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Arctic ground squirrels
hibernate up to seven months every year.
Though sometimes
compared to sleep, hibernation
is very different.
Sleep refreshes the brain.
In contrast, hibernation
seems to devastate it.
As the squirrel enters hibernation,
his breathing and heartbeat slow dramatically
and his tiny body chills
to just below freezing.
Blood flow slows to a trickle
and deprives his brain
of oxygen and nutrition.
As the days pass,
brain cells called neurons
shrink and thousands
or even millions of connections
that make up his memories appear to dissolve.
Proteins clump and cling to the neurons,
advancing memory loss.
In some ways, his brain starts to resemble
a brain affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
Then something amazing happens.
About every two weeks,
he shivers vigorously until his body warms
to its normal temperature,
which it remains at for up to 15 hours.
During this time,
his brain cleans away the clumped proteins
and regrows the shrunken neurons,
restoring full brain capacity
in about two hours.
The process is repeated
during his entire seven-month hibernation
—depriving his brain of food and oxygen
and then rebuilding it about every two weeks
until he emerges in the spring
unscathed.
And that’s not all.
Scientists think
that old connections between neurons
are somehow marked for quick reconnection.
So the squirrel gets back
not just a working brain
but also something inconceivable
—his memories.
Researchers hope a better understanding
of this process
will pave the way for therapies
to treat disease in the human brain.
What do you think?
Did the regenerative ability
of the arctic ground squirrel’s brain
simply evolve?
Or was it designed?

Was It Designed? The Arctic Ground Squirrel’s Brain