In our modern food landscape, sugar is everywhere—from breakfast cereals and salad dressings to soft drinks and even so-called “health” bars. While sugar can enhance the taste of food and provide quick energy, its overconsumption has been linked to a wide range of health issues, many of which are chronic and life-altering.

Frozen in Time: The First Cryogenically Preserved Man Still Awaits Revival

The ultra-wealthy are investing in cryogenic freezing, preserving their bodies at ultra-low temperatures with the hope that future science will bring them back to life. Around 500 people have already been cryogenically preserved and another 5,500 people are making plans to do so. But what is it? How does it work?

What is Cryogenic Freezing

According to the BBC, the foundation of cryogenics was laid by French biologist Jean Rostand in the 1940s. However, the concept of cryogenic freezing as a path to potential immortality was first proposed by Robert Ettinger in his 1962 book, The Prospect of Immortality. Ettinger, a physics teacher and war veteran, drew inspiration from Rostand’s work and the imaginative worlds of science fiction.

In 1967, James Hiram Bedford, a former psychology professor at the University of California-Berkeley, became the first person to undergo cryonic preservation. Bedford, who passed away from renal cancer in January 1967, remains frozen in time, waiting for science to catch up with humanity’s oldest dream: defeating death.

The term cryonics originates from the Greek word krýos, meaning “icy cold.” Cryonics is the process of preserving human bodies at extremely low temperatures with the hope of reviving them in the future. The concept hinges on the belief that if someone dies from an incurable disease today, they could be “frozen” and later revived when medical advancements offer a cure. This state of preservation is referred to as cryonic suspension.

To grasp the science behind cryonics, consider real-life stories of people who have fallen into icy lakes and remained submerged for nearly an hour before being rescued. In some cases, these individuals survived because the frigid water significantly slowed their metabolism and brain activity, placing their bodies into a form of suspended animation where oxygen demand was drastically reduced.

However, cryonics differs from such accidental preservation in significant ways. For one, it is illegal to perform cryonic suspension on living individuals. A person must first be declared legally dead—meaning their heart has stopped beating—before the process can begin. But if they’re dead, how can they ever be revived?

Scientists in the field argue that “legally dead” is not synonymous with “irreversibly dead.” Legal death refers to the cessation of heartbeat and circulation, while total death occurs only when all brain activity has permanently ceased. Cryonics aims to preserve the remaining cellular brain functions at the moment of legal death, theoretically allowing the individual to be resuscitated when science and technology have advanced enough to repair the damage caused by death and the freezing process.

The Story of James Bedford

Born in 1893 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, James Hiram Bedford faced death early in life. At just four years old, he battled diphtheria for weeks—a fight he narrowly survived. This early brush with mortality seemed to ignite a spirit of resilience and adventure that would define his life.

As a young man, Bedford moved to California, where he attended UC Berkeley and earned a master’s degree in education while teaching high school in Escalon, a small town in the San Joaquin Valley. His passion lay in vocational training and career development, and he authored several books on the subject. In a 1938 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Bedford remarked, “Many young people face the future with feelings of doubt, cynicism, and despair.” His mission was to provide guidance and hope.

But Bedford’s life wasn’t confined to classrooms and textbooks. An avid explorer, he traveled extensively—embarking on safaris in Africa, trekking through the rainforests of South America, and flying across Europe. His thirst for adventure was insatiable, and it seemed he wasn’t ready for it to end when, in his 70s, he was diagnosed with cancer.

Faced with his own mortality once again, Bedford began investigating a radical and unproven concept: human cryonics. He eventually connected with Robert Nelson, the President of the Cryonics Society of California—described in some reports as a TV repairman. Nelson assured Bedford that his organization could offer him the chance to extend his life through cryogenic preservation.

And so, James Hiram Bedford embarked on one final adventure—one that would cement his name in history as the first human to be cryogenically frozen, awaiting the day science might awaken him once more.

Bedford’s Cryogenic Adventure Begins

James Bedford was drawing his final breaths when doctors arrived at 2060 Eleanore Drive in Glendale, California.

At 73, Bedford was battling terminal cancer. He had been moved from the hospital to a neighbor’s home for hospice care. Around noon on January 12, 1967, alerted by nurses that Bedford’s time was near, Dr. B. Renault Able arrived at his bedside. In a faint voice, Bedford murmured, “I’m feeling better,” and then, at 1:15 p.m., he quietly passed away.

Well, sort of.

Today, James Bedford’s body remains suspended in time at a facility in Arizona, preserved in a metal cryogenic chamber for over 55 years. As the first person in history to undergo cryogenic freezing, Bedford occupies a unique and controversial place in science and human history—a story marked by strange twists, scientific ambition, and a blend of inspiring hope and skeptical doubt.

