- This topic has 166 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 9 months, 2 weeks ago by .
-
Snow Owls have returned to Central Park for the first time in 100 years!!
Yes, the groundhog did see his shadow yesterday.
The moon might now be home to thousands of planet Earth's most indestructible animals.
Tardigrades – often called water bears – are creatures under a millimetre long that can survive being heated to 150C and frozen to almost absolute zero.
They were travelling on an Israeli spacecraft that crash-landed on the moon in April.
And the co-founder of the organisation that put them there thinks they're almost definitely still alive.
The water bears had been dehydrated to place them in suspended animation and then encased in artificial amber.
“We believe the chances of survival for the tardigrades… are extremely high,” Arch Mission Foundation boss Nova Spivack said.
But water bears – which have another very cute nickname, moss piglets – are not most animals.
They can be brought back to life decades after being dehydrated.
Scientists have found that tardigrades have what seems almost like a super power.
When dried out they retract their heads and their eight legs, shrivel into a tiny ball, and enter a deep state of suspended animation that closely resembles death.
They shed almost all of the water in their body and their metabolism slows to 0.01% of the normal rate.
And if reintroduced to water decades later, they're able to reanimate.
A friend in Texas helped in the rescue of over 2000 turtles in the last week. They are struggling in the bitter cold.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Optimizing new Forum... Try it, and report bugs to support.