We FINALLY Understand Why Tardigrades Refuse to Die

Summary

The video explores the incredible resilience of tardigrades, tiny creatures that can survive extreme conditions like radiation, freezing, and vacuum. Scientists have discovered that proteins like TDPs and Dsup help these 'water bears' withstand such conditions by protecting their cells and DNA. Research suggests we might adapt these survival mechanisms to enhance human resilience, potentially aiding in space travel, medicine preservation, and radiation protection.

Takeaways

• 🐻 Tardigrades, also known as water bears, are microscopic creatures with extraordinary survival abilities.
• 🔬 They can withstand extreme conditions such as high radiation, extreme temperatures, and pressures.
• 🧊 Tardigrades can survive in temperatures as low as -270°C, where atomic movement almost entirely halts.
• 🌌 They have been exposed to space vacuum and cosmic radiation without significant harm.
• 🧬 The survival mechanism involves a process called cryptobiosis, where metabolic activity slows to an almost undetectable level.
• 🛡️ Tardigrades produce proteins known as tardigrade-specific intrinsically disordered proteins (TDPs) that protect cellular structures under stress.
• 🧬 Another protective protein, Dsup, acts as a sacrificial barrier to shield DNA from radiation damage.
• 🔬 Scientists have successfully inserted genes responsible for producing TDPs into other organisms, like yeast and bacteria, to confer similar resilience.
• 🚀 Tardigrades' survival mechanisms could potentially be adapted for human use, such as protecting astronauts from cosmic radiation during space travel.
• 💊 Tardigrade proteins are being studied for applications in medicine, including improving the thermal stability of life-saving medicines.
• 🔮 The future may hold the possibility of using tardigrade-inspired adaptations to enhance human survival in extreme environments.

Q & A

What are tardigrades, and why are they considered elite survivalists?

Tardigrades, also known as water bears, are microscopic organisms that are famous for their ability to survive extreme conditions. They can withstand being shot from a gun at 900 m/s, boiled at 150°C, frozen for over 30 years, and exposed to radiation and space vacuum without any apparent damage. Their resilience comes from unique biological adaptations.

How were tardigrades discovered, and why are they called 'water bears'?

Tardigrades were first discovered in 1773 by German biologist Johann Goeze, who named them 'water bears' due to their slow, bear-like movement using eight stumpy legs. The name 'tardigrade' comes from the Latin 'tardigrada,' meaning 'slow walker,' given by Italian biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani in 1776.

What is cryptobiosis, and how does it relate to tardigrades?

Cryptobiosis is a physiological state where metabolic activity in an organism slows to nearly undetectable levels. In this state, tardigrades enter a 'tun' form, shriveling up into a ball-like shape that allows them to survive extreme dehydration, freezing, and other harsh conditions. This state is key to their survival in extreme environments.

How do tardigrades protect themselves from extreme dehydration?

When facing dehydration, tardigrades lose up to 97% of their water content and contract their bodies to minimize exposure to harmful conditions. At the molecular level, tardigrade-specific proteins (TDPs) form a glass-like matrix inside their cells, stabilizing cellular structures and preventing damage.

What is the significance of Tardigrade-Specific Intrinsically Disordered Proteins (TDPs)?

TDPs are proteins that tardigrades produce during dehydration. Unlike typical proteins that fold into fixed shapes, TDPs remain disordered and later solidify into a glass-like structure. This helps protect the cell’s internal machinery from breaking due to extreme stress, including dehydration and temperature extremes.

How do tardigrades survive extreme radiation, which typically damages DNA?

Tardigrades have unique DNA repair proteins like DSUP (Damage Suppressor) and TRD1. DSUP protects DNA by wrapping around it, reducing damage from radiation. TRD1 stabilizes chromosomes, helping to repair any damage caused by radiation. These mechanisms allow tardigrades to survive radiation doses far higher than humans can tolerate.

What potential applications could tardigrade biology have for humans?

