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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 next animals to undergo the experiment: First Posters.
Of the four water bears to survive the radiation in space, one is now invisible, one is really stretchy, one is on fire, and one is made of rocks.
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Don't you realize that, by exposing them to such strenuous conditions that kill off the weak, you are only working to select a superbreed of tardigrades? I'm sure all that radiation have caused mutations to make them stronger, bigger, with voracious appetites and mind-control powers.
Pretty soon they'll be strong enough to challenge us! I say we launch a preemptive strike to eliminate all tardigrades immediately!
[I'm not actually crazy, this is all tongue-in-cheek alarmism, which is all the rage these days]
Allow these water bears to reproduce, and take them back up. Rinse lather repeat, and we will have creatures capable of surviving long durations in space.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
Aquatic hairy gay men?
Over the generations gradually change their environment till it resembles mars. Send the survivors as first colonists.
Deleted
I for one welcome our new vacuum-resistant, microscopic, mutated overlords.
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.
After RTFA /shock, the focus seems to be not on the fact they survived in space but more the fact that they survived being dosed repeteadly with huge amounts of radiation, without any apparent damage to the DNA structure.
Sending bears into space, exposing them to radiation, making them stronger?!?! ARE YOU INSANE?!?!?
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
It was a scary bear.
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
This topic uses a poor choice of source material to discuss the subject. The article does not go into detail about the metabolic affects of exposure for the water bears, or the fundamental changes that were observed after their return to the lab. There were significant fundamental reactions the sample set had to exposure to space which was observable immediately upon their return to Earth, as detailed in other articles on the subject.
Scientists were surprised to observe the exterior of several of the water bears to be covered by a mineral substance and the creatures appeared to demonstrate increased resillence realitive to their size and mass. Several of the other specimens demonstrated exothermic reactions when exposed to air, a reaction that was described as actually burning the air around them. Other members of the specimen set were observed stretching to lengths beyond their normal length / width, in order of several magnigtudes, without any negative biological affects. Others developed a transparent biology when observed under an electron microscope, which appearently is not permanent in nature.
Attempts to observe the creatures in detail were complicated by some sort of field irradiating the slide, which was thought to possibly be magnetic.
M
I propose they try it with lawyers next. I can provide a short list if they want.
I for one am upset and disappointed that the water bears did not gruesomely bulge to engorged proportions and then loudly(physics be damned) and spectacularly explode in a sanguineous shower of viscera, all while screaming "QUAAAIDD!!!". I think the experimenters could have done better.
May the Maths Be with you!
I find it detestable that we are doing these kinds of experiments on water bears!
We need to protest... I will start a campaign!
--Nuke the Whales--
Suggested list of headlines that do not suck:
"Tardigrades First Animals to Survive the Vacuum of Space"
"'Water Bears" First Animals to Withstand Exposure to Naked Space"
"First Animal to Survive the Vacuum of Space"
Come on, Timothy -- Naked tardigrades? I trust you can do better than that...
Did these things
- Create an army of the undead
- Trigger a plague
- Develop intelligence and a taste for human flesh?
All kidding aside, it might reinforce the theory of panspermia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
So... Did any of these scientists allow themselves to get bit by any of these radioactive Water Bears?
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.
Interestingly, the RIAA was also a popular choice, but it was rejected on the basis that a multi-celled organism without a heart might not be alive. Some members of the public suggested it should be subjected to the "will it blend?" test to make sure.
Obligatory:
A vacuum pump and a UV lamp are all you need to perform this experiment on Earth... No rockets required. What lame "research".
You do realize that they do a lot of experiments in this mission (Foton-M3) at once.
The animals are only very small and I can't see them taking much room. Why not put them in if they fit?
Plus, on Earth it is hard to simulate near zero-G effects that you can get with a satellite in orbit around Earth (okay it is not really zero-G because it is still near the Earth, but the trajectory induces similar conditions).
Not that I'm interested in doing this yet because I'd like to see what is already on the planets in our solar system....however
If they could last long enough in space, we could launch them at planets with the purpose of converting the planets to something more habitable.
I think the really good targets for this would be planets with water...Mars...some of Jupiter's moons....etc.
"Only one thing, is impossible for god: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." Mark Twain
We have for sure left viable life forms on the Moon, and have now shown reasonably complex animal life can be survive vaccuum.
Before we continue to jizz terrestrial organisms over everything in sight like a fustrated teenager, perhaps we ought to consider the implications. If there is life elsewhere in the solar system, it is likely microbial life living underneath the surface of somewhere like Mars or Europe where there might be liquid water.
Given that these extraterrestrial ecosystems are physically smaller and almost certainly have less energy to drive them, the organisms found there will probably be less primitive. If they encountered any of the microscopic monsters that 4 billion years of Earth evolution has produced they probably won't survive.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
I wasn't thinking of simple things like moving to a different island, I was thinking more of moving to a completely different planet, with different atmosphere, pressures and gravitational pull. Since this organism can survive in a vacuum that suggests that it may not matter if you put it in an atmosphere that we would find poisonous, but then again who's to say that? What if it doesn't stand up well in a highly acidic atmosphere? What if during its trip to space it changes composition in such a way that it is crushed under its own weight when it is re-introduced to a planet with significant gravity? I don't know what these water bears need to survive, but perhaps if they need sunlight, so landing for example on the dark side of a planet that doesn't change its rotation with respect to its current star would kill them off? etc.
Was just trying to point out that natural selection tends to make a creature better for a single environment, not all environments. I am not a biologist though, so meh.
which is totally what she said
Chuck would totally own the Water Bears in the Space Survival challenge. I bet he wouldn't even tan.
For some reason I refuse to use either spell check or the spacebar properly.
It should be noted that just becuase this species can SURVIVE exposure to space doesn't mean they can THRIVE in it.
This species is capable of entering a state of suspended animation that renders it rather resistant to extreme heat and cold, dehydration and hard radiation.
It's been a long time.
I think you are very wrong indeed, if you create vacuum, bathe it with UV light and bombard it with high energy particles you would find it very hard to put a petri dish in that spot.
Personally, I would put the petri dish in first, then turn on the vacuum and radiation, saves you having to request yet another research assistent. You obviously never done paperwork.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Dang it, don't call them "tardigrades". That's demeaning and hurtful. The appropriate term is "mentally challengedigrades" or perhaps "differently abledigrades".
--riney