Quote:
Originally Posted by FAX
Interesting little known fact there, Mr. Pitt Gorilla.
Here's an even littler known fact: Ants sometimes get a virus in their brains that cause them to leave their colony and climb up all by themselves to the very, very top of a blade of grass for no reason at all except that their brains have a virus in them. So, instead of being able to hide from predators in the dirt where they're safe except from anteaters, they get eaten by birds and other ant-eating wildlife and stuff while they're up on the top of the blade of grass. All because they got a virus in their brain, dude.
FAX
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I'm sure google has already been bombarded by 'rainbow hang glider' so I'm not even going to try but Mr. Fax, I see your Ant Suicide Virus and see you the "water bear" aka Tardigrade.
Some interesting facts about the little guy:
Tardigrades have been known to withstand the following extremes while in this state:
- Temperature — tardigrades can survive being heated for a few minutes to 151 °C, or being chilled for days at –200 °C, or for a few minutes at –272 °C. (absolute zero is −273.15 °C).[11]
- Pressure — they can withstand the extremely low pressure of a vacuum and also very high pressures, more than 1200 times atmospheric pressure. It has recently been demonstrated that tardigrades can survive the vacuum of open space and solar radiation combined for at least 10 days.[12] Recent research has notched up another feat of endurance: they can withstand 6,000 atmospheres, which is nearly six times the pressure of water in the deepest ocean trench. [13]
- Dehydration — tardigrades have been shown to survive nearly one decade in a dry state.[14] Another researcher reported that a tardigrade survived over a period of 120 years in a dehydrated state, but soon died after 2 to 3 minutes of more customary exposure.[15] Subsequent research has cast doubt on its accuracy since only small movements in the water bear's leg were detected.[16]
- Radiation — as shown by Raul M. May from the University of Paris, tardigrades can withstand 5,700 grays or 570,000 rads of x-ray radiation. (Ten to twenty grays or 1,000–2,000 rads could be fatal to a human). The only explanation thus far for this ability is that their lowered hydration state provides fewer reactants for the ionizing radiation.
Quiet an amazing creature. Literally almost indisructable except for when his environment is quickly changed. I've always admired the little guy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrada