The lizard that never eats, yet never crashes
The Gila Monster can go up to a year without a meal. That is not hyperbole, it is a documented biological fact about one of only two venomous lizard species native to North America. During those long stretches of fasting, its blood glucose does not plummet. Its metabolism holds steady in a way that would be medically impossible for most mammals, including humans. Endocrinologist John Eng at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in New York noticed this in the early 1990s and asked a question that turned out to be worth billions: what is the lizard doing that diabetic patients cannot?
