{"id":551,"date":"2021-12-27T05:00:50","date_gmt":"2021-12-27T04:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=107141"},"modified":"2021-12-27T05:24:09","modified_gmt":"2021-12-27T04:24:09","slug":"the-book-of-boba-fett-could-you-really-be-cryogenically-frozen-like-han-solo","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/the-book-of-boba-fett-could-you-really-be-cryogenically-frozen-like-han-solo\/","title":{"rendered":"The Book of Boba Fett: Could you really be cryogenically frozen like Han Solo?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Stephen Kelly\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 27 December 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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In Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back<\/em>, Han Solo achieves every billionaire\u2019s wildest dream by being frozen alive in cryogenic stasis \u2013 proof, as if it was needed, that he really is the coolest guy in the galaxy.<\/p>\n

Solo is frozen as an experiment by Darth Vader and Boba Fett (the latter returning to our screens in The Book Of Boba Fett<\/em>, streaming on Disney+ from 29 December) to see if he would survive the \u2018carbon freezing\u2019 process. Fortunately, he does. But according to Gary Bryant<\/a>, a physics professor at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, Solo wouldn\u2019t have been so lucky in reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no evidence of any cryoprotectant being injected into his body and there\u2019s no human cell you can freeze without adding cryoprotectant first,\u201d he says. This is because when the human body (which is mostly water) is frozen, ice crystals form inside cells, which destroys them.<\/p>\n

Cryoprotectant prevents that, but there\u2019s a catch. For even if Solo did have his bodily fluids replaced with cryoprotectant, it would have killed him anyway \u2013 because the cocktail of chemicals in cryoprotectant is lethally toxic. \u201cYou\u2019d just be left with the skeleton and the dead cells, like the skin,\u201d says Bryant. \u201cThe brain certainly wouldn\u2019t survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is why, according to Bryant, the idea of cryogenically freezing<\/a> a live human being is \u201ca long way from possible.\u201d In the real world, cryopreservation is mainly used in fields such as fertility, to preserve eggs and sperm, and in scientific research, where cells such as cancer cells are frozen in storage. But as far as the human body is concerned, the number of cells that can be frozen is limited.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are well over 200 types of cells in the human body, and we can freeze fewer than 10,\u201d says Bryant. \u201cEven then, we must freeze them under different conditions. So to freeze red blood cells we have to use very high concentrations of cryoprotectant. We must also freeze them quickly, because the cells respond fast to changes in their environment. White blood cells, we have to freeze slowly and use smaller amounts of cryoprotectant.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Christina Kalli<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

All of this means that freezing the cells in a human body, where they\u2019re all jumbled together, is hugely impractical.<\/p>\n

There are companies that offer to cryogenically freeze people, but only after they\u2019re dead. In 2016, for instance, a 14-year-old British cancer patient won a court case to have her body cryogenically frozen<\/a> by an American firm called the Cryonics Institute. The logic \u2013 or hope \u2013 in cases like these is that one day science will reach a point where the frozen bodies can be revived and cured.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a school of thought that this will be achieved through advancements in nanobot technology, with tiny robots reconstructing the body and brain. But it\u2019s fair to say that Bryant is not convinced.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d have to actually understand the brain enough to be able to reconstruct it,\u201d he says. \u201cWe don\u2019t have any idea what the brain does. We don\u2019t know how memories or knowledge are stored. We don\u2019t know how people\u2019s reactions are stored. The brain is what makes you you, and that\u2019s what you want to preserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryant thinks that companies like the Cryonics Institute are exploiting vulnerable people\u2019s fear of death. \u201cPeople are being given false hope,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s absolutely no way of those bodies being recovered. It\u2019s not just about preservation anymore. They\u2019re also saying, \u2018Okay, now we\u2019ve got to bring people back from the dead.\u2019\u201d And even if Han Solo did like the odds, \u201cpreservation and reanimation are two wholly different impossibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verdict:\u00a0<\/strong>It doesn\u2019t matter how strongly the Force might run through your veins, nobody is going to survive being frozen alive.<\/p>\n

About our expert, Professor Gary Bryant<\/h4>\n

Gary is Associate Dean (Physics) in the School of Science at RMIT University, Australia. He studies freezing and dehydration in biology, as well as light, neutron and X-ray scattering and phase transitions.<\/p>\n

Read more from\u00a0Popcorn Science<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n