5 Extreme Times Tardigrades Proved Themselves to Be Incredibly Resilient

Tardigrades are one of the toughest organisms on the planet.

Tardigrades, also known as water bears because of their plump bodies, are an extremely resilient group of organisms that can thrive in harsh environments.

They squeeze water from their bodies and roll into balls that are dehydrated.

Tardigrades can survive even the most extreme environments.

These tiny creatures can go years without food or water due to their tuns.

They are the perfect test subjects for experiments about life's resilience.

These are five times when tardigrades proved their worth in the name of science.

1. Water-dwelling tardigrades became space-faring test subjects

The scientists want to find out what makes these little creatures so strong. They are as small as the width of a sheet of paper.

5,000 tardigrades were sent to the International Space Station by NASA. Thomas Boothby, principal investigator of the experiment, said in a NASA statement that they want to see what tricks their offspring use to survive in space.

In 2007, a European team of researchers sent a bunch of tardigrades to the moon and back. When the water bears came back to Earth, they were found to be alive and well.

The European experiment found that the space vacuum did not pose a problem for water bears.

2. Tardigrades crash-landed on the moon

An Israeli lunar probe crashed into the moon with thousands of dehydrated tardigrades on board.

Water bears may have survived the crash. According to Nova Spivack, co- founder of the organization that put the tardigrades in space, the chances of survival are very high.

Any tardigrade found in the future would need to be brought back to Earth to be rehydrated.

3. A thawed tardigrade survived being frozen for 3 decades

The tardigrades were examined by scientists at the National Institute of Polar Research.

Researchers were able to revive a frozen tardigrade that had been frozen for more than 30 years. Researchers found that tardigrades can reproduce in cold weather.

Tardigrades are able to survive at -458 degrees. According to NASA, that's more than twice as cold as the lowest temperature ever recorded.

4. The creatures endured scorching temperatures

In some of the most extreme environments on the planet, tardigrades can survive in extremely hot temperatures.

Researchers found that long-term exposure to high temperatures can kill tardigrades in a single day. Half of the tardigrades in the study died after being exposed to water temperatures of 100 degrees.

The lead researcher of the study told Newsweek that they had found their main weakness.

5. Tardigrades survived being shot out of a high-speed gun

Tardigrades may be able to spread life to different planets.

Researchers loaded a nylon bullet with tardigrades and fired them into a sand target at a range of speeds. The animals that were shot at higher speeds blew apart when they hit the targets.

They wanted to see if a tardigrade could survive a meteorite landing, since it would give credence to the idea that life may be able to travel across the universe.

They're the most difficult thing we know. Mark Burchell said in a press release that "Maybe other things can." If they can't do it, then maybe nothing else can.

The original article was published by Business Insider.