"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."

Comments

Obama the "great" orator

[Anonymous Coward]

Take away the teleprompter, and his speech is full of more ums, ahs, and you-know-whats than a 5-th grader flubbing his way through a book report that he failed to do. You can listen to audio of him speaking on-the-fly on YouTube, where he stammers incoherently for over a minute and a half. Just search YouTube for "One Night in Bagdad."