If humanity is to become a spacefaring civilization, we'll need to sort out how to get a lot of sleep in space. After all, with today's technology, it would take around nine months just to get to Mars. The ability for humans to hibernate would be quite helpful for longer space journeys. To that end, NASA has spent years studying Arctic ground squirrels as they snooze to gain insight into how induced hibernation could work in humans.
Hibernating during years-long trips to other planets wouldn't just keep boredom at bay; it would also save money by reducing the need for food, water, and oxygen. Plus, studies on animals suggest hibernating astronauts might suffer less muscle and bone loss than staying awake in the microgravity of spacecraft.
According to NASA, the squirrels "are unique as they hibernate for eight to nine months out of the year while slowing their metabolism so much that their body temperature can drop below freezing without suffering the usual side effects like freezing, muscle loss, or loss of bone density during the long winter months."
Popular Science's "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week" podcast surveyed the research:
Hibernation isn't just a long nap. It's closer to death than sleep. While in hibernation torpor, ground squirrels' endure up to a 95 percent reduction in their metabolic rate. Their heart and respiration rates drop to a few beats and breaths per minute. Their brain waves go flat. Their body temperatures plummet to near freezing for some species (or even below freezing for Arctic ground squirrels).
Yet amid all of this, the squirrels stay pretty healthy: maintaining muscle mass, reversing pre-hibernation diabetes, experiencing organ regeneration, stalling aging, and undergoing physiological shifts that can ward off things like radiation damage.
Previously:
• Dyson Trees could make a home for humans—and other things
• Earth now way outside 'safe operating space for humanity,' says new report
