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Just about the coolest little critters on Earth! They're cute, they can survive just about anything reasonably thrown their way from hard vacuum to radiation, a

by M_Grey 10y ago

Just about the coolest little critters on Earth! They're cute, they can survive just about anything reasonably thrown their way from hard vacuum to radiation, and now this. It makes me happy to know that regardless of how badly we as a species screw up ourselves or the biosphere, these little tardigrades won't even notice.

sqeaky 10y ago
> can survive just about reasonably thrown their way from hard vacuum to radiation Remind me not to be around when you are being reasonable.
- M_Grey 10y ago
  Oh come on, reasonable people stand in front of the Bi-213 source and don't complain.
  - sqeaky 10y ago
    I am now imagining a perfectly reasonable pink bismuth-213 used to treat whatever radioactive drive through food is giving you indigestion. Pepto-Bismol, Fallout edition, now with 20000% more Radiation!
    - M_Grey 10y ago
      Hey... truth in advertising; you will no longer have indigestion. Reason prevails!
      - grogenaut 10y ago
        I thought one of the first signs of radiation was nausea and diarrhea.
        sqeaky 10y ago
        But those are only temporary until the death part sets in.
        M_Grey 10y ago
        Oh no, if you were exposed to a naked source of the type used to test the limits of organisms like tardigrades... you'd just die. Really, really, really quickly.
johansch 10y ago
Just in case you missed that delightfully weird story from last month: Google was working on putting live tardigrades into Android phones: http://venturebeat.com/2017/02/24/complicated-weird-beautiful-the-secret-google-project-to-put-an-aquarium-full-of-tiny-wiggly-water-bears-inside-your-phone/ http://venturebeat.com/2017/02/24/complicated-weird-beautifu...
- M_Grey 10y ago
  I did miss it! Thanks, this made my day. There was a movie from the late 80's, early 90's... and I remember a pimp with platform shoes that were also an aquarium. This... is better.
  - johansch 10y ago
    You made my day in return when I viewed your list of submitted stories. So much cool stuff! (And another sign HN needs to step up its submission/upvoting algorithms/UX. I do think so many HN-worthy stories get lost each day just because of this.)
    - M_Grey 10y ago
      Thanks, that's really kind of you to say.
- BrailleHunting 10y ago
  Sounds like a project for Cody's Lab (self-contained biome): https://youtu.be/We_6Sloh90s https://youtu.be/We_6Sloh90s
Florin_Andrei 10y ago
Well, they can survive that stuff thanks to neat biochemical tricks. We can survive that stuff too, probably even better, thanks to having big brains, culture and technology. It remains to be seen whether you could have both the biochem tricks and the big brains in one and the same organism.
raverbashing 10y ago
I wonder how did they evolve to survive such a variety of conditions

by M_Grey 10y ago

sqeaky 10y ago

> can survive just about reasonably thrown their way from hard vacuum to radiation Remind me not to be around when you are being reasonable.

M_Grey 10y ago
Oh come on, reasonable people stand in front of the Bi-213 source and don't complain.
- sqeaky 10y ago
  I am now imagining a perfectly reasonable pink bismuth-213 used to treat whatever radioactive drive through food is giving you indigestion. Pepto-Bismol, Fallout edition, now with 20000% more Radiation!
  - M_Grey 10y ago
    Hey... truth in advertising; you will no longer have indigestion. Reason prevails!
    - grogenaut 10y ago
      I thought one of the first signs of radiation was nausea and diarrhea.
      - sqeaky 10y ago
        But those are only temporary until the death part sets in.
      - M_Grey 10y ago
        Oh no, if you were exposed to a naked source of the type used to test the limits of organisms like tardigrades... you'd just die. Really, really, really quickly.

johansch 10y ago

Just in case you missed that delightfully weird story from last month: Google was working on putting live tardigrades into Android phones: http://venturebeat.com/2017/02/24/complicated-weird-beautiful-the-secret-google-project-to-put-an-aquarium-full-of-tiny-wiggly-water-bears-inside-your-phone/ http://venturebeat.com/2017/02/24/complicated-weird-beautifu...

M_Grey 10y ago
I did miss it! Thanks, this made my day. There was a movie from the late 80's, early 90's... and I remember a pimp with platform shoes that were also an aquarium. This... is better.
- johansch 10y ago
  You made my day in return when I viewed your list of submitted stories. So much cool stuff! (And another sign HN needs to step up its submission/upvoting algorithms/UX. I do think so many HN-worthy stories get lost each day just because of this.)
  - M_Grey 10y ago
    Thanks, that's really kind of you to say.
BrailleHunting 10y ago
Sounds like a project for Cody's Lab (self-contained biome): https://youtu.be/We_6Sloh90s https://youtu.be/We_6Sloh90s

Florin_Andrei 10y ago

Well, they can survive that stuff thanks to neat biochemical tricks. We can survive that stuff too, probably even better, thanks to having big brains, culture and technology. It remains to be seen whether you could have both the biochem tricks and the big brains in one and the same organism.

raverbashing 10y ago

I wonder how did they evolve to survive such a variety of conditions