Newly published research may have uncovered the key to unlocking human hibernation and it’s all thanks to bats.
One way that animals like bears deal with food scarcity, especially during winter, is to hibernate. This allows them to conserve their energy by slowing their heart rate and even dropping their body temperature to temperatures as low as five degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit). But this particular condition is only survivable if the animal’s blood can continue to flow without issue, supplying oxygen to their body. And if we can unlock how that works, perhaps human hibernation could be possible, too.
Now, thanks to new research published in PNAS, scientists appear to have finally made some progress in understanding how hibernation works. Most notably, they seem to have discovered more information about how specific blood cells change to allow for hibernation to happen effectively while still keeping the blood flowing efficiently.
