Unbelievable Survivors: Water Bears

[Gokul43201]

Only on a recent program on the National Geographic Channel did I first come across these creatures. Water bears or tardigrades are tiny invertibrate creatures that are capable of withstanding astonishing extremes of atmospheric conditions by going into a low metabolic state known as cryptobiosis.

Water bears have been seen to survive at :

150 C (300 F) - hotter than boiling water
-200 C (-330F) - liquid nitrogen temps.
500,000 roentgen radiation dose - 500 roentgens kills an adult human
high vacuum, electron bombardment, and other crazy conditions

 

[loseyourname]

http://www.tardigrades.com/

 

[Moonbear]

They're pretty nifty critters.