Who Wants To Live Forever?
BBC Earth|May 2017

A new facility will store tens of thousands of cryogenically frozen people The hope is to one day bring them back to life, but just how realistic are its aims?

Tom Ireland
Who Wants To Live Forever?

For centuries, the world’s physicists, writers and philosophers have argued over whether time travel is possible, with most coming to the conclusion that it’s never going to happen. But on an 800-acre plot of land just outside the small town of Comfort, Texas, a group of architects, engineers and scientists are building a ‘Timeship’ that they say could transport tens of thousands of individuals to a far-distant future.

Their approach does not involve the use of flux capacitors, or zooming at light-speed through black holes. Instead, the Timeship aims to store people at such low temperatures that their bodies are preserved for a future civilisation to reanimate them, a concept known as cryonics. “Just as a spaceship allows people to move through space, Timeship will allow people to travel to another time in the future,” explains Stephen Valentine, who is the director and principal architect of the Timeship project.

Valentine has been given a multimillion dollar budget from anonymous donors to develop a ‘Mecca’ for cryonics and life extension. As well as a fortress-like building that can store frozen people, Timeship plans to store other precious biological samples such as organs, stem cells, embryos, and even the DNA of rare or threatened species. The site will also house the world’s largest life extension research centre, the Stasis Research Park.

Denne historien er fra May 2017-utgaven av BBC Earth.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra May 2017-utgaven av BBC Earth.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA BBC EARTHSe alt
World's First Malaria Vaccine
BBC Earth

World's First Malaria Vaccine

The World Health Organization’s director-general hails ‘historic moment’ as mass immunisation of African children begins

time-read
2 mins  |
Volume 14 - Issue 2
Is River Pollution Putting The Species In Jeopardy Again?
BBC Earth

Is River Pollution Putting The Species In Jeopardy Again?

Ten years ago, it was jubilantly announced that o ers had returned to every county in England. But is river pollution putting the species in jeopardy again?

time-read
10+ mins  |
Volume 14 - Issue 2
The Big Burnout
BBC Earth

The Big Burnout

Long hours, low pay and a lack of appreciation — among other things — can make for a stressful workplace and lead to burnout. It’s something we should all be concerned about, because over half of the workforce reports feeling it

time-read
10 mins  |
Volume 14 - Issue 2
Putting Nature To Rights
BBC Earth

Putting Nature To Rights

More countries are enshrining the right to a clean environment into law. So if a company or government is impinging upon that right, you could take them to court

time-read
10 mins  |
Volume 14 - Issue 2
Mega Spaceship: Is It Possible For China To Build A Kilometre-Long Spacecraft?
BBC Earth

Mega Spaceship: Is It Possible For China To Build A Kilometre-Long Spacecraft?

Buoyed on by its successful Moon missions, China has launched a five-year study to investigate the possibility of building the biggest-ever spacecraft

time-read
4 mins  |
Volume 14 - Issue 2
Are We Getting Happier?
BBC Earth

Are We Getting Happier?

Enjoying more good days than bad? Feel like that bounce in your step’s getting bigger? HELEN RUSSELL looks into whether we’re all feeling more cheery…

time-read
3 mins  |
Volume 14 - Issue 2
“Unless the Japanese got the US off their backs in the Pacific, they believed they would face complete destruction”
BBC Earth

“Unless the Japanese got the US off their backs in the Pacific, they believed they would face complete destruction”

Eighty years ago Japan’s surprise raid on Pearl Harbor forced the US offthe fence and into the Second World War. Ellie Cawthorne is making a new HistoryExtra podcast series about the attack, and she spoke to Christopher Harding about the long roots of Japan’s disastrous decision

time-read
10+ mins  |
Volume 14 - Issue 2
Your Mysterious Brain
BBC Earth

Your Mysterious Brain

Science has mapped the surface of Mars and translated the code for life. By comparison, we know next to nothing about what’s between our ears. Over the next few pages, we ask leading scientists to answer some of the most important questions about our brains…

time-read
10+ mins  |
Volume 14 - Issue 2
Why Do We Fall In Love?
BBC Earth

Why Do We Fall In Love?

Is it companionship, procreation or something more? DR ANNA MACHIN reveals what makes us so willing to become targets for Cupid’s arrow

time-read
2 mins  |
Volume 14 - Issue 2
Detecting the dead
BBC Earth

Detecting the dead

Following personal tragedy, the creator of that most rational of literary figures, Sherlock Holmes, developed an obsession with spiritualism. Fiona Snailham and Anna Maria Barry explore the supernatural interests of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

time-read
7 mins  |
Volume 14 - Issue 2