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Tiny Worms Survive Shuttle Crash

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the not-so-terminal-velocity dept.

John H. Doe writes "According to CNet, tiny worms kept in special aluminum canisters aboard the space shuttle Columbia (which broke apart in the atmosphere back in Feb. 1, 2003) survived their fall to earth. The small (about 1mm long) soil roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans was found alive in four or five of the recovered canisters, after an impact 2,295 times the force of Earth's gravity."

1 of 46 comments (clear)

  1. Four or five? by Pretor · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is it to much to ask of our researchers that they manage to count to at least 5?

    When they found the canisters did they count like a child? What comes first? One. And then? Two. And then? Three. And then? Four or five, I'm not sure.