Tardigrade in Moss

© Nicole Ottawa & Oliver Meckes / Eye of Science / Science Source Images

Is this an alien? Probably not, but of all the animals on Earth, the tardigrade might be the best candidate. That's because tardigrades are known to be able to go for decades without food or water, to survive temperatures from near absolute zero to well above the boiling point of water, to survive pressures from near zero to well above that on ocean floors, and to survive direct exposure to dangerous radiations. The far-ranging survivability of these extremophiles was tested in 2011 outside an orbiting space shuttle. Tardigrades are so durable partly because they can repair their own DNA and reduce their body water content to a few percent. Some of these miniature water-bears almost became extraterrestrials recently when they were launched toward to the Martian moon Phobos on board the Russian mission Fobos-Grunt, but stayed terrestrial when a rocket failed and the capsule remained in Earth orbit. Tardigrades are more common than humans across most of the Earth. Pictured here in a color-enhanced electron micrograph, a millimeter-long tardigrade crawls on moss.

Based on Astronomy Picture Of the Day.

0 комментариев
26-03-2017, 10:42
Information
Users of Гости are not allowed to comment this publication.
Subscribe to Our Newsletter and receive the latest information about space
Уже подписались: 2
Подписаться

This resource is non-commercial and exists thanks to the hosting provider: ua-hosting.company.

The site administration is not responsible for the content of comments on the site's materials. Comments on the site's materials are the personal opinions of the site's visitors.
© «Big.Space» 2024
Мы используем файлы cookies для улучшения работы сайта. Оставаясь на нашем сайте, вы соглашаетесь с нашей Политикой в отношении обработки персональных данных. Подробнее
Принимаю