
At this facility, the Alcor Life Extension Foundation has cryopreserved the heads and bodies of 224 people in the hopes of being revived at a later time. On their website, the non-profit organization Alcor states that their mission is to “restore good health with medical technology in the future” through the preservation of bodies at temperatures below freezing. Liliana Salgado of Reuters writes that the heads and bodies of approximately 100 preserved pets as well as the so-called “patients” of humanity are crammed into cylindrical tanks filled with liquid nitrogen by the foundation.
Some of the patients had terminal illnesses like cancer or ALS, for which there is currently no treatment. According to Reuters, Max More, a former CEO of Alcor and current ambassador and president emeritus of the foundation, advances in medical science and technology cannot prolong the lives of individuals who are close to death.
“We’re saying give them to us instead of just disposing of the patient,” More says to Reuters. “We’re going to keep them stable, prevent them from getting worse, and keep them in place for however long it takes for technology to catch up so they can recover and live on.”
Peter Wilson reported for the New York Times last year that a number of medical and legal professionals have long been dubious about—or even hostile toward—human cryopreservation. Neuroscientist Clive Coen of King’s College London, England, describes cryonics as “a hopeless aspiration that reveals an appalling ignorance of biology” to Laurie Clarke of the MIT Technology Review.
However, according to Alcor’s website, for those who take part, the cryopreservation procedure starts as soon as a person is pronounced legally dead. Their organs are still viable as of right now. Reacting swiftly, the patient is transferred to an ice bath and their blood is replaced with an organ-preserving solution by a cryonics team that has typically been on standby, waiting for their death for up to a week.

However, according to Alcor’s website, for those who take part, the cryopreservation procedure starts as soon as a person is pronounced legally dead. Their organs are still viable as of right now. Reacting swiftly, the patient is transferred to an ice bath and their blood is replaced with an organ-preserving solution by a cryonics team that has typically been on standby, waiting for their death for up to a week. The team injects cryoprotectants—chemicals that stop ice crystals from forming and damaging organs—into the patient’s circulation as soon as they get to Alcor’s Arizona facility. Alcor uses liquid nitrogen to store the body’s heat after it has been cooled to minus 320.8 degrees Fahrenheit.
The catch is that no cryonics organization is aware of how to restore life to its patients who have been preserved. On its website, Alcor states that a non-profit “confidence revival may be possible.”
Alcor was established in 1972, and in 1976 it successfully cryopreserved a human being. However, nearly ten years earlier, in 1967, psychologist James H. Bedford, then 73 years old, passed away from kidney cancer, making him the first person to ever be frozen in this manner. According to a 1997 article in The New York Times Magazine, Bedford’s body was placed on ice and processed by “experts from the Cryonics Society of California.” Since then, Bedford’s body has been frozen, and it is currently resting in one of Alcor’s tanks.
According to Reuters, two-year-old Matheryn Naovaratpong, a Thai girl with brain cancer, is the youngest patient at Alcor. She was cryopreserved in 2015.
More tells the publication, “She had multiple brain surgeries, and both of her parents were doctors.” Unfortunately, nothing was successful. They thus got in touch with us.
Among the other patients at the facility are baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams, who passed away in 2002 from complications related to heart disease, and software developer and Bitcoin pioneer Hal Finney, who passed away in 2014 from ALS. According to Reuters, the cost of cryopreservation at Alcor for a full body is at least $200,000, and the cost to preserve a single brain is $80,000.
Related Topic You Might Find Interesting:
- A man who has been suffering from headaches for nearly six months discovers chopsticks lodged in his brain
- Recipient of suicide victim’s heart kills himself 12 years later
- Mom hears son’s heartbeat 3 years after his death when she meets organ recipient
Cryonics proponents are optimistic despite the lack of evidence supporting the efficacy of human cryopreservation, pointing to scientific advancements that allow for the successful cryopreservation and thawing of sperm, embryo, and stem cells, according to the MIT Technology Review. In 2016, researchers at 21st Century Medicine cryopreserved and thawed a rabbit brain without causing structural damage, Aaron Frank wrote for Vice at the time.
However, Coen tells MIT Technology Review that it is “disingenuous” to suggest that these findings could be applied to human cryonics because the structures of the human brain are too complicated for this to be feasible.
According to Reuters, Arthur Caplan, the director of the medical ethics department at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, has not seen any mainstream medical experts support cryonics.
Caplan tells Reuters, “This idea of freezing ourselves into the future is pretty science-fiction, and it’s naive.” “Those who specialize in studying the distant future or those with a vested interest in having you pay the money to do it are the only groups… getting excited about the possibility.”

Why Do Spiders Rain From the Sky? The Strange Ballooning Phenomenon
Every now and then, people around the world are amazed—and sometimes disturbed—to see thousands of tiny spiderlings floating down from the sky, seemingly raining on the earth below. This eerie spectacle is the result of a curious and fascinating behavior called ballooning, in which spiders use silk threads as invisible parachutes to catch the wind and fly. Recent scientific discoveries reveal that spiders can even harness Earth’s electric fields to take off without wind, making their aerial journeys feel almost supernatural. This article explores the science, mystery, and wonder behind the ballooning phenomenon.

Mill Ends Park, the Smallest Park in the World
Portland, Oregon is home to the tiniest park in the world, a two-foot-diameter circle. Mill End Park is the name of this park.

The story of The chicken that lived for 18 months without a head
Mike the Headless Chicken was a rooster whose head was accidentally chopped off but miraculously survived. This is due to most of the brain stem being left intact. He was fed using a special tube that delivered food directly into his esophagus. Despite his lack of a head, he lived for 18 months, gaining worldwide fame before ultimately choking on a kernel of corn during one of his tours, in a Motel in Fruita, Colorado.

Mystery SOLVED: blood Rain in India
The dissemination of spores of microalgae has been identified as the origin of the 'Blood Rain' phenomena, according to a new study by Indian and Austrian experts. Since 1896, reports of intermittent red-colored rain in portions of Kerala and Sri Lanka have been coming in. The most recent one occurred in 2013 over Kerala.

Upside-Down Fig Tree From The Roof Of An Ancient Ruin in Italy
There is an upside-down fig tree in Bacoli, Italy. No one is quite sure how the fig tree ended up there or how it survived, but year after year, it continues to grow downwards and bear figs.

How a Canadian Man Traded a Red Paperclip for a Two-Story Farmhouse
In 2005, Canadian blogger and entrepreneur Kyle MacDonald embarked on an extraordinary journey that captured the world’s imagination. Starting with nothing more than a single red paperclip, Kyle pursued a year-long chain of strategic trades that escalated from small, quirky items to a two-story farmhouse in a small town in Saskatchewan. What began as a playful social experiment became a legendary story of creativity, perseverance, and the power of barter in the digital age.

Max Headroom Incident: America’s Creepiest TV Hack
In 1987 a man hijacked a television station during an episode of Dr. Who and wore a Max Headroom mask and uttered nonsense, and he still hasn’t been caught

Jack the Baboon operated a railroad, earned a living, and never made a mistake
A baboon worked as a signalman for the railroad in the late 1800s. He never made a mistake and worked for the railroad until the day he died.

Poland's Krzywy: The Mysteries of the Crooked trees
In Poland, there is a forest with 400 crooked trees that have a 90-degree bend at the base of their trunks. Despite of numerous possibilities, the real reason and how it evolved remain a mystery.

The Incredible Story of Martin Laurello, The Sideshow Performer With The Revolving Head
Martin Laurello was also known as 'The human owl'. He was born with the ability to turn his head a full 180 degree.

This Yogi Spent 76 Years Without Eating or Drinking Anything and Confirmed by
Prahlad Jani, the starving monk who lived 76 Years without food and water.

