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Mike LaTorra has posted his notes on the 2006 Alcor conference, held earlier this month:
Report on the Alcor Conference 2006 [Part 1]
Report on the Alcor Conference 2006 [Part 2]
I've been a member of Alcor since 2000, but this is the first Alcor conference I have attended. I was very impressed by the information in the presentations, the quality of the accommodations, and the smoothly efficient organization of the entire event. Alcor CEO TANYA JONES and her able helpers, both paid and volunteer, deserve kudos for a job well done.
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Back-to-back presentations by scientists BRIAN WOWK and GREGORY FAHY featured detailed reports on cryogenic research, including electronmicrographs of brain sections that allowed the audience to see how normal brain tissues compare with those that were frozen using different cryoprotectants. At some point the sheer volume of technical data, graphs and explanations began to freeze my brain without need of liquid nitrogen. Fortunately, both Brian and Greg are charming individuals who recognized that they were presenting to a mixed audience, not a gathering of their scientific colleagues, so they took pains to explain many of the background concepts needed so the audience could grasp the implications of their research.
Then STEPHEN VAN SICKLE, Alcor Executive Director, gave a rather detailed report on the state of cryopreservation today and the future direction envisioned by Alcor. Vitrification research, which had already been explained by Drs. Wowk and Fahy, is the key element in the compound of improvements described by Van Sickle. Other elements include the development of improved emergency standby and transport equipment (some of which we would see later that afternoon during the Alcor site tour).
Supporting the development and increasing professionalism of cryonics organizations is a sensible insurance policy for those interested in healthy life extension. Being cryopreserved is only the second worse thing that can happen to you - and you actually have some chance (albeit unknown) of coming back afterwards.
Technorati tags: conference, cryonics
Posted by Reason at October 18, 2006 7:27 PM
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