The " INDESTRUCTIBLE" animal on the planet: Tardigrade. What are they ? How they survive even in space , volcano and freezing cold ? And how they are invincible?

 Most indestructible animal on earth

News this is often the foremost 'Indestructible' Animal on Earth July 27, 2017 - this is not any ordinary microscopic organism. It's a tardigrade—the most 'indestructible' animal on Earth. Also called water bears,… more X News this is often the foremost 'Indestructible' Animal on Earth Microorganisms Animals July 27, 2017 - this is not any ordinary microscopic organism. It's a tardigrade—the most 'indestructible' animal on Earth. Also called water bears, tardigrades can survive up to 30 years without food, sleep in volcanoes, and endure the vacuum of space. Researchers say they might even survive an asteroid impact just like the one that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Only the eventual death of the sun could also be enough to wipe out the tardigrades.

Source : en.wikipedia.org

Fig : Tardigrade (water bears).

By CfA Communications DateJuly 20, 2017October 3, 2017 Share Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Trending The life and legacy of RBG ‘Indian Sex Life’ and the control of women How textbooks taught white supremacy Pollster looks at how pandemic, loss of RBG may affect election This is what a scientist looks like The world’s most indestructible species — a stout, microscopic animal with four pairs of legs, referred to as the water bear or tardigrade — will survive until the sun dies, consistent with new research from Oxford University and therefore the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). Tardigrade may be little but they are the toughest form of life on Earth. The water-dwelling micro-animals are known to be able to live for up to 30 years without food or water. They can endure temperatures of up to 150 degrees Celsius, the deep sea, and therefore the frozen vacuum of space. And they can even survive the danger of extinction from cosmic catastrophes — asteroids, supernovas, gamma radiation bursts — and certain last for a minimum of 10 billion years, far longer than the human race, according to the new study published in Scientific Reports. Not bad for an animal that grows to a maximum size of 0.5mm. “A lot of previous work has focused on ‘doomsday’ scenarios on Earth — astrophysical events like supernovas that would wipe out the humanity . Our study instead considered the hardiest species,” said David Sloan, co-author and postdoctoral research associate within the Department of Physics at Oxford University . Sloan said researchers were surprised by the extent of the tardigrade’s resiliency. “It seems that life, once it gets going, is tough to wipe out entirely. Huge numbers of species, or maybe entire genera may become extinct, but life as an entire will continue .” The research implies that life on Earth will extend as long as the sun keeps shining. It also reveals that once life emerges, it is surprisingly difficult to destroy, opening the possibility of life on other planets. ‘Tardigrades are as on the brink of indestructible because it gets on Earth, but it's possible that there are other resilient species examples elsewhere within the universe,” said Dr. Rafael Alves Batista, co-author and post-doctoral research associate in the Department of Physics at Oxford University. “In this context there's a true case for trying to find life on Mars and in other areas of the system generally . If tardigrades are Earth’s most resilient species, who knows what else is out there.” The researchers theorized that the tardigrade will likely survive any astrophysical calamity because the events would never be strong enough to boil off the world’s oceans. There are only a dozen known asteroids and dwarf planets with enough mass to boil the oceans, however none of those objects will intersect the Earth’s orbit and pose a threat to tardigrades. They also considered supernovas but an exploding star would wish to be 0.14 light-years away so as to boil the oceans. The closest star to the sun is four light-years away and therefore the probability of a huge star exploding close enough to Earth to kill all sorts of life on it, within the sun’s lifetime, is negligible. Gamma-ray bursts are brighter and rarer than supernova and also too far away from Earth to be considered a viable threat. To be ready to boil the world’s oceans the burst would wish to be no quite 40 light-years away, and therefore the likelihood of a burst occurring so close is again, minor. In highlighting the resilience of life generally , the research broadens the scope of life beyond Earth, within and out of doors of this system . “It is difficult to eliminate all sorts of life from a habitable planet,”said Professor Abraham Loeb, co-author and chair of the Astronomy Department at Harvard University . “The history of Mars indicates that it once had an environment that would have supported life, albeit under extreme conditions. Organisms with similar tolerances to radiation and temperature as tardigrades could survive long-term below the surface in these conditions.” X.C. is supported in part by NSF Grant No. PHY-1417421. Y. W. is supported by Grants No. HKUST4/CRF/13G and No. ECS 26300316 issued by the Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong. Z.Z.X. is supported in part by the Center of Mathematical Sciences and Applications, Harvard University.