Research on tardigrades could lead to advances in human health and survival. For example, the proteins that help tardigrades survive dehydration might protect human cells, organs, or medicines during storage or transplant. Tardigrade DNA repair mechanisms could be used to help humans survive space radiation or prevent diseases like cancer.

Why do researchers think tardigrades evolved such extreme survival mechanisms?

Some theories suggest tardigrades evolved their extreme resilience as an ancestral trait when Earth had more volatile conditions. Others believe it could be a byproduct of adaptations to survive in moss and lichen, which frequently dry out. These mechanisms also protect them from extreme temperatures and radiation.

How did experiments with yeast and bacteria confirm the importance of TDPs in tardigrade survival?

Researchers introduced TDP-producing genes from tardigrades into yeast and bacteria, organisms that normally can't survive desiccation. The modified yeast and bacteria became capable of surviving extreme drying, proving that TDPs play a crucial role in protecting cells from dehydration.

Could tardigrades or their unique proteins be used in space exploration?

Yes, tardigrades' extreme resilience, especially to radiation, could help astronauts survive long-term exposure to cosmic radiation on missions to the Moon, Mars, or deep space. Their DNA repair proteins might be integrated into human biology, or protective 'force field' technologies could be developed based on tardigrade research.

Outlines

00:00

🐻‍❄️ Tardigrades: The Ultimate Survivors

The paragraph introduces tardigrades, also known as water bears, as incredibly resilient microorganisms that can withstand extreme conditions. These tiny creatures have survived experiments involving high-speed projectiles, extreme temperatures, high pressure, and even exposure to cosmic radiation in space. The paragraph discusses the potential of adapting their survival mechanisms to benefit human biology, such as curing diseases like cancer, surviving in off-world habitats, and enduring deep space travel. It also delves into the history of tardigrades' discovery and their unique ability to enter a state called 'tun', which is a form of cryptobiosis where their metabolic activity slows dramatically, allowing them to survive conditions that would be lethal to most life forms.

05:00

🧬 Unlocking the Secrets of Tardigrade Survival

This section delves into the scientific research that has been conducted to understand how tardigrades can survive lethal doses of radiation, extreme dehydration, and cellular damage from ice crystal formation. It discusses the challenges that water poses to most organisms when subjected to freezing temperatures and how tardigrades have evolved to avoid these issues. The paragraph explains that tardigrades preemptively dehydrate themselves under extreme conditions, reducing the risk of ice crystal damage. It also introduces the discovery of a unique class of proteins, called tardigrade-specific intrinsically disordered proteins (TDPs), which form a protective glass-like matrix inside the cells, preventing mechanical stress from causing cellular damage.

10:01

🛡️ Tardigrade Defenses Against Radiation and DNA Damage

The focus of this paragraph is on how tardigrades can survive extreme radiation levels that would be fatal to humans. It describes an experiment where tardigrades were exposed to gamma rays and then analyzed at the molecular level to understand their DNA repair mechanisms. The researchers found two key proteins, Dsup and Trd1, that play crucial roles in protecting and repairing DNA from radiation damage. Dsup acts as a sacrificial barrier around DNA strands, while Trd1 stabilizes chromosomes. The paragraph also discusses how these proteins were introduced into human cells, resulting in increased survival rates and reduced DNA damage when exposed to X-rays, indicating potential applications for human use.

15:02

🌌 Tardigrades: Evolutionary Marvels and Future Applications

The final paragraph explores the theories behind why tardigrades have evolved such extreme survival capabilities, suggesting that these traits may be ancestral or accidental byproducts of other adaptations. It also speculates on the future uses of tardigrade proteins, like TDPs and CACH proteins, in various fields. These proteins could potentially be used to protect organs during transplantation, stabilize medicines that require cold storage, and even develop a sunscreen based on a tardigrade species' ability to fluoresce and absorb UV radiation. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing the potential of tardigrades to contribute to human health and exploration of space.

