Tardigrade: Tiny package of badassery.

[JHan]

For "Science Times at 40" , tardigrades got some love.

Survivor https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/19/science/tardigrades-mass-extinctions.html?smid=fb-nytscience&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR3VGVOO7oSdpO5-3FnT3CLw7CKhFmPkI2gszHFnIc1GDft1_L7WzMkHwYs


Graphic by Golden Cosmos





And I'll just add an awesome tardi video for good measure:

[Hugin]

1. Tardigrades are the main reason I entertain the idea of Panspermia.

"Panspermia is the hypothesis that life exists throughout the Universe, distributed by space dust, meteoroids, asteroids, comets, planetoids, and also by spacecraft carrying unintended contamination by microorganisms. Distribution may have occurred between galaxies, and not to have been restricted to the limited scale of solar systems."

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia

Although, bacteria are also very tough. Tough enough to survive indefinitely in a space environment. They have the drawback of being uni-cellular. The thought of extravagantly multi-cellular creatures evolving from bacterium even in the geologic time span of the Earth is too much for me.

Tardigrades are multi-cellular creatures who include specialized cells such as light sensitive sensory organs. Plus, as the video explains, they could survive indefinitely in space.

[peacebuzzard]

5. Best post ever!

Badass Food for Thought.

[Scarsdale]

2. Looks like someone

we all know, and LOATHE. Only with much more talent and common sense.

[FailureToCommunicate]

3. And bigger hands.

[MontanaMama]

4. Fascinating!

Thank you for posting this.

[peacebuzzard]

6. Thread Extraordinaire

Awesome, simply mind blowing

[krispos42]

7. In the first episode of "The Orville", scientists created a redwood tree...

...with tardigrade DNA modifications to make a redwood tree that would grow anywhere.

It was later used to save the ship. No spoilers, except to day "Happy Arbor Day".