
Tardigrades can survive until the end of the Earth, astrophysicists say - happy-go-lucky
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/07/14/these-animals-can-survive-until-the-end-of-the-earth-astrophysicists-say/
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type0
This is basically how we'll end up with the Alien synopsis in the future. Look
at them, the resemblance is quite astonishing: [http://dinoanimals.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/04/Tardigrade...](http://dinoanimals.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/04/Tardigrades2.jpg)

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writeonlymemory
How much data could these things encode? The tardigrade may be the best
candidate to preserve our history in the long shot.

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deftnerd
Not just preserve our history, but spread it.

Assuming these neigh-invulnerable wonders can survive the g-forces, we could
mass-manufacture containers to store tardigrades and launch them blindly into
space with railguns. The containers would be designed so the g-forces of
impact would crack them open.

When the very rare occasion happens where a container impacts a planet or
moon, the tardigrades would be exposed to the environment. If it could support
the basics of life, after a few thousand years, they would be present enough
in the environment that any alien life that exists there or might develop
there will eventually notice them.

If the tardigrade DNA contains a message from Earth, it might be discovered
and decoded.

It could be the best way to ensure that our existence won't be forgotten in
the scale of billions of years.

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sitkack
Maybe the message is already in the Tardigrade.

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jacquesm
Maybe it's already in _us_. We just lack the decoder ;)

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ianai
That was a good TNG episode.

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jacquesm
I didn't see it, but that seems such an obvious plotline I'm surprised they
would even use it.

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tgjsrkghruksd
Good for them, the little buggers. Here's to another half a billion years. I
have no doubt they'll outlast humans.

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Jabanga
While our lives are fragile, our numbers few, and our ability to destroy each
other great, the capabilities that our technology gives us to survive and
spread shouldn't be underestimated.

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MegaButts
You shouldn't underestimate the capabilities of our technology to destroy
ourselves either.

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jwilk
> For an asteroid to deposit that much energy into the ocean, it would need a
> mass of at least 1.7 quintillion kilograms. Of all the asteroids in the
> solar system, only 19 fit the bill. (By way of comparison, the asteroid that
> finished the dinosaurs was six miles across; an asteroid called Vesta that
> is one of the potential ocean killers has a diameter of 326 miles.)

How much does a mile weigh?

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ejolto
From the nature report[1]:

> To annihilate tardigrades on Earth we require a mass over ∼1.7E18 kg. The
> largest observed asteroids in the Solar System are Vesta and Pallas, with
> masses of 2.7E20 kg and 2.2E20 kg respectively.

That gives you abut 2.7E20kg/326miles ≈ 8.3E17 kg/mile. Funny that WP would
give the sizes in miles instead of mass.

[1]
[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-05796-x](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-05796-x)

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kijin
Most Americans know roughly how long 326 miles is. Most people don't have any
idea how much 2.7E20kg weighs, and changing that to pounds or tons won't help
at all.

If you try to make the figure more accessible by comparing it to the weight of
some very large object on Earth, most people will still think of it in terms
of length rather than weight. For example, 2.7E20kg turns out to be in the
same ballpark as the weight of Alaska assuming a continental thickness of 50km
and a mean density of 2.7 (granite). But now we're imagining the length of
Alaska, which is very misleading because the state is nowhere near spherical.

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ejolto
That makes perfect sense, thanks for pointing it out to me.

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amingilani
If the movie Life were real, and Earth were the planet being sampled, those
cuddly beasts would kill with their cuteness.

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johnchristopher
`Live tiny, die never` :)
[http://i.imgur.com/AYsBKTT.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/AYsBKTT.jpg)

(5 times apocalypse champion)

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unclebucknasty
Wonder what happens when you swallow a water bear.

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roywiggins
I imagine you get a slightly miffed water bear out the other end eventually.

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mrleinad
Vogons will take care of that pest. The superhighway can't be contaminated
with those creatures.

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ge96
Did they get hyperspace clearance? Nyooo commander.