The Story of the Hidden Flight Simulator Game in Microsoft Excel 97
Before smartphones ruled hidden gaming, Microsoft slipped an extraordinary secret into one of its flagship office programs: a fully functional flight simulator game inside Excel 97. This little-known Easter egg captivated users who discovered a way to pilot a plane through the grid-like interface. Explore how this unexpected feature was created, the tech magic behind it, and why it remains a legendary piece of software lore.

Belgian Woman Banned from Zoo After 4-Year Affair with Chimpanzee
A Belgian woman was banned from the zoo after having an affair with a chimp.

June and Jennifer Gibbons The silent twin who Only Spoke to Each Other
Identical twins June and Jennifer Gibbons were born on 11 April 1963 at a military hospital in Aden, Yemen where their father worked as part of the Royal Air Force.

A one-eyed Vancouver fish receives a fake eye so that other fish will not bully him
A fish whose eye was removed due to cataract was bullied by other fish at the Vancouver Aquarium. So the vets fitted the fish with a prosthetic eye to fool the other fishes.

The story of Bill Haast, who lived to be 100 despite his extensive snake venom injections
Bill Haast immunized himself by injecting snake venom into his blood for several years. He holds the Guinness World Record for surviving the most lethal snake bites, having been bitten over 172 times. Bill became known as "Snake Man" around the world and lived for over 100 years.

Chocolate Rain in Switzerland: How a Factory Malfunction Turned Olten Into a Sweet Spectacle
In 2020, chocolate 'rained' from the sky in a town in Switzerland. This incident was caused by a ventilation system malfunction at a chocolate factory in Olten. Strong winds then carried the snow-like cocoa powder and spread it around in the immediate vicinity of the factory, covering cars and other things in chocolate.

Poto And Cabengo: The Secret Language Of Twins
Poto and Cabengo, as the two girls called each other, communicated in their own language. The twins were ignored by their parents and secluded from the outside world because their father felt they were developmentally retarded, and their unique language evolved as a result of that neglect.

Mysterious ghost ship found with mummified captain inside [SOLVED]
German captain had been sailing the world for 20 years. It was unknown when or how he died or how long the ghost ship had been adrift

Pierre Brassau: The chimpanzee painter who deceived the avant-garde world
Abstract paintings by a previously unknown artist “Pierre Brassau” were exhibited at a gallery in Sweden, earning praise for his “powerful brushstrokes” and the “delicacy of a ballet dancer”. None knew that Pierre Brassau was actually a 4 year old chimp from the local zoo.

Thousands of Rare "Ice Eggs" Blanket Finnish Beach in Spectacular Natural Phenomenon
Thousands of ice balls recently covered a beach in Finland, a rare phenomenon caused by wind and waves sculpting pieces of ice into smooth spheres. These "ice eggs" can vary in size from chicken eggs to soccer balls and have also been spotted in other cold regions globally.

Why the Brooklyn Bridge Was Once Crossed by 17 Camels and 21 Elephants
On May 30, 1883, a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge was going to collapse caused a stampede, which killed at least at twleve people. To prove the bridge was safe, P.T. Barnum led a parade of 21 elephants over it.

Khuk Khi Kai: Thailand’s Infamous “Chicken Poop Prison” and Its Gruesome Legacy
Thailand used to have a prison called "Khuk Khi Kai," or "Chicken poop prison." The first floor of the prison contained prisoners, and the second floor was a large chicken coop. The grated floor ensured that prisoners were constantly subjected to chicken poop.

In Pakistan, this banyan tree has been arrested since 1898
In Pakistan, a tree has been arrested and chained since 1898. When a British officer who was drunk assumed it was leaving its place, it was arrested. The tree, which is presently located on the grounds of the Pakistan Army's Landi Kotal cantonment, continues to attract visitors and locals everywhere.

Frank Lentini, The Three-Legged Sideshow Performer
Francesco Lentini was a man with three legs, four feet, sixteen toes, and two sets of functional male genitals. He worked for the circus and lived to be 78 years old.