The Race Against Time: How James Bedford Became Cryonics’ First Success Story

The doctors from the Cryonics Society had just seven minutes after James Bedford’s death to initiate the first phase of his unprecedented journey into the future. Artificial respiration was immediately applied to maintain oxygen flow to his brain, while dimethyl sulfoxide was infused into his veins to replace his blood and prevent ice crystals from damaging his organs during freezing.

Once stabilized, Bedford’s body was carefully placed on ice inside a custom-built, metal, tube-shaped capsule—designed, surprisingly, by a Phoenix wigmaker named Ed Hope. From there, the capsule was transported by hearse from a Los Angeles mortuary to a cryonics facility in Arizona.

“We were sworn to secrecy on this,” an anonymous mortuary worker later revealed to the Los Angeles Times. “We didn’t look into the container, but a doctor told us it held a body.”

Days later, the Cryonics Society proudly announced that the first human had been successfully cryopreserved using liquid nitrogen, ready to be revived once a cure for cancer—and the means to reverse death—was discovered.

This milestone came after two earlier failed attempts. In one case, a San Francisco schoolteacher had been dead too long before cryonics workers arrived, rendering his brain likely irreparable even if revival became possible. In another, a California woman had unknowingly been embalmed before freezing, a discovery that led to her being thawed and buried in the traditional manner.

Despite these setbacks, James Bedford’s successful preservation marked the beginning of a bold and controversial chapter in humanity’s quest to defy mortality.

Cryonic Suspension: What Happens When You Choose to Freeze Your Future?

If you decide to undergo cryonic suspension, here’s what you can expect. First, you’ll need to become a member of a cryonics organization, typically paying an annual membership fee (around $400 per year). Then, when your heart stops beating and you’re officially declared legally dead, the cryonics process begins.

An emergency response team from the facility will spring into action, stabilizing your body to maintain minimal brain function. Oxygen and blood circulation are artificially sustained to delay cellular damage, while your body is packed in ice and injected with heparin—an anticoagulant that prevents blood clotting during transportation. A specialized medical team will then await your arrival at the cryonics facility.

Once at the facility, the true preservation process begins. Cryonics isn’t as simple as placing a body into a vat of liquid nitrogen. If water inside your cells were to freeze, it would expand and cause the cells to rupture, rendering revival impossible.

To prevent this, cryonics technicians carefully replace the water in your cells with a glycerol-based chemical mixture known as a cryoprotectant—essentially a human antifreeze. This mixture prevents the formation of damaging ice crystals and allows tissues and organs to endure extremely low temperatures.

The process, known as vitrification, involves deep cooling without ice formation, placing your cells into a glass-like, suspended state. In this state, you’ll remain preserved—waiting for a future where science might finally unlock the secrets of revival and restoration.

The Final Freeze: How Cryonic Preservation Locks You in Time

Once the water in your body is replaced with a cryoprotectant, your body is gradually cooled on a bed of dry ice until it reaches -130°C (-202°F). At this temperature, the vitrification process is complete, and your tissues are in a glass-like, ice-free state.

Next, your body is carefully placed into an individual aluminum container, which is then inserted into a large, insulated metal tank filled with liquid nitrogen. The temperature inside the tank remains at an astonishing -196°C (-320°F). Interestingly, your body is stored head-down—a precaution designed to ensure that, in the unlikely event of a leak, your brain stays submerged in the freezing liquid.

Cryonics is far from inexpensive. Whole-body preservation can cost upwards of $150,000. For those seeking a more budget-friendly route into the future, neurosuspension is an option. For around $50,000, only your brain is preserved, with the hope that future technology will be able to clone or regenerate a body to match.

In storage facilities, each patient—whether whole-body or neurosuspended—is placed in their own aluminum container, which is housed in a “neuropod” or “wholebody pod.” These pods are then submerged together in a shared tank of liquid nitrogen.

So, if you opt for cryonic suspension, you won’t be entirely alone. Multiple patients—full bodies and isolated brains alike—are often stored together in the same towering, nitrogen-filled tanks, silently awaiting a scientific breakthrough that could one day bring them back to life.

Why America’s Billionaires Are Betting on Freezing Themselves to Cheat Death

More than 5,500 people have signed up for cryogenic preservation, and around 500 bodies are already in storage, suspended in liquid nitrogen and waiting for a scientific breakthrough.

According to Bloomberg, wealthy Americans are taking a bold and radical approach to defy mortality: freezing their bodies in hopes of revival in a future where medical technology can cure the ailments that ended their lives.

