Could hibernation be the key to human deep-space travel?   March 11, 2026

 

What's up, sunshine? I'm Coy Wire. This is CNN 10, your 10 minutes of news where I simply tell you the what-letting. You decide what to think.

 

We've got a special guest on the show for you this Your Word Wednesday, March 11th. Listen up to see if the vocabulary word you submitted helped us write today's show.

 

We begin in Australia with a story that shows just how far-reaching the impact of the conflict in Iran has become.

 

far-reaching [ˈfɑrˈritʃɪŋ] adj. 影响深远的

 

The Australian government says members of the Iranian women's national soccer team have been granted humanitarian visas following a recent tournament there.

 

grant [ɡrænt] v. 给予，授予

 

Humanitarian visas provide temporary or sometimes even permanent legal protection for people forced to flee their home country due to conflict or fears of persecution.

 

persecution [ˌpɝsɪˈkjuʃǝn] n. 迫害；困扰

 

The team, known as the Lionesses, were in Australia to compete in the Women's Asian Cup.

 

They made the collective decision to not sing the Iranian national anthem ahead of their opening match. Some feared Iranian leadership might consider that an act of treason, which is the crime of betraying one's country.

 

anthem [ˈænθǝm] n. 国歌

treason [ˈtrizṇ] n. 叛国罪，通敌罪；谋反罪

 

Sources tell CNN Sports the women were forced to sing the anthem before their second match.

 

This raised fears that they could face punishment upon their return home. A crowd of supporters could be seen flanking the team's bus, shouting, Save our girls, as it pulled away following their final game of the tournament.

 

flank [flæŋk] v. 位于……的侧面（或两侧）

pull away 离开, 开走

 

The issue got the attention of US President Donald Trump, who discussed it on a phone call with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

 

The prime minister has confirmed that five of the women have been granted visas and have been moved to a safe location. The same offer was made to all remaining members of the team.

 

This is a very delicate situation and it is up to them.

 

delicate [ˈdɛlǝkǝt] adj. 需要小心处理的；微妙的；棘手的

 

But we say to them, if you want our help, help is here.

 

As of this taping, sources tell CNN a total of seven members of the team stayed in Australia while the rest have returned to Iran.

 

Pop quiz, hot shot.

 

What is the main purpose of hibernation?

 

hibernation [ˌhaɪbɚˈnеʃǝn] n. 冬眠

 

Escape predators, prepare for migration, conserve energy or catch up on sleep.

 

If you said conserve energy, you are wide awake. Animals like bears, bats, hedgehogs, ground squirrels, some reptiles and queen bumblebees utilize hibernation to survive freezing or scarce environments.

 

wide awake 完全清醒; 毫无睡意

hedgehog [ˈhɛdʒˌhɑɡ] n. 刺猬

bumblebee [ˈbʌmbḷˌbi] n.【昆】熊蜂，大黄蜂

scarce [skɛrs] adj. (资源)缺乏的；不足的

 

When most people think of hibernation, they probably picture animals curling up for a long winter's nap. But beneath the surface, we are learning more about all that their bodies are actually doing.

 

picture [ˈpɪktʃɚ] v. 想象

 

Hibernating animals can dramatically slow their metabolism, survive months without much food and wake up without damage to their hearts, brains or cells, the ultimate biological power down and restart.

 

And now scientists are cracking the genetic code behind that process to see if it could be a paradigm to one day help humans travel long distances in space. Joining us now, the good doctor, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. So good to see you.

 

paradigm [ˈpærǝˌdaɪm] n. 范例

 

Honored to be here.

 

I heard you visited one of these labs where they're kind of digging into this stuff. What are these scientists learning?

 

Well, first of all, hibernation or torpor, as it's called, good word, TOR, POR.

 

torpor [ˈtɔrpɚ] n.（動物的）冬眠

 

That is something that is really unique. It's not deep sleep. It's not being in a coma.

 

It's not being under anesthesia. It's basically, like you said, the body shuts down. The brain disconnects from the spinal cord.

