They're cold-blooded mammals that live underground in big colonies run by a queen.

牠們是冷血的哺乳類動物，住在由女王掌控的地下殖民地。

They almost never get cancer and they can survive for 18 minutes with zero oxygen.

牠們幾乎不會罹癌，且在無氧氣狀態下，可存活長達 18 分鐘！

They lose consciousness, and their heart rate and breathing slow way down.

牠們會失去意識，而心跳和呼吸則減緩。

But as soon as oxygen is available again, they perk right up.

然而，重獲氧氣之時，他們就活躍起來了。

A mouse, on the other hand, lasts about a minute.

但一般老鼠僅能存活一分鐘。

Researchers at the University of Illinois-Chicago, along with colleagues in Europe and Africa, used a variety of metabolic tests to figure out what was going on.

伊利諾大學芝加哥分校的研究人員與歐洲、非洲的同事，使用各種代謝試驗來分析背後的前因後果。

In low-oxygen environments — pretty common underground — mole rats can change their energy metabolism in all their crucial organs, so they don't need oxygen.

在低氧的環境中——低氧是地下世界常見的狀態，裸鼴鼠可以改變所有重要器官的能量代謝能力，所以，牠們不需要氧氣。

They switch fuels, like a hybrid car.

其轉化燃料的模式就像油電混和車一樣。

Instead of glucose metabolized with oxygen, they use fructose and metabolize it without oxygen.

不同於使用氧氣的葡萄糖代謝作用，牠們使用果糖進行無氧代謝作用。

Knowing more about this metabolic trick might one day help in treating heart attacks and strokes, where a lack of oxygen is a killer.

對這個新陳代謝的小把戲了解越深，越有機會在未來助益心臟病和中風的治療，因為缺氧狀態對此兩種疾病的患者是致命的。