Slashdot Mirror
How Tiny Worms Could Help Humans Colonize Mars
Pierre Bezukhov writes "The roundworm has about 20,000 protein-coding genes — nearly as many as humans, who have about 23,000. Furthermore, there is a lot of overlap between our genome and theirs, with many genes performing roughly the same functions in both species. Launching C. elegans roundworms to Mars would allow scientists to see just how dangerous the high radiation levels found in deep space — and on the Red Planet's surface — are to animal life. 'Worms allow us to detect changes in growth, development, reproduction and behavior in response to environmental conditions such as toxins or in response to deep space missions,' said Nathaniel Szewczyk of the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. 'Given the high failure rate of Mars missions, use of worms allows us to safely and relatively cheaply test spacecraft systems prior to manned missions,' he adds."
Wait in welcome to our Martian roundworm overlords.
Can't we just... you know... measure the radiation levels and then use what we already know about the effects of radiation?
Shai-hulud started as Roundworms.
There's a reason C. elegans isn't used in basic cell cycle research as much as yeast. It doesn't continually replace its cells at maturity. Consequentially, DNA-damaging environmental conditions have a much lower chance of affecting them at maturity than humans.
Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
All hail our radiation mutated roundworms from Mars overlords.
is a single kudzu seed
Who knows? Maybe they'll mutate and start producing melange?
I'm seeing a Kevin Bacon movie in the making here.
How are they going to survive the sub freezing weather on Mars? And I'm guessing the frost line is pretty deep as well.
Jack of all trades,master of none
The cool part is when the radiation makes them mutate.....
And then the spice they produce gives us enough precience to navigate the galaxy at superluminal speeds without crashing into anything!
WOOHOO!
It's about time we launched terraforming bacteria at all the planets and moons in the solar system.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
So then Mars... is.... ACTUALLY TATOOINE!!! How the Pit of Carkoon was REALLY created!
There are surely plenty of people willing to take the chance and go _now_, regardless of those comparatively small risks.
by the time that happens, we'd have killed ourselves off anyway (by war, by pollution, science experiment gone bad, whatever)..
Hmm, it seems to me that although the idea of sending some biological system to mars might be fruitful in the near term it misses some pretty important ethical questions. Specifically contamination, what if there is some life form on mars? How would the process of decay of the worms effect such a ecology by propagating organic earth native compounds onto martian soil? It seems quiet obvious to me that radiation results in mutation and destruction of organic life especially if exposed for long durations. I am assuming they might even be genetically modified to hold up to such harsh conditions and see how such manipulation aids in reducing the environmental impact on the biological systems.
Overall, the missing component is realizing that mars has its own history, its own progress and adding earth forms like these into the system might perturb or even destroy any evidence living life on mars.
Futurama: Parasites Lost.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Who mis-read "worms" as "women"?
No.
The idea is to see if they do. And if they do to see what bad things happen that don't outright kill them.
Both things we'd rather try out on worms before we try it on people.
Worms in space.. who'd a thunk it?
If they are going to send parasitic worms with complex dna into space, I still think they should send politicians and *IAA lawyers instead. By most prevailing opinions, these subhuman creatures would service mankind far more as biological radio dosemeters than in their natural political niches here on earth. Yes, the expense of sending them would be much greater than sending the genetically and biologically similar roundworms, but this is FOR SCIENCE!
Sometimes the only way to save a planet is to destroy it.
Uranus!
I knew they were from space!
These scientists have obviously never played Worms Armageddon... just imagine the destruction if they control an entire planet!
"The miserable human has about 23,000 protein-coding genes — nearly as many as imperialist cyborg space monkeys, who have about 26,000. Furthermore, there is a lot of overlap between our genome and theirs, with many genes performing roughly the same functions in both species, despite the clear inferiority of human garbage. Launching imprisoned humans to Alpha Centauri would allow cyborg monkey scientists to see just how dangerous the high radiation levels found in deep space are to animal life. 'Incarcerated humans allow us to detect changes in growth, development, reproduction and behavior in response to environmental conditions such as toxins or in response to deep space missions,' said Oohoohahah Pooflinger of the University of Bananaland in Cyborgia. 'Given the high failure rate of Alpha Centauri missions, use of sniveling, pathetic humans allows us to safely and relatively cheaply test spacecraft systems prior to monkeyed missions,' he adds."
Untiil the worms mutate in to giant man-eating creatures that live and travel underground.
Where are you when we need you, Paul Atreides?
Isn't it strange?
Way over there?
Me here inside the soil-bed,
You with no air.
Send in the worms.
Isn't it cold?
Don't you get blue?
One who's by oxygen fed,
One CO2.
Where are the worms?
Send in the worms.
Just when I'd stopped
Chewing through gore,
Finally knowing
The spicule I wanted was yours,
Making my wormhole again
In my usual place,
Ready for eggs...
You're off in space.
Don't you love Mars?
It's your abode.
I thought that you'd want what I want --
Alas, nematode.
But where are the worms?
There ought to be worms.
Quick, send in the worms.
What a surprise.
Who could foresee
I'd yearn for dioecious love
When you're in zero-g?
Why only now when you're off
To see Olympus Mons?
What a surprise.
How...elegans.
Isn't it sad?
Quite a heartbreaker?
You're off in space -- like the space
In my cloaca?
And where are the worms?
Quick, send in the worms.
Don't bother - they're here.
Is this the only politically-correct animal they found to suggest to public now instead of rats?
I wonder if the worms are any good at terra-forming?
God is being killed by gender neutral pronouns.
About time. We need to do away with bronze-age superstition
I, for one, welcome our new worm overlords!
I can see us sending round worms to a planet with life. The native life trying to figure out how this space ship with the only life form on it being little worms. How did they fly the spaceship? How to communicate with them? :)
Ok, so we send tiny little spaceships filled with worms to see if they die once introduced to the atmosphere, and to see how long they would survive if not....?
Aside from the obvious Dune implications here, I pictured that slug in Futurama spurting out Slurm...
========
77 77 77 2e 6d 65 6c 76 69 6e 73 2e 63 6f 6d