Aurelia Song

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Description

To Ken and to me, this is an enormous issue.

There are many ways a brain can be rendered untraceable, and comparatively few that preserve its structure.

In the absence of evidence to the contrary, we have to default to the assumption that a brain is not traceable.

That, in turn, calls into question whether the information preserved in the brain is adequate.

In addition to challenging the cryonics community, Ken wanted to extend a challenge to the neuroscience community.

He hoped that, making use of their advanced protocols for preparing and analyzing brain tissue, they could design a technique to preserve people for later revival.

Ken was inspired by the successful Ansari X Prize to issue his challenge in the form of a prize.

He raised $100,000 from a secret donor, too, and set out the prize rules.

Brains had to be preserved in a way that rendered them connectomically traceable, and had to be preserved so that they would very likely last for at least 100 years.

There was a small version of the prize for at small a mammal brain, think rabbit, mouse, or rat, and at large mammal brain, pig, sheep, etc., would win the whole thing.

I can't overstate how influential the brain preservation prize has been in advancing the field of preservation research.

That $100,000 inspired me to build my protocol and led to millions of dollars of investment in better preservation.

I'd love to see more scientific prizes.

I think they help young people in research labs justify spending resources on important projects they're passionate about.

A young researcher, like me back in 2014, can go to her superior and say, it's not just a personal project, it's for this prize.

Subheading.

A protocol that works under ideal conditions.

Aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation, 2015.