Kubrick's world may come true if we can unlock human hibernation

New studies on animal hibernation may unlock a dormant element of human evolution

HAL the computer from 2001 Space Odyssey.

In Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film, 2001 A Space Odyssey, passengers on a spacecraft travelling to Jupiter are in artificial hibernation, controlled by Hal, an all-knowing computer. Hal went mad and killed his charges.

It’s been suggested that Europa, one of Jupiter’s 79 moons, may be close to habitable, but to find out if it is, scientists will have to go there. This would involve a two-year journey each way, during which those on board the spacecraft might be put into hibernation under Hal’s successor.