"Water Bears" First Animals to Survive Trip Into Space Naked 235
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."
First Posters (Score:5, Funny)
Re:First Posters (Score:5, Funny)
Uh oh... Here comes PETA...
Re:First Posters (Score:5, Funny)
Peta may be concerned about the treatment of all animals--
http://blog.peta.org/archives/2008/08/six_flags_calls.php [peta.org] yes-- even cockroaches..
but I think even they would draw the line at first posters
Fantastic.. (Score:5, Funny)
You Fools! (Score:5, Funny)
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]
Re:You Fools! (Score:5, Interesting)
One serious question to consider is: should we attempt to trigger artificial panspermia? Is it unethical?
Re:You Fools! (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't see any reason why a lifeform that has evolved to survive in space should necessarily be better equipped to then survive elsewhere - any species that suddenly transitions from one environment to a vastly different one is going to have a hard time surviving. When a species adapts it doesn't necessarily keep all of its old abilities as well as the new ones, otherwise we'd all be able to breathe underwater!
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Some of us do. I, for one. And it is acquired because surely, I was not the first who invented breathing under the water using tubes sticking out of the water.
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I was going to mention that only species like humans that use tools and materials are able to survive in wildly different environments, but I thought that was superfluous. I've been SCUBA diving a few times myself, and have even been known to fly on occasion!
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The experiments have been done ; no need for doubt or supposition.
Look at either common design of Scuba regulator, or their commercial equivalents ("full face masks") ; where is the pressure regulator? Either between the shoulder blades (and so just a few cm vertical distance from the lungs) ; or at the user's mouth (so getting perhaps 15cm from the top of the diver's lungs) ; or on the diver's cheek (same comment).
Very occa
Quite wrong! (Score:2)
Here is New Zealand many introduced species (like the Australian Brush Tail Possum) do very, very well. Many introduced birds do far better than the native birds too.
No doubt some of this is due to the fact than most introduced birds are more "street wise" and aggressive, as well as breeding faster, to survive in environments with more predators. They soon displace NZ birds which are tuned to very few pre
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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
Re:Quite wrong! (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:You Fools! (Score:4, Funny)
I don't see any reason why a lifeform that has evolved to survive in space should necessarily be better equipped to then survive elsewhere - any species that suddenly transitions from one environment to a vastly different one is going to have a hard time surviving. When a species adapts it doesn't necessarily keep all of its old abilities as well as the new ones, otherwise we'd all be able to breathe underwater!
That sound you just heard was the heads of a million comic book geeks exploding simultaneously.
Fetal development (Score:2)
is a history of all the evolutionary changes that finally end up with current stage homo-sap
we can 'breathe' underwater at certain stages of development-- they just now end before we reach independence from the host/parent.
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Good point,
Evolution is not the process of becoming 'better,' 'stronger,' or more able. It's the process of being
more likely to reproduce in the current environment and is dictated by randomness. Any changes that have no
effect on an entity's ability to reproduce (especially indirectly) may or may not survive. Truly junk DNA
will change in a completely arbitrary fashion until it generates a phenotype that actually does matter to
whether a creature can reproduce (or in other means ensure the propagation of t
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My point was that just because an organism can adapt to survive well in space does not automatically make it better able to survive once it reaches another planet. I had thought that was fairly obvious.
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See THIS IS WHY WE HAVE SECRET GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.
When the Aliens come we can say we knew nothing... now go about your business citizen.
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I'm quite certain that ethics do not apply to rocks of any size, even if they are big enough rocks to be rounded by their own gravity.
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More likely the organisms would be optimized to survive in space, and so would have a much harder time surviving when they reach a planet.
Re:You Fools! (Score:4, Insightful)
You do raise a valid point about panspermia theory, oddly enough: escaping life from an extraterrestrial source could actually evolve (or at least perform selection) en route to its final destination.
Evolution requires reproduction. It's hard enough for organisms to merely survive in space, let alone reproduce.
One serious question to consider is: should we attempt to trigger artificial panspermia? Is it unethical?
Isn't artificial panspermia the entire point of the space program?
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Not really, the main point of the US space program, I'm assuming the other ones are similar, is to perform experiments in space and spur technological advances.
A surprising number of technologies were first developed to travel to the moon or in space or were developed while orbiting the earth. Lithium Ion batteries spring instantly to mind as well as testing for the air purifying effects of house plants and the widespread monitoring of the earth's climate from space.
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Depends on what your priorities are and what else you think is out there.
