Tardigrade - Immortal Beings
Tardigrades, often called water bears, have fascinated scientists for decades because of their extraordinary survival abilities. They are nearly immortal.
If you have never heard of them but care about longevity, now is a good time to pay attention.
Measuring 0.5 mm, tardigrades can endure extreme environments that would instantly kill most other life forms.
Near zero temperatures to 150°C, intense radiation, and even the vacuum of space, tardigrades survive it all.
So what can we learn from their awe-inspiring ability to survive?
The secret seems to be their ability to enter a cryptobiotic state. When faced with harsh conditions, they retract their legs, expel nearly all the water from their bodies, and curl into a dried-out ball called a “tun.”
Metabolism slows down almost to the point of stopping, allowing them to survive for decades or even centuries in suspended animation.
If you have seen movies of human beings frozen in a pod, travelling perhaps to Jupiter or beyond, tardigrades are one source of inspiration.
Once favorable conditions return, tardigrades rehydrate and return to their active state, resuming normal life processes as though time had simply paused.
In real life, you cannot freeze yourself like that, at least not yet.
But science is likely to find the answer, as these microorganisms pave the path.
Research on tardigrades has already revealed the presence of unique proteins that protect their DNA from radiation and other forms of cellular damage.
If scientists can learn how tardigrades protect their DNA and repair cellular damage, it may one day be possible to apply similar techniques to humans.
From protecting astronauts during long-term space missions, or even survive catastrophic events like nuclear disasters. there could be several benefits.
While we undoubtedly seem to sit on the top of the cognitive capacity scale, there are others that we can learn from on survival and longevity.
Lead the way tardigrades!
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