Meet the tardigrade, the toughest animal on Earth - Thomas Boothby
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/meet-the-tardigrade-the-toughest-animal-on-earth-thomas-boothby Without water, a human can only survive for about 100 hours. But there's a creature...
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Without water, a human can only survive for about 100 hours.But there's a creature so resilient that it can go without it for decades.This one millimeter animal can survive both the hottestand coldest environments on Earth,and can even withstand high levels of radiation.This is the tardigrade,and it's one of the toughest creatures on Earth,even if it does look more like a chubby, eight-legged gummy bear.Most organisms need water to survive.Water allows metabolism to occur,which is the process that drives all the biochemical reactionsthat take place in cells.But creatures like the tardigrade, also known as the water bear,get around this restriction with a process called anhydrobiosis,from the Greek meaning life without water.And however extraordinary, t...
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Without water, a human can only survive for about 100 hours.But there's a creature so resilient that it can go without it for decades.This one millimeter animal can survive both the hottestand coldest environments on Earth,and can even withstand high levels of radiation.This is the tardigrade,and it's one of the toughest creatures on Earth,even if it does look more like a chubby, eight-legged gummy bear.Most organisms need water to survive.Water allows metabolism to occur,which is the process that drives all the biochemical reactionsthat take place in cells.But creatures like the tardigrade, also known as the water bear,get around this restriction with a process called anhydrobiosis,from the Greek meaning life without water.And however extraordinary, t...