Keywords

💡Tardigrades

Tardigrades, also known as water bears, are microscopic animals known for their incredible resilience to extreme conditions. They are the central focus of the video, which explores their survival capabilities. The script mentions their ability to withstand temperatures from near absolute zero to boiling, pressures hundreds of times greater than atmospheric pressure, and even the vacuum of space.

💡Cryptobiosis

Cryptobiosis refers to a state where metabolic activity is reduced to an almost undetectable level, allowing organisms to survive extreme conditions that would normally be fatal. The video explains how tardigrades enter a state called a tun, where they shrivel up and appear dead, but can reanimate when conditions become favorable again.

💡Desiccation

Desiccation is the process of extreme dehydration. The script describes how tardigrades can survive desiccation by preemptively dehydrating themselves, losing up to 97% of their water content, which helps prevent ice crystal formation and cell damage.

💡Intrinsically Disordered Proteins (TDPs)

TDPs are proteins with no fixed structure that play a crucial role in tardigrades' survival. The video explains that under stress, TDPs transform and solidify, forming a protective glass-like matrix inside tardigrade cells, which shields them from damage due to dehydration or extreme temperatures.

💡Gamma Radiation

Gamma radiation is a type of high-energy radiation that can cause significant DNA damage. The video discusses how tardigrades can survive extreme doses of gamma radiation, up to 4,000 Grays, which would be lethal to humans and most other organisms.

💡DNA Repair

DNA repair mechanisms are crucial for any organism exposed to radiation or other DNA-damaging agents. The video highlights two proteins, Dsup and Trd1, that help tardigrades repair DNA damage. Dsup acts as a sacrificial barrier to protect DNA strands, while Trd1 stabilizes chromosomes.

💡Evolutionary Byproduct Theory

The Evolutionary Byproduct Theory suggests that tardigrades' extreme resilience may have evolved indirectly as a byproduct of adaptations to more common stressors, such as desiccation tolerance. The video mentions how these adaptations might have incidentally provided protection against other extreme conditions.

💡Ancestral Environment Theory

The Ancestral Environment Theory posits that tardigrades' ancestors lived in more extreme environments, and their descendants retained these survival traits. The video suggests that early Earth conditions were more volatile, and these traits might have been advantageous then.

💡Space Exploration

Space exploration is a central theme in the video, as it discusses the potential applications of tardigrades' survival mechanisms for human space travel. The video mentions NASA's interest in tardigrades for future missions to the moon and beyond.

💡Thermostability

Thermostability refers to the ability of proteins or other molecules to maintain their structure and function at different temperatures. The video discusses how tardigrades' proteins, like TDPs and CACH proteins, could be used to improve the stability of medicines during transportation or storage.

💡Organ Transplantation

Organ transplantation is mentioned in the context of applying tardigrades' protective proteins to prevent damage during the transplantation process. The video suggests that these proteins could help maintain the integrity of organs outside the body.

Highlights

Tardigrades are incredibly resilient microorganisms that can survive extreme conditions.

They have survived being shot from a gun at 900 m/s, extreme cold, boiling heat, and high pressures.

Tardigrades can survive in space and are resistant to cosmic radiation.

A recent study suggests that tardigrades' biology may help humans combat diseases like cancer.

Tardigrades could potentially enable humans to survive in off-world habitats with weak or no atmosphere.

They may also help humans travel into deep space by withstanding high levels of radiation.

Tardigrades can survive cryosleep, which could be applied to long-term space travel.

The German biologist Johan August Goldfuss first described tardigrades in 1773.

Tardigrades were named for their slow movement and ability to survive in water.

Louis dehar discovered tardigrades could survive extreme dehydration, entering a state called tun.

Tardigrades can enter a state of cryptobiosis, with their metabolism slowing to as low as 0.01% of normal.

Researchers found tardigrades can survive temperatures as low as -270°C.

Tardigrades can lose up to 97% of their total water content to prevent ice crystal formation.

A class of proteins called tardigrade-specific intrinsically disordered proteins (TDPs) protect tardigrades' cells.