 

anesthesia [ˌænǝsˈθiʒǝ] n.【医】麻醉；麻木

 

Your heart rate may go to just a beat or two per minute. There's really nothing else like it. One of the things they're learning, though, and this is fascinating, is that we humans also carry the genes for torpor or hibernation.

 

We could possibly do this. And the way to think about it, if you imagine a house, house has light switches. It has lights.

 

Think of those light switches as genes. Those genes can flip on and off. We have those light switches in the human body.

 

flip on 透过快速按下开关、翻转或扳动按钮来「打开」（装置、灯光等）

 

We just haven't figured out how to turn them on or off yet. But it can make a huge difference for all sorts of things. One of the animals that is sort of a champion hibernator, though, something I want to introduce you to.

 

hibernator [ˈhaɪbɚˌnеtɚ] n. 冬眠者; 进行冬眠的动物

 

Is there a champion hibernator when it comes to animals?

 

Yeah, I mean, 13-lined ground squirrels are really good. We call them the Usain Bolts of hibernators because they're excellent at it.

 

It's a tiny creature that weighs no more than nine ounces at most.

 

Native to Central North America, found as far north as Alberta, Canada, and as far south as the Texas coastline.

 

These squirrels undergo remarkable changes during hibernation. They go through what's almost like a mini heart attack or stroke every couple of weeks, so 25 times over hibernation period.

 

heart attack 心脏病发作

 

The neurons in their brain physically retract during hibernation. So they have a flat EEG. The retinal, the cone photoreceptors in their eye, which see vision, physically melt and reform every couple of weeks.

 

retract [rɪˈtrækt] v. 缩回，缩进

retinal [ˈrɛtǝnǝl] adj. 视网膜（上）的

cone photoreceptor 锥状感光细胞; 视锥细胞

reform [ˌrɪˈfɒrm] v. 重新形成

 

So this is an animal that's evolved over hundreds of millions of years to repair damage that happens during this really dramatic hibernation course.

 

Using the same genes that you and I have, but in slightly different ways.

 

Today, I'm seeing them up close in Oshkosh, Wisconsin at the university here.

 

I'm here in a hibernaculum, which is a place where hibernating animals hang out.

 

hibernaculum [ˈhaɪbɚˌnеkjǝlǝm] n. 冬眠所; 越冬场所

hang out 居住

 

The squirrels here are part of a bred colony being studied by researchers from a biotech company called Fauna Bio. This hibernaculum, as it is called, is set to just four and a half degrees Celsius, not that far off from the body temperatures of the hibernating squirrels themselves.

 

bred [brɛd] adj. 被培育出来的 ( adj. & pt of breed)

 

So they'll spend about one to three weeks in continuous torpor. They'll periodically re-arouse back to normal body temperature. That'll last about 12 hours.

 

arouse [ǝˈraʊz] v. 唤醒

 

And then they'll go back down into torpor. And then this lasts for months. They lose most of their fat, but they still preserve all of their lean mass, which is quite amazing.

 

They don't lose their muscle. So when they come out, they're ready to run around and mate.

 

That is fascinating stuff, Doc.

 

So you're saying we have a lot to learn from these little creatures. Just had that in your pocket? Yeah, that's my daughter's. I knew we were going to be talking about squirrels.

 

And your little team mascot for the day.

 

One thing that I found fascinating was how they lose fat, but not muscle. How are their bodies able to do that, maintain their muscle while hibernating?

 

I thought you might find that pretty interesting.

 

I mean, can you imagine, like, if you as a human basically were inactive for even a few days, you would lose muscle mass, right? You probably think about this as an athlete all the time.

 

They go into the state of torpor, hibernation, sometimes for months on end. I think what it has to do with is this idea that somehow that waste that our body is constantly creating is somehow recycled into amino acids and protein and things that help build muscle.

 

waste [wеst] n. 废物，废料

 

So this is like one of the biggest questions, I think, in all of medicine. And one of the reasons it's a big question is because of space. Think about this.

 

You're going to send people on months-long missions. If they're in a state of hibernation or torpor, they don't get bored. They don't have to eat.

