In this episode we drill down into the biological mechanisms that allow many animals to go into various states of hibernation deep sleep and torpor. We then explore what that might mean for the future including cryosleep and anti-aging ramifications.

YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/t-qGngFecXQ
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0:00 - Intro
1:12 - Show starts
3:19 - Aline tells us about working at the Chico Community Observatory
6:36 - High level view of torpor, focusing on animals
8:38 - Explanation of how frogs don’t die: proteins and cryoprotectants 
11:21 - Supercooled insects survive extremely low temperatures
12:12 - Explanation of different modes of hibernation in mammals: obligate hibernators, facultative hibernators, and torpor.
17:20 - Two primates that go into torpor are mentioned: grey mouse lemur and monito del monte
19:44 - Squirrel hibernation involves insulin resistance, lipid breakdown, and protective proteins for muscles and the brain
20:35 - Explanation of epigenetics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroRNA
29:45 - Introduction to Spaceworks Research and inducing torpor with therapeutic hypothermia
Research Paper on therapeutic hypothermia: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3519955/
Study at the University of Maryland
https://www.umms.org/ummc/health-services/shock-trauma/news/body-cooling-study
32:00 - Identifying what the critical processes that stay “on” while an animal in torpor
37:00 - Asking about the impacts of aging when in torpor
40:00 - Naked Mole rats and their many interesting properties (They live to 30)
Hummingbird’s scale exactly as you would expect based on metabolic rate; they live 3-5 years with a heart rate of 1260 bpm. For comparison, humans live 60-100 years with a bpm of ~60. We have a metabolism about 20x slower and live about 20x longer (Doug is full of crap)
Telomeres: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telomere
An article on epigenetic gene expression for Scott Kelly and his time in space: https://www.genomeweb.com/genetic-research/nasa-twins-study-finds-space-linked-changes-gene-expression-telomere-length
46:00 - A piece of science fiction that Aline would be interested in learning more about: teleporters!
51:00 - How to work in the field of torpor in animals and the like.
Check out the research lab Aline works in with Ken Storey here: http://www.kenstoreylab.com/
Afshin Behesti NASA research on microgravity and microRNA: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=OXYo7HoAAAAJ&hl=en

Please go read up further on the scientific method and what researchers are doing for you.
56:20 - Outro