I probably wouldn't be in favor of willy-nilly dumping terrestrial life out there, unless we had no other choice for the survival of life itself "as we know it". Call me sentimental, I guess.
We should make some effort to preserve alien life, should it ever be found for a number of reasons, practical as well as aesthetic.
However, if
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Could you pack these critters with other dna sets (lichen?), so that if they do survive a landing on another planet, and start to flourish, we might introduce a wider variety of life?
Re:You Fools! (Score:5, Funny)
Mind-control powers? That doesn't sound good. We actually deal with tardigrades at work and you're raising some serious concerns. I plan to... hold on, someone's at the door.
IT WAS NO ONE. TARDIGRADES ARE NOT DANGEROUS. TARDIGRADES ARE OUR FRIENDS.
Re:You Fools! (Score:4, Funny)
Thank got this slashdot user was using an old teletype system, to post that message otherwise he could have just deleted his previous text and we would things are all hunky dory.
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Star Control II, I presume :)
Good times!
Next step (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
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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.
Oh.... Good. Just what we (and they) need.
Re:Next step (Score:5, Insightful)
For most species survival of extreme conditions is not the same thing as flourishing. This is a very interesting experiment and does open up quite a few possibilities for future research.
If scientists were attempting to encourage beneficial mutations to make it more likely to survive a space environment this can be done on the ground, in a laboratory. It is not difficult to create a vacuum environment, bathe it with UV light and high energy particle and put a petri dish in the middle of this environment.
To me it all smacks of the comic book and recent movies of "The Fantastic Four". Superior powers and prowess does not appear suddenly when exposed to some variant of radiation from space. In most cases, biological life-forms either 1). Die, 99.999% the time 2). Mutate, leaving a sickly, short-lived organism 3). Mutate but in an unexpected manner.
Scientists have been doing this sort of research of a century. It is the basis of many vaccines. (live-attenuated).
From this we could end up with a bacteria that would tolerate a near-space environment like mars with it's much diminished atmosphere and non-existent geomagnetic field. But what have we accomplished in the end?
Can we say that we created a bacteria that contaminated... err, colonized a different planet? I wonder if the same thought was in the head of primitive man when he threw the first coconut stuffed with a note in it, into the Pacific ocean.
You are wrong (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Teraforming? (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Re:Next step (Score:4, Funny)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zerg#Zerg [wikipedia.org]
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This is almost exactly how Microsoft Bob came to be.
Is there any before and after relationship between Microsoft Bob and Smiling Bob?
"Water Bears" (Score:5, Funny)
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With lasers
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Frankie says relax.
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Send them to Mars (Score:4, Interesting)
Over the generations gradually change their environment till it resembles mars. Send the survivors as first colonists.
Re:Send them to Mars (Score:4, Interesting)
Just One Question (Score:2)
How do they taste?
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Drink a sip of puddle water (their preferred habitat), and you know.
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Like chicken, of course.
Oblig. (Score:2, Funny)
Summary Focus (Score:5, Insightful)
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Given the low survival rate however, one wonders if that was merely chance.
Is Stephen Colbert aware of this?!?!? (Score:5, Funny)
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But now thanks to you everyone knows what the real reason was.
Thanks elrous,
The Berts
It was a hairy bear (Score:3, Funny)
The Article Does Not Describe... (Score:5, Funny)
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
Next time (Score:4, Funny)
I propose they try it with lawyers next. I can provide a short list if they want.
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I can provide a unending supply if they want. I'll start with every lawyer that works for the RIAA and MPAA first, then that scumbag that was my Ex wife's lawyer... Actually he goes first.
Re:Next time (Score:5, Funny)
What if they survive but be stronger than ever?
What will you do than?
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Leave them in space and declare the experiment a resounding success?
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I propose they try it with lawyers next. I can provide a short list if they want.
I have a list of 535 lawyers who are available. Better hurry, though, so we have time to figure out which names to write in come November.
If (Score:2, Funny)
What if American space program would have employed not only Dr. Wernher von Braun, but also Dr. Mengele, who then would be the first vertebrate sent to space?
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I am fairly sure he would be Jew.
Is this what you wanted to hear, mr. Godwin?
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I was thinking of Homo Sapiens.
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Why don't you look up what "Godwin law" means and when it applies?
Explosive Decompression (Score:4, Funny)
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.
Save the Water Bears! (Score:5, Funny)
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--
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Since they are actually tardigrades I believe the slogan you want is:
--Nuke the Tards--
Oblig Farscape Reference (Score:2)
Don't forget about Luxans.
