‘Things sort of get mushy’: inside Australia’s cryonics facility where ‘patients’ pay to be frozen
Exclusive: Southern Cryonics operates out of a shed in Holbrook in rural NSW. Experts say reanimation is ‘a dream’ but true believers pay $200,000 for a second chance at life
TL;DR
- Southern Cryonics, Australia's sole cryonics facility, operates from a shed in Holbrook, NSW, storing seven 'patients' in liquid nitrogen at -196C.
- The service costs over $200,000, with proponents offering a chance at life extension and potentially limitless life, though revival is not guaranteed.
- Experts like Associate Prof Saffron Bryant state current science does not support the preservation of a whole body or the revival of consciousness, comparing it to mysticism.
- The process involves an eight-hour 'vitrification' procedure using antifreeze-like chemicals to protect the body from extreme temperatures, though some patients underwent a 'straight freeze'.
- Funding often relies on life insurance policies, but insurers are reluctant to pay out for cryonics, and legal academics view the practice as a dream with no concrete basis.