What can be learned from a shrew — the tiny, furry, high-strung creature that needs to eat the equivalent of its body weight in food every day to survive?

More than you might expect, including possible clues to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, according to two Stony Brook University scientists who have spent years studying the extraordinary way shrews live through the winter.

They don’t migrate to warmer climates and they don’t hibernate. A shrew’s brain and other organs can shrink by as much as 30% and then grow back in the spring. Once the brain of a human being shrinks, it remains in that state.

Researchers believe unraveling the biological processes that allow the shrew to make this transformation without losing brain cells or cognitive abilities could eventually help

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