The Cryogenic Rush Job

<p><em>Rerun</em>. Dr James Bedford became the first dead body to be cryogenically frozen on 12th January, 1967 – a day still commemorated in the ‘suspended animation’ community as Bedford Day.</p><br><p>But in this burgeoning (pseudo)science, there were plenty of preparations yet to be made. Which meant that the freezing team – lead not by scientists but enthusiasts – ran out of ice, and forgot to drain his blood. </p><br><p>In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly dive into the legal cases that sprang from this early period of cryogenic freezing; consider the psychological implications of being awoken from death, generations after your grandchildren have died; and propose a controversial solution for minimising future errors in the process…</p><br><p>CONTENT WARNING: description of decomposition</p><br><p><strong>Further Reading:</strong></p><ul><li>‘Cool dude James Bedford has been cryonically frozen for 50 years’ (CNET, 2017): <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/cool-dude-james-bedford-has-been-cryonically-frozen-for-50-years/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.cnet.com/news/cool-dude-james-bedford-has-been-cryonically-frozen-for-50-years/</a></li><li>Cryonics: Will These Bodies Come Back From Death? (The Atlantic) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YjrQVVSSbI</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Photo credit: Alcor</p><br><p><strong>‘Why am I hearing a rerun?’ </strong>Every Thursday is 'Throwback Thursday' on <em>Today in History with the Retrospectors: </em>running one repeat per week means we can keep up the quality of our independent podcast. Daily shows like this require a lot of work! But as ever we'll have something new for you tomorrow, so follow us wherever you get your podcasts:<a href="https://create.acast.com/episodes/ca1f94a1-0921-446a-ae00-4d4bfd2ba3ef/podfollow.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a><a href="http://podfollow.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">podfollow.com/Retrospectors</a></p><br><p><strong>Love the show? Join  </strong>🌴<strong>CLUB RETROSPECTORS</strong>🌴<strong> to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!</strong></p><p>Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast.</p><p><strong>Join now via </strong><a href="https://apple.co/3xCWWQX" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Apple Podcasts</strong></a><strong> or </strong><a href="https://patreon.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Patreon</strong></a><strong>. </strong>Thanks!</p><br><p><em>The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.</em></p><p><em>Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.</em></p><p><em>Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2022.</em></p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

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