Meet the Tardigrade, also known as the water-bear or moss piglet. This cute little fella can survive in the most extreme conditions, withstanding temperatures from near absolute
zero to well above the boiling point of water and can survive X-ray radiation 1000 times the human lethal dose.
How is this possible you may ask? In severe conditions, these guys are capable of reversibly suspending their metabolism and going into a state of cryptobiosis. Basically they shrivel up and die…but not really. Once conditions become favorable, soaking them in water is key to their resurrection. It has been reported that Tardigrades have successfully recovered from a dried-up piece of moss kept by a museum for 120 years. plaintalkbm.com/get-your-science-on-sup ... -critters/
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Who would have thought that natures’ toughest creature would be 1 mm
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- One with Books
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Re: Who would have thought that natures’ toughest creature would be 1 mm
awesome!! it's great how wonders like these are all around us and inside us all the time!! even when we are depressed about life on the corporate hamster wheel.
- johnson1010
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Re: Who would have thought that natures’ toughest creature would be 1 mm
WATER BEAR!!
those guys are cool.
Things like those may actually end up being better inter-planetary settlers than we are. Asteroid impacts are capable of sending rocks right into space and those rocks can and do make impact on other planets. Water bears which effectively give up and die, then come back to life when they make contact with water, pretty much put themselves into cryogenic sleep. If an organism like that which is photosynthetic made it to another planet, then you've essentially got viable pan-spermia going on!
Very cool!
those guys are cool.
Things like those may actually end up being better inter-planetary settlers than we are. Asteroid impacts are capable of sending rocks right into space and those rocks can and do make impact on other planets. Water bears which effectively give up and die, then come back to life when they make contact with water, pretty much put themselves into cryogenic sleep. If an organism like that which is photosynthetic made it to another planet, then you've essentially got viable pan-spermia going on!
Very cool!
In the absence of God, I found Man.
-Guillermo Del Torro
Are you pushing your own short comings on us and safely hating them from a distance?
Is this the virtue of faith? To never change your mind: especially when you should?
Young Earth Creationists take offense at the idea that we have a common heritage with other animals. Why is being the descendant of a mud golem any better?
-Guillermo Del Torro
Are you pushing your own short comings on us and safely hating them from a distance?
Is this the virtue of faith? To never change your mind: especially when you should?
Young Earth Creationists take offense at the idea that we have a common heritage with other animals. Why is being the descendant of a mud golem any better?
- Interbane
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Re: Who would have thought that natures’ toughest creature would be 1 mm
We could GMO them to eat eyeballs and drop plane loads on our enemies.
“In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.” - Douglas Adams
- johnson1010
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Re: Who would have thought that natures’ toughest creature would be 1 mm
whAT!?
Would that plane have a saw blade catapult strapped to it?
Would that plane have a saw blade catapult strapped to it?
In the absence of God, I found Man.
-Guillermo Del Torro
Are you pushing your own short comings on us and safely hating them from a distance?
Is this the virtue of faith? To never change your mind: especially when you should?
Young Earth Creationists take offense at the idea that we have a common heritage with other animals. Why is being the descendant of a mud golem any better?
-Guillermo Del Torro
Are you pushing your own short comings on us and safely hating them from a distance?
Is this the virtue of faith? To never change your mind: especially when you should?
Young Earth Creationists take offense at the idea that we have a common heritage with other animals. Why is being the descendant of a mud golem any better?