IMMORTAL HUMANS BY 2030?

Would you like to live forever? Well, some experts say you might. Last week, a former Google engineer said he believes that humans will achieve immortality within the next eight years. Ray Kurzweil – who has an 86 per cent success rate with his predictions –thinks that advances in technology will quickly lead to age-reversing ‘nanobots’. Here is a look at the strangest ways humanity could attain eternal life-

Electronic immortality – While it sounds far-fetched, scientists have been looking for years into ways we can regenerate our cells, or upload our minds to a computer. It uses a chemical solution that can keep the body intact for hundreds or thousands of years as a statue of frozen glass. But the key to being able to recreate a person’s consciousness involves accessing the organ’s ‘connectome.’ A connectome is the complex web of neural connections in the brain, often referred to as the brain’s wiring system.

Freezing the brain – Some companies offer the opportunity for people to have their brains frozen after they die, in the hope they can be brought back to life in the future. One of these is Russian cryonics firm KrioRus, which currently has 91 human ‘patients’ stored at -320.8°F (-196°C) with the aim of protecting them against deterioration. This is cold enough to stop all cellular function and preserve a body’s state until defrost

Cell rejuvenation – Many scientific breakthroughs have been made with regard to stem cell injections, which have been found to be able to rejuvenate cells. Stem cells are unique because they can differentiate into different types of cells in the body, such as muscle, bone or nerve cells. When injected into the body, they can integrate with damaged tissues and help to repair and regenerate them.

Reanimating the brain – A technology that was developed to help scientists study brains in three dimensions could also provide the key to eternal life. In 2019, scientists at Yale University restored the circulation and cellular activity in a pig’s brain four hours after its death by pumping it with oxygen-rich artificial blood.

Originally written by Fiona Jackson - Science &Technology Reporter, MailOnline