 

They don't have to drink. They're not making waste. And they don't sort of just sort of wither away.

 

wither away 慢慢干瘪

 

They maintain their muscle mass. This is what the lab is working on.

 

What are we looking at here? Yeah, so this is what we call the RESPIRES unit.

 

It's a unit that we developed as part of funding that we got from NIAC, NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts. And the reason we're developing this unit is because we don't currently have the capability, one, to study hibernation in space. And two, to study physiology in space.

 

So we have designed it to have two synchronously hibernating animals in space transferred to the ISS. And we have it set up so that we can provide air to the animal. We can provide infrared camera viewing.

 

synchronously [ˈsɪŋkrǝnǝslɪ] adv. 同时地；同步地

 

And this is also designed as something called a plethysmograph, which allows us to measure metabolism and ventilation. And we also anticipate telemetering the animals. So we can grab as much physiology as we can possibly grab to inform us on what their hibernation phenotype looks like.

 

plethysmograph [plǝˈθɪzmǝˌɡræf]  n. 体积变化描记器

telemeter [tǝˈlɛmǝtɚ] n. 无线电测量/遥测; 用遥测发射器传送

 

How close are scientists to being able to help humans hibernate?

 

They're getting much closer. In fact, there's a couple of labs around the country now that are trying this. Not true hibernation, but sort of a twilight sort of hibernation, if you will.

 

twilight [ˈtwaɪˌlaɪt] n. 微光; 曙光

 

But in terms of actually using this for space, you just saw there, they're going to start sending these 13 line squirrels, these champion hibernators to space. Big question. Next question they want to answer.

 

Do they hibernate in space in a microgravity environment, just like they do here on Earth? The answer is they think that's the answer. They think it's yes, but they want to make sure.

 

This is fascinating stuff. I get smarter every time you join the show.

 

Don't sleep on Dr. Gupta. Follow his podcast, Chasing Life, wherever you get your podcast, Doc. Thanks so much. Thanks for making us smarter today.

 

Today's story, getting a 10 out of 10,two brothers helping others in need while making the planet a cleaner place. Ethan and Desmond Hua started a nonprofit in their parents' garage called HOPE, which stands for Help Our Planet Earth.

 

The benevolent brothers collect and sort lightly used school uniforms and deliver them to needy families in their community at no cost. The program not only helps those who can't afford new uniforms, it also keeps clothing from ending up in a landfill. So far, it's been a rousing success.

 

benevolent [bǝˈnɛvǝlǝnt] adj. 仁慈的，厚道的，有爱心的

rousing [ˈraʊzɪŋ] adj.【口】驚人的

 

Nine schools across their district have signed on so far. Ethan says the whole idea started when he noticed a classmate wearing shorts on a frigid day.

 

sign on 报名；登记

shorts [ʃɔrts] n.【美】男用短衬裤; 宽松运动短裤

frigid [ˈfrɪdʒɪd] adj. 寒冷的

 

Everyone's cold, freezing cold outside. Why was he wearing shorts, out of all things? And what he told me was that he couldn't afford another pair of pants.

 

To date, their brothers have kept more than 13,000 pieces of clothing from becoming textile waste. Now, that is what we call revolutionary recycling.

 

Congrats to our Your Word Wednesday winners. Mrs. Martinez and friends at the St. Benedict School in Montebello, California, submitted paradigm, a noun meaning a fundamental model, pattern or set of ideas that shapes how we view the world. Thank you for helping us boost our vocab today.

 

And we have a shout out going to Mrs. Carey and all of our friends at the Swift River School in New Salem, Massachusetts. This fuzz is all the buzz around the newsroom today. Azure and Abby, they hand felted this portrait.

 

fuzz [fʌz] n. 柔软的细毛或纤维; a mass or covering of fine or curly hairs, fibres, etc

hand-felt 手工针毡

 

I must say it is phenomenal. And rise up, everyone. Go out, be kind to someone today.

 

You never know how or when, but you may be the spark of joy someone needs. I'm Coy Wire and we are CNN 10.