Cryonics is an experimental effort to save lives by freezing a person's body who is so chronically ill that today's medicine could not help. Some scientists believe that cryopreservation could be successful in the future, while others are very doubtful, according to BBC.
Photographer Murray Ballard has spent years photographing cryonics institutions around the UK and the United States. "What I like about cryonics is that it gives us a vehicle to consider questions about the future," Ballard tells Business Insider. "You stand a much better chance of coming back to life if you're cryopreserved than if you're buried or cremated." Ballard compiled his photos into a book titled "The Prospect of Immortality." Below, see photos inside the cryonics institutions.