TDPs form a glass-like matrix that prevents mechanical stress from breaking cellular proteins.

Tardigrades can survive up to 4,000 Grays of radiation, far beyond the lethal dose for humans.

Dsup and Trd1 are proteins that help tardigrades repair DNA damage from radiation.

Researchers have successfully inserted tardigrade genes into other organisms to grant them similar resilience.

Tardigrades' unique proteins could be used to improve thermal stability in medicine and organ transplants.

Tardigrades may have evolved their extreme resilience as a byproduct of surviving common stressors like desiccation.

Tardigrades' ability to survive UV radiation could lead to new protective technologies for humans.

Transcripts

tter grades you know them you love them

and you couldn't kill one even if you

tried and believe me we have tried over

Decades of research we have subjected

tardigrades to some of the most extreme

conditions imaginable they've been shot

from a gun at 900 m/s they've survived

the coldest temperatures in the universe

being boiled at 150° Centigrade

subjected to pressures of 400 times that

of normal atmospheric pressure they've

been stored in a freezer for over 30

years and then finally fin were left in

space and blasted with Cosmic radiation

and none of this seems to have phased

them in the slightest the underlying

reason for why these adorable

microorganisms are just such Elite

survivalists comes inherent to their

biology but as of a study published last

month we finally think we know how

they're doing it and if the lessons

learned from it can be adapted into our

own biology they could stop us getting

diseases like cancer survive on

off-world habitats with weak or no

atmosphere like the moon or Mars enable

us to travel into deep space through the

universe's high levels of radiation and

maybe even let us survive cryosleep so

we can live out our true sci-fi future

fantasies tardigrades may just be the

best survivors on the planet but of

course the story of how we came to know

these microscopic super survivors is

just as fascinating as the extremes that

they've

endured in 1773 German biologist Johan

goz peered into a microscope and saw

something strange unlike other

microscopic animals he studied which

preferred to swim wriggle or beat their

all like fella to move around he saw a

small wrinkly creature making its way

across a micro algae using eight Stumpy

legs each tipped with tiny claws with a

deep sigh of German reverence and

foresight into the hearts and minds of

an Internet generation 300 years in the

future he announced he had just

discovered the water bear a name that

instantly indoctrinated this creature

into a place in all of our hearts a

creature so tiny it fits in between the

grooves of a fingerprint it wasn't until

3 years later in an act of unusually

poor branding for Italians that Abott

and biologist Lazaro fanari gave them

the more official tardigrada meaning

slow Walker based on their unusual

choice of moving around in 1842 Tarter

grades again caught the attention of

science as Louie deer a French zoologist

and agronomist began to run experiments

where he observed tardigrades being

actively adorable in their natural

environments moist mosses and lyans what

was strange was when he accidentally

underwatered the Tarter grad's habitat

one day and it dried out under the

warmth of the microscope lamp he watched

as the tardigrades actively slowed to a

crawl as if moving in suspended

animation he came back a few hours later

and swore that his test subjects had

disappeared panning around frantically

the micro environment he realized it was

now covered instead in small dark debris

The Remains he assumed of the

tardigrades repeating the experimental

conditions as the second sample dried

out deer observed his tardigrade family

slowly transform from inquisitive water

bears into shriveled desiccated balls a

phrase you should never utter on the

internet in this state later called a

ton all movement stopped the creatures

seemed utterly dead but when doer left a

sample to rehydrate in the room

something remarkable happened the

tardigrades slowly stirred back to life

something impossible for normal

organisms or cells as extreme

dehydration leads to cell collapse

breaking the internal Machinery of a

cell usually Beyond repair doer however

found that he could keep his tardra

suspended for between a few days up to

several months and could expose them to

hot cold high pressure and still

reliably they would pop back to life as

if nothing ever happened in his thesis

Memoir on the organization and natural

relationships of tardigrades which

sounds like a political Manifesto for

these tiny survivalists deer documents

one of the first ever cases of

cryptobiosis crypto meaning hidden and

biosis meaning life a physiological

state in which metabolic activity is

reduced to an almost undetectable level

the world's smallest zombie jerky in

this state at gr's metabolism Slows

To as low as

0.01% of its normal rate that's 10,000

times slower to put that in perspective

if you usually consume 2,000 calories a

day this would represent a drop in your

caloric intake to 0.2 calories you would

be capable of surviving on about 1 tenth

of a McDonald's fry or about 10 grains

of rice per day but the question is

shriveling into a ton like some sort of

microscopic raisin is impressive in

itself but it hardly explains how

tardigrades can brush off lethal doses

of radiation extreme dehydration or the

cellular damage that should arise from

Ice Crystals forming within their cells

what is actually happening Beyond this

simple transformation before we answer

that question though I have to quickly

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me from slowly transforming into my own

