Hibernating for Deep Spaceflight with Ryan Sprenger

About This Episode

We’ve all seen sci-fi movies where astronauts go into deep sleep for long space journeys, but how close are we to making that a reality? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice, and Gary O’Reilly team up with Ryan Sprenger, Senior Research Scientist at Fauna Bio, to explore a question straight out of science fiction: can humans hibernate in space like animals do on Earth? 

Ryan breaks down the science of hibernation and torpor, explaining how animals like bears and ground squirrels lower their metabolic rates to survive harsh conditions. Learn how with the help of the NAIC grant, Ryan and Fauna Bio team Ashley Hermans, Tobias Niederwieser, Mark Boettger, and Adam Kohler, are creating the Space Torpor for Advanced Space Habitats (STASH) program, which aims to take steps towards making human hibernation a possibility for long-term space travel. Could unlocking the secrets of these animals help humans avoid muscle atrophy, radiation damage, and resource scarcity in space?

Discover the metabolic superpowers of hibernating animals. Could hibernating ground squirrels be an answer to diabetes and obesity? We also learn how hibernating animals resist muscle wasting and radiation exposure, abilities that could be crucial for space travel. How many calories does an animal in torpor use? Plus, what happens to your body’s waste products if you don’t go to the bathroom for six months? 

We tackle the practical questions: what would humans need to survive in hibernation? How would we wake up? How dangerous is waking up? Can gene therapy jump-start our journey into deep space slumber? Will we be using this on the eventual trip to Mars? Find out what’s possible, what’s still science fiction, and whether space travel might one day look like a long nap!

Thanks to our Patrons Parker Mann, Kwesi collisson, John, Ray, Dr. Cy, Felix the Feline, Jimmy Dunn, Mandi McKay, Kevin Militello, Aaron Streimish, Joshua Beadle, Sam Pennington, Geoffrey Docute, Syler, David Smith, and Matt Talley for supporting us this week.

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