Could humans hibernate?

4 December 2020

Join our students as they quiz Hertford’s newest Medicine Fellow, Dr Vladyslav Vyazovskiy, on his pioneering work in the fields of sleep and hibernation.

As well as being a Hertford Tutorial Fellow, Vlad is an Associate Professor of Neuroscience and leads his own sleep, brain and behaviour laboratory within the University’s Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics. He was recently interviewed by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme (listen from 53:35) about his work with the European Space Agency, who are investigating the process of putting astronauts into hibernation to cross the vastness of space over long periods of time.

A few minutes of morning radio couldn’t really do justice to such a fascinating and nuanced topic, so three of our third-year medics teamed up to interview Vlad and get to the bottom of his research, asking could humans hibernate? Spoiler… Vlad thinks we definitely can! Find out more by listening to the interview below.