Mole Rats
Somehow, naked mole rats got even weirder in 2017. It turns out the cold-blooded, cancer-resistant, painimmune and conspicuously long-lived rodents also can survive for extended periods of time without oxygen. In tests at the University of Illinois, biologists (carefully) deprived naked mole rats of oxygen for 18 minutes; in a separate test, the researchers kept them for more than five hours at dangerously low oxygen levels. Both times, the naked mole rats were unharmed. Most animals need oxygen to survive because it helps convert blood sugar, or glucose, into energy – no oxygen, no life. In this study, the researchers found that naked mole rats use glucose in this way, too, but it turns out their bodies can switch things up and efficiently metabolize fructose. It’s a different kind of sugar that doesn’t require oxygen to provide life-sustaining energy. These insights into oxygenless survival could one day help stroke and heart attack patients, for whom every minute without oxygen is critical.