Scientists: Breakthrough in Re-Animation Shows Hope for Space Travel

The possibility of being able to live forever appears to have come a step closer with scientists in the United States proving they can revive cryogenically frozen life.

Writing in the journal ACS Nano, researchers show they can preserve brains and bodies of zebra fish embryos in a state of suspended animation at sub-zero temperatures and then revive them.

The researchers added an antifreeze solution that prevented the expansion and destruction of cells.

"The large size of the yolk still impedes rapid cooling and warming, thereby yielding lethal ice crystal formation during cryopreservation," the researchers wrote.

But the major breakthrough has come in adding another solution to the anti-freeze – gold nano-rods: When added to the anti-freeze, lasers are shot at the frozen embryos, allowing them to be warmed up much quicker, the researchers found.

Some 10 per cent of the embryos survived and then continued to grow as normal, the scientists reported.

The U.K.-based Express noted not only could the technique be possibly used in the future to help extend human life, it could potentially be used for long distance space travel, allowing humans to wake up at a future point of their choosing.

Mars alone would take six months to reach with current technology, and it took an unmanned spacecraft nine and a half years to reach Pluto on the edge of the solar system.

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