ton state after so many hours at a desk

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lower back now back to the

video in a 2017 study led by Thomas

boothby and his team at the University

of North Carolina researchers were

determined to get to the bottom of how

Tarter grades were surviving in extreme

temperatures and conditions that would

prove fatal to basically all other forms

of life on the planet when we expose

organisms to extreme environments like

the vacuum of space or Ultra cold

temperatures water becomes a major

problem water makes up 60 to 80% of most

organisms and it is the solvent that

enables life's Machinery to function but

at temperatures below freezing water

turns into a formidable enemy as water

freezes to ice it expands by about 9% if

ice forms inside of a cell it can

rupture the cell's membrane or damage

internal cellular structures low

temperatures can also make the lipid by

layer of the cell membrane brittle and

cause breaks in DNA as a result Nature

has evolved to avoid freezing at all

costs and while we can freeze and Thor

some individual cells such as

reproductive cells like eggs and sperm

with minimal damage to the

disappointment of all of the Walt

Disney's body is secretly Frozen beneath

Disneyland conspiracy theorists

unfortunately freezing entire bodies

still poses significant challenges

except in some very rare examples some

species have evolved antifreeze like

properties to survive the slightly less

adorable Antarctic toothfish the snow

flea and the wood frog use natural

antifreeze compounds to lower the

freezing point of their bodily fluids to

protect internal cellular structures but

these adaptations are limited to

temperatures just below freezing far

from the extremes and this is where

tardigrades really stand apart they

didn't just survive slightly Sub-Zero

conditions or mild dehyd ation in their

ton State these microscopic creatures

can survive down to temperatures as low

as - 270° c a range so cold that Atomic

movement almost entirely halts

researchers had previously found that as

a tardigrade encounters extreme

conditions it begins preemptively to

slowly dehydrate itself this process

isn't instantaneous by any means it can

take several hours but it means that the

tardigrade can lose 97% of its total

water content this significantly reduces

the likelihood of ice crystals damaging

cells while also Contracting the

grd's body to minimize its surface area

and exposure to the Hazardous

environment but that doesn't explain how

the tardigrade doesn't then succumb to

the cell collapse of extreme dehydration

boothby and his team were intrigued by

the idea that a hidden mechanism was

slowly allowing these tiny water bears

to cheat death they set out to solve

this puzzle starting by examining what

happens at the molecular level when

tardigrades enter their ton state to do

this they looked at the proteins being

produced in these extreme conditions and

what they found was unexpected rather

than typical proteins that fold neatly

into specific shapes they discovered a

class of proteins with no fixed

structure free floating like loose

threads inside the cell in normal

conditions these proteins seemed

reasonably unremarkable but under stress

when the tardigrade was drying out they

slowly started to transform and solidify

forming a glass-like matrix inside the

tardra cells here the best description I

can come up with is it's like dipping

hand Solo in carbonite protein damage

occurs normally within a cell due to

denaturing either when the cell is too

hot too cold or too mechanically

stressed protein structures break and

then don't go back together this is

what's happening for example when you

fry an egg the nicely coiled natural

proteins break and unravel so are no

longer ordered and transparent and

instead start to SC at light in all

directions appearing white these newly

discovered proteins in the tardigrade

cell now called tardigrade specific

intrinsicly disordered proteins or tdps

which I find particularly catchy this

process combined with a then later

discovered cytoplasmic abundant heat

soluble or cach protein discovered later

in 2021 formed a further protective

gel-like Network preventing the

mechanical stress of dehydration or

extreme temperature from breaking the

general proteins within tardigrade cells

in order to prove their theory that this

is how the Todd grade was gleaning some

level of extreme environment resistance

boothby and his team wanted to see if

