Atlanta-based SpaceWorks has looked at creating a habitat that would allow astronauts to travel to Mars while hibernating, reports The Washington Post.
What better way to pass a long stretch of time than by entering a deep sleep to shut down some bodily functions and conserve energy? Bears do it to get through cold winters. So do many smaller mammals, including squirrels and hedgehogs. Even the fat-tailed lemur (a primate cousin of Homo sapiens), living in warm Madagascar, slows down for months when its food supply runs low. But for us humans, hibernation has been an unnecessary and impossible goal.
Until now.
