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☆ Award-winning footage shows a baby tardigrade riding one of its greatest predators in a rare microscopic Wild West scene
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-18 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Also known as water bears or moss piglets, tardigrades are waddling eight-legged animals with a reputation for survival. See the video, below, for yourself:This Wild West scene is a bit bizarre, but not totally surprising to experts. "I believe this tardigrade simply encountered the nematode, and it was something it could grasp which is better than flailing around helplessly." He ended up with a nematode and a batch of tardigrade eggs, visible through his microscope. AdvertisementGeldhof got into microscope videography about two years ago, after he started watching several microscope video creators on YouTube.

Persons: —, tardigrade, Sandra McInnes, tardigrades, McInnes, Paul Bartels, Geldhof Organizations: Service, Business, of, Nikon's, British Antarctic Survey, Warren Wilson College, Amazon, YouTube Locations: Winthrop , Massachusetts

☆ Herculaneum scrolls: Philosopher’s words emerge from ancient artifacts
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-10 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

And now, researchers investigating artifacts from the neighboring city of Herculaneum are using new technology to peek beneath Vesuvius’ blanket of ash and mud to uncover more of history’s best kept secrets. The wonderOne of the Herculaneum scrolls undergoes analysis using lasers. EduceLab/University of KentuckyArtificial intelligence has revealed the first nearly complete passages to be decoded from the charred, brittle Herculaneum scrolls. Mimas could change the way scientists understand ocean worlds across our solar system, which may harbor life beyond Earth. They find wonder in planets beyond our solar system and discoveries from the ancient world.

Persons: Julius Caesar’s, papyrologists, Philodemus, ”, Roger Macfarlane, Drake, Nima Sarikhani, Joshua Newton, Frédéric, IMCCE Mimas, —, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, University of Kentucky, Brigham Young University, Wildlife, Perth Zoo, Curtin University’s School, Molecular, Life Sciences, “, PACE, CNN Space, Science Locations: Herculaneum, South America, Antarctica, British, Western, London

☆ Researchers think they have the key to why tardigrades can survive almost anything
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Jenna Schnuer | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Tardigrades, also known as water bears, commonly survive in some of Earth’s most challenging environments. Under stress in extreme cold or other harsh environmental conditions, tardigrades’ bodies produce unstable free radicals of oxygen and an unpaired electron, aka a reactive oxygen species that can wreak havoc on the body’s proteins and DNA if they overaccumulate. The survival mechanism kicks off when cysteines, one of the amino acids that forms proteins in the body, come into contact with these oxygen free radicals and becomes oxidized, the researchers found. The free radicals become, so to speak, the hammer used to smash the glass on a fire alarm. “We came up with this idea (that) maybe it’s those species that are actually signaling to the tardigrades to enter their tun state,” she said.

Persons: CNN — Tardigrades, Amanda L, cysteines, ” Smythers, Smythers, Amanda Smythers Smythers, William R, Miller, ” Miller, Jenna Schnuer Organizations: CNN, International Space Station, Dana, Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Getty, University of North, Chapel, Marshall University, Baker University Locations: ”, Boston, Antarctica, University of North Carolina, Huntington , West Virginia, Baldwin City , Kansas, Anchorage , Alaska

☆ NASA scientist says there could be microbial life hiding in dark craters on the moon's south pole
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( Jessica Orwig | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A NASA planetary scientist said conditions on the lunar south pole could be ripe for microbial life. The lunar south pole has craters of ice and possible microbial lifeThe lunar south pole has had lots of attention in recent years because it's where NASA hopes to land its Artemis III astronauts in 2025. NASANo human has ever set foot on the lunar south pole. A map of "cold traps" inside shadowy lunar craters at the moon's south pole (left) and north pole (right). Even if microbes don't exist on the moon right now, they almost certainly will if humans start walking around on its surface.

Persons: —, there's, Prabal Saxena, Space.com, Saxena, he's, Leonard David, radiodurans, Tardigrades, We're Organizations: NASA, Service, Goddard Spaceflight Center, Artemis, International Space

☆ Rare video footage of a tardigrade threesome that lasted 30 minutes documents the wild sex lives of water bears
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Crystal Raypole | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

James Weiss recently captured one of the first known recordings of a tardigrade threesome. The water bear threesome lasted about 30 minutes and involved a lot of belly jabbing and poop. Wanda von Wenk, 1914A water bear threesomeResearchers first published details of tardigrade mating behavior in a 2016 paper, but other observations of water bear sex remains fairly limited. A water bear threesome. Water bear reproductionA female tardigrade with oocytes circled in red.

☆ 5 of the wildest experiments tardigrades have survived in the name of science
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Water bears can go years without food or water and endure extreme radiation and temperatures. When the water bears returned to Earth, the scientists discovered that 68% survived. A thawed tardigrade survived being frozen for 3 decadesIn 2016, scientists at Japan's National Institute of Polar Research examined tardigrades retrieved from a frozen moss sample collected in Antarctica in 1983. Still, in a 2020 study, researchers found that long-term exposure to high temperatures, even in their hibernated state, can kill tardigrades in only a day. Tardigrades survived being shot out of a high-speed gunSome scientists believe that tardigrades may be capable of spreading life to different planets.

☆ Scientists shot tardigrades out of a gun at more than 2,000 mph to see if the critters could survive
▼ + stars: | 2021-05-22 | by ( Aylin Woodward | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Tardigrades can survive in extreme environments, but a new study shows they're not indestructible. Scientists found these creatures couldn't survive speeds above 2,000 mph when shot out of a gun. The researchers shot canisters full of tardigrades out of a high-speed gun at various speeds to see whether the creatures could survive the pressure of each resulting impact. After being shot out at speeds under 900 meters per second (about 2,000 mph) — that's faster than your average bullet — the tardigrades could be revived. But if tardigrades can't survive the pressures of a collision with our moon, it's unlikely they could survive a meteorite impact with another planet, the study authors wrote.

Persons: Alejandra Traspas, Traspas, Megumu Tsujimoto, tardigrades Organizations: Service, Queen Mary University, of, NASA Locations: Wall, Silicon, London, Israeli

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