But the preservation doesn’t stop with their bodies—it extends to their wealth. Lawyers have started crafting “revival trusts,” a legal mechanism ensuring that when these individuals return to life, their fortunes remain intact and ready to fund their second chapter.

For these billionaires, cryonics isn’t just a gamble on future science—it’s an investment in immortality, both physical and financial.

Can Cryonically Frozen Bodies Ever Be Revived?

The question of whether cryopreserved bodies can ever be revived remains one of science’s biggest unknowns. As of now, medical technology cannot reverse the cryopreservation process or repair the cellular damage that can occur during freezing and storage, according to MSN.

However, supporters of cryonics remain optimistic. They believe that future advancements in nanotechnology and regenerative medicine could one day make it possible to repair cellular damage, revive preserved bodies, and even cure the diseases that initially caused death.

The Department of Anatomy at AIIMS Rajkot echoes this sentiment, suggesting that future breakthroughs might allow scientists to reverse the effects of preservation and address the root causes of death. Yet, despite the hopeful projections, the possibility of revival remains purely speculative—a question science has yet to answer.

Why Choose Cryonics Without a Guarantee of Revival?

For many, cryonics represents a glimmer of hope—a chance to extend life, witness future advancements, and possibly see a world where terminal illnesses and aging are curable. While it’s far from a guarantee, the possibility of a second chance at life is enough to convince some, particularly the wealthy, to invest in this futuristic gamble.

Currently, over 5,500 people have signed up for cryogenic preservation, and about 500 bodies are already stored in liquid nitrogen chambers, awaiting a scientific breakthrough.

One of those planning to join them is Steve LeBel, a 76-year-old retired hospital executive from Michigan, as reported by Bloomberg. LeBel has spent a year searching for a financial trust model that could endure for centuries. He intends to allocate $100,000 into a revival trust, with the remainder of his estate going to his family and foundation. His goal is to ensure there’s enough money left to cover the costs of a potential resurrection process.

“I want to figure out a solution; otherwise, I’ll be in there with my fingers crossed, hoping there’s money left over, 200 years from now, to pay for the resurrection process,” LeBel explained.

However, not everyone shares his optimism. George Bearup, a senior legal trust adviser at Greenleaf Trust, remains skeptical. “How do you draft for something that could take place 1,000 years from now? Who knows what the rules will be?” he questioned.

The Big Unknown: When Might the Frozen Wake Up?

The most pressing question surrounding cryonics remains: When might a successful revival actually happen? Hundreds of people have opted to be frozen, their metal capsules marked not with an expiration date, but with an open-ended question.

“I think 50 years is probably too soon because that’ll fly by quicker than we expect, and 200 years feels like a long time when you consider how far we’ve come since the Industrial Revolution,” says Gibson. “So, somewhere in that window seems plausible.”

But whether you’ll want to wake up sometime between 2069 and 2219 is an entirely different question. By the year 2100, the United Nations projects the world’s population will swell to 11.2 billion. The planet might feel a little crowded. Teenagers of the future may seamlessly navigate whatever replaces Instagram on their iPhone SXXX with elongated, hyper-flexible thumbs, while you—with your quaint, 21st-century mindset—could feel like an antique artifact on display.

And then there’s loneliness. Emerging into a distant future where everyone you knew is long gone might feel isolating. Fortunately, some cryonics companies, like Russia’s KrioRus, have considered this scenario. They offer clients the option of preserving their pets alongside them—a comforting, if slightly surreal, solution to an uncertain awakening.

But who are some people that have chosen to freeze their bodies until times unknown?

Frozen in Time: The Strange Afterlife of Baseball Legend Ted Williams

When baseball icon Ted Williams passed away on July 5, 2002, his legacy seemed set in stone. Known as one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, Williams left behind a storied career, countless records, and the eternal admiration of sports fans worldwide. However, his story didn’t end with his death. Instead, it took an unusual and controversial turn—a turn that led him to be preserved in a 10-foot-tall, stainless steel cryonic storage container at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Arizona, the world’s largest cryonics facility.

The Final Resting Place—or Not

Ted Williams, also known as “The Splendid Splinter,” was a hero to millions. Yet, his final resting place is not under a headstone but inside a futuristic cryogenic chamber filled with liquid nitrogen, where temperatures are kept at an icy -196°C (-320°F). According to reports, his head and body are stored separately—his head in one smaller container and his body in another larger tank. This arrangement isn’t science fiction; it’s cryonics, the controversial science of freezing humans in the hope that future medical advancements might one day allow them to be revived.