tdps were truly the key to tardigrade

survival boothby and his team took the

genes responsible for producing these

proteins and inserted them into other

organisms specifically yeast and

bacteria these organisms which normally

cannot survive desiccation was suddenly

able to endure extreme drying just like

the Tarter grades the tdps worked the

same way in these foreign organisms

creating that protective glass-like

shield and proving that these proteins

were a key component of the tardigrades

Arsenal but that wasn't the end of the

story while tdps Safeguard cellular

structures they cannot prevent the

ionizing effect of radiation from

breaking DNA

strands the median lethal dose or ld50

is approximately 0.6 to 0.9 gray for

mice it's about 2.5 to 4.5 grays for

human beings if a human is exposed to a

dose of approximately 50 Grays even for

a short time this causes severe

convulsions and death within just 5 days

it was found that grades can

survive not just 50 Grays but up to

4,000 Grays without any meaningful sign

of degradation in 2024 a team of

researchers again at the University of

North Carolina at Chapel Hill this time

led by biologist Bob gold ran a study to

discover how tardigrade cells could

survive such extreme radiation damage

the team chose a specific tardigrade

called the hippius exemplaris which

sounds like it could be straight out of

Harry Potter for their experiment a

model organism known for its resilience

but like all life forms still

susceptible to DNA damage from gamma

radiation the first phase of the

experiment involves subjecting the

tardigrades in their ton states to

intense doses of gamma rays far beyond

what would be lethal to humans the team

then used Advanced genomic sequencing

and proteomics to study what happens at

the molecular level as soon as this

damage occurs and they discovered again

something uniquely remarkable about

tardigrades instead of Simply weathering

the radiation and then killing off the

damaged cells like our bodies do

radiation exposure to the cell appeared

to trigger the tardigrades to activate

hundreds of genes responsible for

flooding the tarr's bodies with DNA

repair and protection proteins during

their analysis two key proteins in

particular stood out dsup a damage

suppressing protein was found to bind

directly to DNA strands and wrap around

them and act as a sacrificial barrier to

protect the DNA from radiation damage in

populations where dup was expressed they

were found to have significantly reduced

rates of double stranded breaks the

other protein of Interest was trd1 a

newly discovered protein while dup helps

prevent damage trd1 play plays a role in

stabilizing chromosomes even when they

begin to fray under radiation stress

this protein acts essentially like a

molecular glue temporarily rebinding the

chromosomes together long enough for

normal repair processes to take place in

order to test whether this unique T

gradeability could be harnessed for

human use the researchers introduced the

trd1 protein into human cells researcher

Keda tazu and his team from the

University of Tokyo engineered cultured

human embryonic kidney cells to EXP

Express the dup and trd1 proteins and

subjected them to radiation when

compared against controls these cells

had higher survival rates when exposed

to x-rays exhibiting 40% less x-ray

induced damage to their DNA what is a

strange question worth asking ourselves

here is why why did tardigrades go to

such extreme genetic lengths to survive

such extreme environments the ancestral

environment Theory suggests that tarr's

ancestors may have lived in more extreme

environments than their present day

counterparts and the ability to survive

harsh conditions may have been retained

as an ancestral trait for example in

Earth's early history conditions were

much more volatile with extreme and

frequent fluctuations in temperature

radiation exposure and water

availability but why would this survival

capability be pushed to also work in

places like the vacuum of space or at

the coldest temperatures in the universe

to me this feels more like an unexpected

outcome rather than an evolutionary

adaptation The evolutionary byproduct

Theory suggests that tardigrades extreme

resilience may have evolved as an

accidental byproduct of other more

common stressors for instance

desiccation tolerance is really useful

if you happen to live in a moss or lyen

environment because these exhibit poor

water retention so frequently dry out

