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"Water Bears" First Animals to Survive Trip Into Space Naked
Adam Korbitz writes "New Scientist and Science Daily are reporting the results of an intriguing experiment in which scientists launched tardigrades or 'water bears' — tiny invertebrates about one millimeter long — into space onboard the European Space Agency's FOTON-M3 spacecraft. After 10 days in the vacuum of space, the satellite returned to Earth and the tardigrades were recovered. The tardigrades survived the vacuum just fine, but exposure to the Sun's ultraviolet radiation proved deadly for most of the water bears. However, some did survive. The tardigrades are the first animals to have survived such an experiment, a feat previously achieved only by lichens and bacteria."
The headline should really read "Tardigrades First Animals to Survive Exposure to Vacuum of Space". I mean, we've sent astronauts into orbit, and let them walk around, but usually not naked.
There was a countdown of animals that had the most extreme survival conditions, and they outperformed cockroaches by quite a bit. They used computer software to show what the equivalent for a human would be under those circumstances, and visualized the radiation with drums of nuclear waste and bombs or something. Not only can they survive no pressure in the vacuum of space, but they can survive under thousands of pounds of water pressure in the ocean.
One scientist had left a tardigrade in a miniature desert for 20 years, and it popped right back up when they just added water. They also can survive extreme heat, salt, and acid. The most amazing thing is that they can probably be found in your own backyard.