The idea behind Williams’ preservation is simple yet profoundly speculative: if scientists of the future can cure diseases and reverse the effects of aging or damage caused by death, individuals preserved in cryonic suspension could theoretically be revived and restored to full health.

However, Ted Williams’ cryogenic journey wasn’t without drama. After his death, a bitter family feud erupted over his final wishes, thrusting the baseball legend into an unexpected posthumous spotlight.

A Family Divided: The Custody Battle Over Ted Williams’ Body

Almost immediately after Williams’ death, his daughter, Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell, contested his cryonic preservation. She believed that her father had wanted a more traditional farewell. According to Bobby-Jo, Williams’ wish was to be cremated and have his ashes scattered over the serene waters of the Florida Keys, a place he dearly loved.

But Bobby-Jo’s half-brother, John-Henry Williams, had different plans. Along with their sister, Claudia Williams, John-Henry claimed that in 2000, he, Claudia, and their father had signed a pact agreeing that all three of them would be cryogenically frozen after death. This alleged agreement became the foundation for John-Henry’s insistence that their father remain at the Alcor facility.

Bobby-Jo, however, was deeply skeptical of her half-brother’s motives. She publicly accused John-Henry of wanting to preserve their father’s body to exploit his DNA for financial gain—perhaps by cloning the baseball star or capitalizing on his genetic material in other ways. The accusations fueled a media firestorm, turning an already strange story into a headline-grabbing saga.

This article explores the types of sugar, how it affects the body, and the short-term and long-term health consequences of excessive intake. We’ll also provide tips for reducing added sugar and making healthier choices.

🍬 Understanding Sugar: Natural vs. Added

Not all sugar is inherently bad. It’s important to distinguish between naturally occurring sugars and added sugars.

1. Natural Sugars

Found in whole foods like:

• Fruits (fructose)

• Dairy (lactose)

• Vegetables

These sugars come packaged with fiber, vitamins, and minerals that help slow digestion and support overall health.

2. Added Sugars

Sugars that are added during processing or preparation of foods. Common sources include:

• Soft drinks

• Candy

• Baked goods

• Sweetened yogurts

• Breakfast cereals

• Packaged sauces and dressings

Common forms of added sugar:

• Sucrose (table sugar)

• High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)

• Glucose, dextrose, maltose, etc.

Key concern: Most people consume far more added sugar than recommended, often without realizing it.

🩺 Health Recommendations on Sugar Intake

The World Health Organization (WHO) and American Heart Association (AHA) recommend:

• Men: No more than 36 grams (9 teaspoons) per day

• Women: No more than 25 grams (6 teaspoons) per day

Yet, the average adult often consumes 2–3 times this amount, largely due to processed foods and sugary drinks.

🧬 How Sugar Affects the Body

1. Blood Sugar Spikes and Crashes

When you consume refined sugar, your blood sugar levels rapidly increase, causing a surge in insulin to help absorb the sugar. This is often followed by a crash, leading to fatigue, irritability, and more cravings.

Over time, frequent spikes can lead to insulin resistance, a precursor to type 2 diabetes.

2. Weight Gain and Obesity

Added sugar—especially from liquid calories like sodas and juices—is a major contributor to weight gain. It:

• Provides empty calories without nutrition

• Interferes with the body’s satiety signals

• Increases visceral fat (around internal organs)

Excessive sugar is strongly linked with the obesity epidemic affecting both children and adults globally.

3. Increased Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

High sugar intake over time stresses the pancreas and contributes to insulin resistance, eventually leading to type 2 diabetes.

Studies show that people who drink one or more sugar-sweetened beverages per day have a significantly higher risk of developing diabetes than those who don’t.

4. Heart Disease

Sugar raises blood pressure, increases triglycerides, and promotes inflammation—all of which are risk factors for heart disease.

A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that people who got 17–21% of their calories from added sugar had a 38% higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than those who consumed less than 10%.

5. Fatty Liver Disease

Excess sugar—especially fructose—is metabolized in the liver. Over time, it can lead to:

• Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)

• Liver inflammation and damage

This condition is increasingly common, even among people who don’t consume alcohol.

6. Dental Problems

Sugar feeds the bacteria in your mouth, leading to:

• Tooth decay

• Cavities

• Gum disease

Children who consume sugary snacks or drinks frequently are at especially high risk.

7. Impact on Mental Health

Emerging research suggests that high sugar intake may contribute to:

• Depression and anxiety

• Cognitive decline

• Brain fog and poor memory

One study in Scientific Reports linked high sugar diets to increased risk of common mental disorders in both men and women.