Sparks Brain Preservation, which preserves brains after death, has scaled back its response network from eight sites to five, putting 64% of the US population within a six-hour drive, down from 84%

Sparks Brain Preservation, which preserves brains after death, has scaled back its response network from eight sites to five, putting 64% of the US population within a six-hour drive, down from 84%

On October 13, advisory board member Mati Roy wrote on X that four sites under construction would put 64% of the US population within a six-hour drive. Sparks calculates that figure for five sites, including Salem. Its website still lists the earlier plan for eight sites covering 84% of the population.

Sparks, a nonprofit based in Salem, Oregon, perfuses the brain after death with an aldehyde solution that crosslinks proteins and prevents decomposition. The brain is then removed and stored in solution at refrigerator temperature. Standard preservation costs 45 thousand dollars, or 36 thousand for people who have been members for at least two years.

Ideally, the procedure begins within minutes of death. Technicians currently tend to fly to the location, and the journey, according to founder Jordan Sparks, “can take literally all day.” Sparks is therefore establishing sites in several cities with ambulances and staff.

According to the Sparks website, almost the entire fee pays for rapid team deployment, while storage costs almost nothing. For members outside the US, the arrangement is different: a local physician removes the brain without a response team and ships it to Salem. Qualifying long-term members pay 3 thousand dollars rather than 36 thousand, excluding local service costs. The US-based Cryonics Institute, which stores bodies in liquid nitrogen, charges lifetime members 28 thousand dollars for its basic service. Suspended Animation separately provides team standby and stabilization with transport of the body, charging up to 30 thousand dollars for each service. Sparks includes team deployment in its price, which Jordan Sparks says is below cost; the organization covers the difference.

In December, Sparks presented a plan for seven new sites in addition to Salem. On September 19, at a brain preservation summit, he explained the change:

“Seven sites at once was too much. The new short-term plan is five sites in total.”

The remaining sites are Salem, Oakland, Dallas, Chicago and New York; Los Angeles, Atlanta and Palm Beach have been dropped. As of September 19, none of the new sites had staff. Chicago was scheduled to open around September 30, 2026, and Oakland around May 1, 2027. Sparks estimates that the New York site will cover 73 million people, a third of the network's total coverage. According to Jordan Sparks, the state requires registration with its health department, and the organization cannot provide services there without an in-state site. It is scheduled to open around June 1, 2027.

Sparks expects to open Dallas around 2028 because of Texas regulations. According to Jordan Sparks, the organization cannot accept bodies without an in-state site, and shipping brains out of Texas is currently prohibited.

Sparks expects brain preservation to see a sudden rise in popularity in thirty to forty years, possibly sooner, and is preparing the network for that point. He says the sites also serve another purpose:

“They are a form of marketing. They attract clients and reporters, and the reporters advertise for us.”

According to Roy's estimate, a site outside Salem can cover its costs without donations if it performs ten preservations a year. The Sparks homepage lists 23 people preserved, 97 members and 20 years of operation. Its monthly reports from December through September list two to seven new clients per month, counting preservation service sign-ups and memberships together.

If demand fails to materialize, Sparks describes a “hibernation” mode in which investment income from existing assets pays for the continued care of preserved people. According to Roy's slide, this arrangement could continue indefinitely because a chemically fixed brain requires no liquid nitrogen that would need continual replenishment.