And black bears, like most hibernators, don’t urinate or defecate the entire hibernation season.

黑熊和大多数冬眠者一样，在整个冬眠季节都不会小便或排便。

To find out how hibernators are able to do this, researchers turned their attention to those animal’s genomes.

为了找出冬眠动物是如何做到这一点的，研究人员将注意力转向了这些动物的基因组。

Understanding how hibernators deal with reduced blood flow could lead to better treatments for protecting the brain during a stroke.

了解冬眠者如何应对血流量减少可能会导致更好的治疗方法来保护中风期间的大脑。

So far, they’ve discovered that hibernation is controlled by genes that turn off and on in unique patterns throughout the year, fine-tuning the hibernator’s physiology and behavior.

到目前为止， 他们发现冬眠是由基因控制的，这些基因全年以独特的模式关闭和开启，从而微调冬眠者的生理和行为。