– Not happening. Yet.
Transcendence is the recently released sci-fi movie the plot of which involves uploading the mind of a scientist (played by Johnny Depp) to a computer system. You can watch the trailer here, and then you can head over to OUP Blog and watch a few brief videos of Nick Bostrom (Oxford) discussing the movie and the plausibility of uploading, whole brain emulation, and other approaches to artificial intelligence.

– Happening. OMG.
“‘We are suspending life, but we don’t like to call it suspended animation because it sounds like science fiction’…. The technique involves replacing all of a patient’s blood with a cold saline solution, which rapidly cools the body and stops almost all cellular activity.” Did you catch that? The technique involves replacing all of a patient’s blood with a cold saline solution. It is described in more detail at New Scientist. Philosopher and sociologist Steve Fuller (Warwick) is asked a few questions about the technique at the Institute of Art and Ideas news site, where he advocates for compulsory scientific service, a kind of conscription of research subjects.