Naked Bears? (Score:5, Insightful)
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...
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The term "naked" ensures a 99% read rate from /.
Damn you evil conservatives (Score:2)
First you think it's OK to kill polar bears with your global warming! You've destroyed their habitat and now you want to make them stressed out by putting up oil rigs! We had to go so far as to make faked pictures about drowinging polar bears and such. We even had Al do that stupid movie! Now out of spite you take out your venance on the poor innocent water bears! They're so cute and cuddly! My 4 year old has a stuffed water bear, and I had to tell him to keep it close or the evil conservitives will exp
this article needs to be tagged (Score:2)
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Sounds like the beginning of an sf story (Score:4, Funny)
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 [wikipedia.org]
Water Bear-Man (Score:2, Funny)
I saw tardigrades on Animal Planet once (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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The most amazing thing is that they can probably be found in your own backyard.
Not that amazing, it is a hardy species that can survive most anything... So if they are a successful species then why wouldn't they be common in your back yard.
Re:I saw tardigrades on Animal Planet once (Score:4, Insightful)
Not that amazing, it is a hardy species that can survive most anything... So if they are a successful species then why wouldn't they be common in your back yard.
Well, I think you could be legitimately amazed. Being able to deal with extreme conditions imposes a cost on a species in terms of the biological machinery necessary to survive those conditions. Under mild conditions, such species are often out-competed by less hardy species, which may be more focused on more efficient feeding rather than surviving hard radiation, for example.
In other words, specializing for the worst case often leaves you at a disadvantage in the common case.
let's genetically engineer HUMANS like them! (Score:2, Interesting)
So if we could figure out what keeps them (relatively) impervious to ultraviolet/gamma radiation and allows them to survive direct exposure to vacuum, can we genetically engineer humans like that? Wouldn't space travel be a lot easier, safer and just plain more fun if all you needed was a face mask to breathe and maybe some sort of thin thermal suit?
It probably won't be too difficult in a few decades to genetically engineer people like that, adding the ability to go into hibernation and, being able to free
I'm calling it... (Score:2)
Stephen Colbert puts water bears as #1 on his threat down. How could he not?
No Water Bears Were Harmed In This Experiment (Score:2)
Nevermind...
Next subjects for experiments... (Score:3, Funny)
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?" [willitblend.com] test to make sure.
Not True. (Score:2)
Tardigrades In Spaaaaaaceeeeeee (Score:2)
Panspermia; the universe is our Kleenex (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
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Meteor impacts have already done more than we possibly could in the foreseeable future to "seed" the solar system. If there is life elsewhere in the solar system, it is likely to be Earth life, seeded by asteroid strikes that kicked up biological material in the distant past. Or, perhaps, life started elsewhere in the solar system and migrated here (the Panspermia hypothesis you mention).
Argh. Not water bears! (Score:2)
Chuck Norris (Score:2, Funny)
Offensive. (Score:3, Funny)
Dang it, don't call them "tardigrades". That's demeaning and hurtful. The appropriate term is "mentally challengedigrades" or perhaps "differently abledigrades".
--riney
Re: "Water Bears" First Animals to Survive Trip In (Score:4, Informative)
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.
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Usually eh? So it has happened in the past?
I'm not sure if I want to see this experiment run with spammers or with attractive members of the opposite sex (or same sex for some of you). On the one hand, the most likely result, the subject would end up dead, in which case, spammers are expendable. But on the other hand, a naked hot woman in space would be kind of sexy if she were to survive, but I see this as the less likely of the options.
So perhaps we can send up a hot spammer naked?
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"I mean, we've sent astronauts into orbit, and let them walk around, but usually not naked."
Homer dumped two neked bodies into space.
Re: "Water Bears" First Animals to Survive Trip In (Score:5, Funny)
Obligatory:
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They were all safely inside spacecraft that provided an atmosphere and radiation shielding. The waterbears actually survived in space.
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I thought I was just going crazy and my brain has started to filter out the word 'naked'. You must have changed it in the time between me opening the front page and then clicking on the article..
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If we weren't meant to know it, how come we have the knowledge and compulsion to do so?
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I suggest you protect them just as you have protected stray dogs and cats.
Best of all there's no need to drive to a dumpster to uh...dispose of the ones that...died of natural causes...yeah.
Save the tardigrades PETA! Look at their sad little faces! :(
http://nai.nasa.gov/newsletter/05092003/tar_Heterotardigrade-Echiniscus-Head.jpg [nasa.gov]
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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 [esa.int] 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).