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They have been found in hot springs. They've been found in the deep ocean. They've been found living under ice sheets. They can go without food or water for 30 years, during which they enter a sort of suspended animation state where their metabolism drops by 99.99%.
They can survive temperatures approaching absolute zero, and in 2007 they were sent into orbit and once returned to Earth were reanimated. There's currently talk that they could live on Mars if there were anything for them to eat.
Pretty wild.
We have a tugboat deckhand in my company who is referred to as 'Retardigrade' for being similar in shape, resilience, speed and usefullness, but not the IQ to the creatures referenced. He will eat. He moves, after a fashion. He can't be fired and being 90 and 500lbs, he should have been killed by the work environment or fired for not knowing how to be a tugboat deckhand after 50+ years at it. But he's still here.
ReplyDeleteIt's gonna be Retardigrade and Keith Richards who fight over who gets to be the emperor of earth after the big one hits.
Naahhh!!! It'll be Retardigrade and WILLIE NELSON!!!
ReplyDelete...So what you're saying here is that these things are harder to get rid of than bedbugs???
ReplyDeleteThe Israelis (accidentally) crash landed some of them on the moon back in 2019.
ReplyDeleteSubsequent research suggests that they would not have survived the impact, but I await confirmation with boots on the ground. https://www.science.org/content/article/hardy-water-bears-survive-bullet-impacts-point
I think that Tardigrade ran for re-election to his senate seat here in SC back in 2020.
ReplyDelete