Tardigrades, ever heard of them?

After looking at some videos online my eye wandered to this video that has to do with a tardigrade...basically it's a type of bug but more interesting this thing can survive in the vacuum of space? The link is to a video clip that shows what the insect looks like (microscopic) that is caterpillar like with some claws on it...it eats, has muscles, reproduces with eggs and molts...this person goes on to explain that they can survive solar radiation, heat in excess of 240 degrees Fahrenheit, don't know how they evolve or what species they are related to.

Bottom line interesting video because if something like this can survive in space that brings up some interesting questions around life in extreme climates.

It is unclear how long this technically would last in space seeing that it would have nothing to eat. We probably should have taken a few of these things to mars and see how they would survive...

take a look..

Link

reply to post by chrismarco

Pressure – they can withstand the extremely low pressure of a vacuum and also very high pressures, more than 1,200 times atmospheric pressure. Tardigrades can survive the vacuum of open space and solar radiation combined for at least 10 days.

Source

Although just the fact that they can survive in open space is absolutely amazing. The ten day limit means that they wouldn't make it very far in that environment.

Tardigrades are one interesting creature no doubt, see this link for more info...

Tardigrade talk

Hahaha classic.

Near the end, it evolves from biology of the stars to mindfulness.

Be more like the tardigrade. Be in the now.

lol

Just cracked me up .. other than that, interesting. I don't know about panspermia as a valid theory for some forms of life however, the temperatures of entering a planets atmosphere on a rock large enough to have biological life on it (I assume, from an impact on another planet light years away) would surely be enough to destroy any dormant, hibernating life.

But I do think it is inevitably true that there is life "IN" space. Space is not some mystery concept that denies a thing the ability to exist. We cant breath under water. Fish can't breath on land. Some insects are so tiny that they seem to 'swim' in the air. To these little guys it would be like everything is a sticky goo. So space is just another medium that is hostile to how we live.

The deepest oceans or the highest altitudes are hostile to us. Without protection, that is. Just like space.

I know they've had a case of a mosquito that managed to somehow remain alive on the outside of ISS.

But it's one thing to live in a hostile environment. It's another to make the transition from one to the other.

Who really knows. Because we know so very little, we cannot know. Everything is like a complex machine so vast we can only ever see the tiny cogs that turn near us. And by understanding how a cog turns, we expect to know what the machine does.

Tardigrade party!



I would also like to once again offer my vote in support of tardigrade gladiatorial combat.



WikiPedia has them as being most closely related to velvet worms and both are in a group called lobopodia; named after their feet, or vice versa. They both belong to the panarthropods.

They are mostly bacteriophagic, but they can also be carnivorous, which will work out well for the gladiator thing. They are 1 mm in length when full grown, which is pretty big; most protozoans are 0.5 mm or less.

Tardigrade

This is all going to be fun and games until some know it all comes in and lets us know that these things are just like the beasties that live in the roots of our eyelashes and body hair...

Then we're all going to be fetal-balled in the shower, with a bottle of bleach and brillo pads... I've seen this happen before.

Originally posted by Hefficide

This is all going to be fun and games until some know it all comes in and lets us know that these things are just like the beasties that live in the roots of our eyelashes and body hair...

Then we're all going to be fetal-balled in the shower, with a bottle of bleach and brillo pads... I've seen this happen before.

Seed planting .. SEED PLANTING..

Stop it!!!!

*itches and scratches*

reply to post by Hefficide


ten days isn't much but what about on some other planets that are not necessarily similar to our atmosphere...