then rehydrate maybe many times per day

the same mechanism that allows

tardigrades to survive desiccation like

the production of the tardigrade

specific intrinsically disordered

proteins or tdps really wanted to just

say it one more time in this video and

other molecular defenses are

incidentally the exact same sort of

protection mechanisms needed for

surviving Ultra cold environments these

dehydrating and rehydrating processes

still likely cause DNA damage so the

evolution of a Rapid Repair mechanism

that is frequently activated to repair

desiccation damage makes sense to evolve

and inadvertently makes them incredibly

good at repairing damage from radiation

exposure some people just think T grades

came from space which I can kind of

understand but I'm disappointed they

didn't come with cooler gadgets I

suppose though what they could teach us

may actually unlock the future of human

exploration and

survival as we set out to explore

extraterrestrial environments

tardigrades could become a key Ally in

our journey with NASA's planned emus

missions to establish a base on the moon

and then deep space beyond that these

environments lacking the protective

atmosphere of Earth expose astronauts to

Cosmic radiation which is a significant

risk to DNA damage over time possibly

limiting or maybe even preventing our

long-term survival in space we quite

recently covered a technology being

developed by NASA that could be the very

first re life force field capable of

deflecting radiation away from

habitation zones or crew Quarters on

deep space missions but this would limit

astronauts to only short excursions

outside of these habitats a far future

looking solution might be to engineer

gr's trd1 ability into our own

genes plus upregulate existing repair

mechanisms within our own bodies so that

DNA damage could be quickly repaired

that feels like a very long way away but

with the experiments out of the

University of Tokyo we see that it is

actually on the horizon of things worth

exploring that obviously might be a fair

distance in the future but there are

also some shorter term winds being

explored in a somewhat horrifying 2020

paper research discovered a new species

of tardigrade that was capable of

surviving intense doses of ultraviolet

radiation when they investigated further

they found that the grade was

actually fluorescing absorbing shorter

UV wavelengths and emitting longer ones

protecting their cells from radiation

damage in the process in a slightly

disturbing twist the researchers then

ground up the grades and applied

the tardigrade paste to small worms with

the paste applied the worms were then

able to tolerate much higher doses of UV

radiation could this be developed into a

grade sunscreen coming to a store

near you sometime soon hopefully not but

maybe a synthetic version could be a bit

more wholesome and effective where I've

seen the most interesting work though is

in applying the grade unique

proteins like tdps and cach proteins to

prevent damage to things like organs as

they're being transplanted between

patients and even things like

life-saving medicines many medicines

from things like insulin for diabetics

to Cold and Flu vaccines need to be

constantly kept cold so they don't break

down this isn't really too hard in

developed countries but is a nightmare

if say you want to get a medicine to a

remote Village or to maybe carry

something like a snake bite antivenom

kit with you while you go hiking through

the woods researchers out of the

University of Wyoming are working to

improve the thermal stability of several

medicines using the unique tarrade

proteins to protect these medicines in

the same glassy gel-like state that

prevents damage to tardigrade cells

tardigrades hold a special place in our

hearts but they also hold a special

place in science and potentially a

special place in building us a healthier

future I love stories like this and

understanding how we might take better

inspiration from things around us there

was a ton of stuff that I didn't cover

like how tdd grade eggs are spiky which

is kind of horrifying if you like this

video and would like to support us

consider joining the patreon or joining

the channel here or leaving us a like or

a comment you might also like a video

that we did recently on bats who also

refused to die but for a totally

different set of reasons you can check

it out here as always thank you so much

for watching I'll see you guys next week

goodbye