});
  1. Today’s creature is the Tardigrade. Water bears or moss piglets, as they are commonly called, are a phylum of invertebrates. It has often been said that cockroaches can survive anything. Well roaches are wimps compared to these little creatures. Generally they are smaller than 0.5 mm and often found in marine, freshwater and terrestrial habitats (they can be common in mosses, as their common names indicate). These creatures can survive temperatures above boiling water for minutes, temperatures near absolute zero and the vacuum of space. Exposed to more than 1000 times the leathal dose of radiation for other species, they keep on going like an energizer bunny. Some have been known to exist without water for a decade. If they were bigger they would be frightening.

    Today’s creature is the Tardigrade. Water bears or moss piglets, as they are commonly called, are a phylum of invertebrates. It has often been said that cockroaches can survive anything. Well roaches are wimps compared to these little creatures. Generally they are smaller than 0.5 mm and often found in marine, freshwater and terrestrial habitats (they can be common in mosses, as their common names indicate).

    These creatures can survive temperatures above boiling water for minutes, temperatures near absolute zero and the vacuum of space. Exposed to more than 1000 times the leathal dose of radiation for other species, they keep on going like an energizer bunny. Some have been known to exist without water for a decade. If they were bigger they would be frightening.

Notes

  1. shanemc117 reblogged this from scienceguy and added:
    Extremophiles are cool.
  2. onychophorawesome reblogged this from scienceguy
  3. baelor reblogged this from scienceguy
  4. pamberryy reblogged this from thelittleredhouses and added:
    im scared of the world for reasons like this
  5. thelittleredhouses reblogged this from scienceguy and added:
    eeek
  6. emetine reblogged this from scienceguy and added:
    My friend thinks...ugliest things ever
  7. hilegunslingers reblogged this from scienceguy
  8. scienceguy posted this

About me

I met the discoverer of Pluto. I have looked into a nuclear reactor and saw Cherenkov radiation. I did field work in shark-infested waters. I have an Erdos number of 5. I have launched satellites. You could say I like science.

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