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Russian Firm Freezes 70 Brains, Cadavers to Bring Them Back to Life After Expected Technological Advance

A Russian company will freeze your brain or your entire body in the hopes of reviving you when the tech is available. Image credit: Friso Gentsch/Getty Images
A Russian company will freeze your brain or your entire body in the hopes of reviving you when the tech is available. Image credit: Friso Gentsch/Getty Images
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Russian Firm Freezes 70 Brains, Cadavers to Bring Them Back to Life After Expected Technological Advance

A Russian company will freeze your brain or your entire body in the hopes of reviving you when the tech is available. Image credit: Friso Gentsch/Getty Images
A Russian company will freeze your brain or your entire body in the hopes of reviving you when the tech is available. Image credit: Friso Gentsch/Getty Images

A company in Russia is giving people the opportunity to put their brain on ice when they die - in the hope they can be brought back to life in the future.

In comments on the project, head of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Pseudoscience Commission Evgeny Alexandrov said: "It is an exclusively commercial undertaking that does not have any scientific basis".

It is "a fantasy speculating on people's hopes of resurrection from the dead and dreams of eternal life", said Alexandrov.

According to Reuters, the firm has frozen over 70 brains and human cadavers floating in liquid nitrogen in one of several meters-tall vats in a corrugated metal shed outside Moscow.

They are stored at -196 degrees Celsius with the aim of protecting them against deterioration, although there is currently no evidence science will be able to revive the dead.

Voronenkov who intends to undergo the procedure when he dies, said: "I did this because we were very close and I think it is the only chance for us to meet in the future."

Valeriya Udalova, director of KrioRus (the firm behind the project) who got her dog frozen when it died in 2008, said it is likely that humankind will develop the technology to revive dead people in the future, but that there is no guarantee of such technology.

KrioRus says hundreds of potential clients from nearly 20 countries have signed up for its after-death service.

It costs $36,000 for a whole body and $15,000 for the brain alone for Russians, who earn average monthly salaries of $760, according to official statistics. Prices are slightly higher for non-Russians.

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US May Target Samsung, Hynix, TSMC Operations in China

A man walks past the logo of Samsung Electronics displayed outside the company's Seocho building in Seoul on April 30, 2025. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)
A man walks past the logo of Samsung Electronics displayed outside the company's Seocho building in Seoul on April 30, 2025. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)
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US May Target Samsung, Hynix, TSMC Operations in China

A man walks past the logo of Samsung Electronics displayed outside the company's Seocho building in Seoul on April 30, 2025. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)
A man walks past the logo of Samsung Electronics displayed outside the company's Seocho building in Seoul on April 30, 2025. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)

The US Department of Commerce is considering revoking authorizations granted in recent years to global chipmakers Samsung, SK Hynix and TSMC, making it more difficult for them to receive US goods and technology at their plants in China, according to people familiar with the matter.

The chances of the United States withdrawing the authorizations are unclear. But with such a move, it would be harder for foreign chipmakers to operate in China, where they produce semiconductors used in a wide range of industries, Reuters said.

A White House official said the United States was "just laying the groundwork" in case the truce reached between the two countries fell apart. But the official expressed confidence that the trade agreement would go forward and that rare earths would flow from China, as agreed.

"There is currently no intention of deploying this tactic," the official said. "It's another tool we want in our toolbox in case either this agreement falls through or any other catalyst throws a wrench in bilateral relations."

Shares of US chip equipment makers that supply plants in China fell when the Wall Street Journal first reported the news earlier on Friday. KLA Corp dropped 2.4%, Lam Research fell 1.9% and Applied Materials sank 2%. Shares of Micron, a major competitor to Samsung and SK Hynix in the memory chip sector, rose 1.5%.

A TSMC spokesman declined comment. Samsung and Hynix did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lam Research, KLA and Applied Materials did not immediately respond, either.

In October 2022, after the United States placed sweeping restrictions on US chipmaking equipment to China, it gave foreign manufacturers like Samsung and Hynix letters authorizing them to receive goods.

In 2023 and 2024, the companies received what is known as Validated End User status in order to continue the trade.

A company with VEU status is able to receive designated goods from a US company without the supplier obtaining multiple export licenses to ship to them. VEU status enables entities to receive US-controlled products and technologies "more easily, quickly and reliably," as the Commerce Department website puts it.

The VEU authorizations come with conditions, a person familiar with the matter said, including prohibitions on certain equipment and reporting requirements.

“Chipmakers will still be able to operate in China," a Commerce Department spokesperson said in a statement when asked about the possible revocations. "The new enforcement mechanisms on chips mirror licensing requirements that apply to other semiconductor companies that export to China and ensure the United States has an equal and reciprocal process.”

Industry sources said that if it became more difficult for US semiconductor equipment companies to ship to foreign multinationals, it would only help domestic Chinese competitors.

"It’s a gift," one said.