest National Labs. ... Neurovitrification is the term that refers to vitrification of only the human brain (or the human head as a whole), usually with the intention of neuropreservation. ...


Controversies

Before the company moved to Arizona from Riverside, California in 1994, it became a center of controversy when a county coroner ruled that an Alcor client Dora Kent was murdered with barbiturates before her head was removed by the company's staff. Alcor contended that the drug was administered after her death. No charges were ever filed. [1] Barbiturates are drugs that acts as central nervous system (CNS) depressants, and by virtue of this they produce a wide spectrum of effects, from mild sedation to anesthesia. ...


In 2002, Alcor drew considerable attention when baseball star Ted Williams was placed in cryonic suspension. This grew out of an extended family dispute over how Williams wanted to have his remains disposed of. In 2003, Sports Illustrated published allegations by an Alcor employee that the company had mishandled Williams' head by drilling holes and accidentally cracking it. The story also reported that some of Williams' DNA was missing, possibly in connection with his son's desire to sell some of the DNA. Alcor denied the allegations, and explained that microscopic cracking can result as part of the process of freezing the head. For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... A view of the playing field at Busch Stadium II St. ... Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002), nicknamed The Kid, the Splendid Splinter, Teddy Ballgame and The Thumper, was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball who played 19 seasons, twice interrupted by military service as a Marine Corps pilot, with the Boston Red Sox. ... The first issue of Sports Illustrated, August 16, 1954, showing Milwaukee Braves star Eddie Matthews at bat in Milwaukee County Stadium. ...


See also

Cryonics (often mistakenly called cryogenics) is the practice of cryopreserving humans or animals that can no longer be sustained by contemporary medicine until resuscitation may be possible in the future. ... Cryopreservation of plant shoots. ... (from the Transhumanist Terminology pages) A person has reached information-theoretic death if a healthy state of that person could not possibly be deduced from the current state. ... Life extension refers to an increase in maximum or average lifespan, especially in humans, by slowing down or reversing the processes of aging. ... Following is a list of topics related to life extension: Accelerated aging disease Cockaynes syndrome Progeria Werners syndrome Xeroderma pigmentosum Accident Advanced Cell Technology Corporation Aerobic exercise Age-adjusted life expectancy Age-Related Eye Disease Study Age-Related Macular Degeneration Aging Aging and memory Aging brain Aging population... It has been suggested that Molecular engineering be merged into this article or section. ... Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology and related research. ... Neuropreservation is cryopreservation of the human brain with the intention of future resuscitation and regrowth of a healthy body around the brain. ... A vitrification experiment for the study of nuclear waste disposal at Pacific Northwest National Labs. ...

External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
Life extension - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (5508 words)
Life extension refers to an increase in maximum or average lifespan, especially in humans, by slowing down or reversing the processes of aging.
Theoretically, extension of maximum lifespan can be achieved by reducing the rate of aging damage, by periodic replacement of damaged tissues, or by molecular repair or (rejuvenation) of deteriorated cells and tissues.
The primary life extension strategy currently is to apply available anti-aging methods in the hope of living long enough to benefit from a complete cure to aging once it is developed, which given the rapidly advancing state of biogenetic and general medical technology, could conceivably occur within the lifetimes of people living today.
  More results at FactBites »


 
 

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