IF YOU are in the northern hemisphere right now, you may well be channelling your inner bear as the colder months approach and life slows down. You leave your home less often, sleep more and perhaps develop some extra padding. Equally, you may be emerging from the cold spell in the southern hemisphere with renewed energy and the joys of spring. What you might not realise is that this propensity to hunker down in winter could be a relic of our evolutionary past, as we discuss on page 46, and if scientists have their way, humans may once again be bestowed with the ability to hibernate - or at least mimic some of the effects of hibernation - to benefit our health and possibly allow long trips through space.
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