Scientists put the water bear into a quantum state and strangely, it still survived

Tardigrades - sometimes called water bears or water pigs because of their extremely chubby, cute shape, however they are not visible to the naked eye, as the length of this creature's body is only from 0.5mm. to 1.2mm.

But despite their small size they are an extremely resilient species, this creature is described by scientists as "indestructible" because of its ability to survive in harsh conditions, it can comfortably hens live in environments with high levels of pressure and extreme temperatures - environments that can kill or denature most other living things.

Water bears are common names for the phylum Tardigrada, small, aquatic creatures that belong to the group of microscopic eight-legged animals. Water bears belong to the phylum Tardigrada, part of the superphylum Ecdysozoa. An archaic group, with fossils found 530 million years ago, in the Cambrian period.

And it is because of this resilience that they are always of interest to the scientific community and chosen by scientists to undergo a variety of innovative science experiments, from being shot out of a gun at 200mph. (89.4 m/s) to see if they could survive impact shocks, to being placed in a vacuum to test the creature's response to the poles of space.

Now, the water bear has officially taken on another challenge, by becoming the first multicellular organism to survive the effect of quantum entanglement (quantum entanglement).

For those who have not seen Ant-Man, it can be explained simply as follows, quantum entanglement is a strange quantum mechanical phenomenon in which quantum particles become bound together even though they may be in great distances, even light years.

Quantum entanglement, in short, quantum entanglement, is an effect developed in quantum mechanics in which the quantum states of two or more objects are related. even though they are far apart. The most intuitive example is that two electrons placed close together can vibrate in the same state, according to quantum theory. Now, if they were separated by a few kilometers, even thousands of light years, they would still retain this synchronous oscillating link. That is, if two (or more) particles (or objects) are quantum entangled with each other, then when acting on one of them (e.g. changing momentum, position or electromagnetic spin), then other particles (or more particles, objects) move synchronously immediately regardless of how large the spatial distance between them.

In this groundbreaking study, Raimer Dumke of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore successfully placed a water bear in a state of quantum entanglement with a superconducting qubit - and miraculously it survived the experiment. this.

Water bears have a body that truly amazes scientists. Whether boiled or frozen, they are still alive. Falling into a high-pressure, or even airless, environment like space and receiving radiation from the universe, they still exist. Even resurrected normally after being frozen for three decades. In addition, water bears can live without water or food for 10 years, even if the amount of water in the body is below the threshold of 3%.

It's a rather complicated thing and involves reducing the tardigrade's temperature to just 0.01 degrees Celsius above absolute zero - the lowest a waterfowl can survive. Extremely high or extremely low temperatures, radiation or high pressure all have one thing in common - they destroy DNA as well as other essential organelles. Heat causes the proteins to loosen, stick together, and become useless. Radiation tore apart DNA and large molecules. And pressure solidifies the cell membrane.

However, the miracle is that this creature can still be unharmed after going through the state of quantum entanglement.

The successful experiment is the third time Dumke has attempted to carry out this process on tardigrades, which the team hopes will move towards pulling other life forms in the future, says New Scientist.

These characteristics make this creature almost indestructible. Scientists believe that a protein found only in the body of water bears, called Dsup (damage inhibitor protein), helps protect their bodies from harm in the harsh environment. Dsup binds to chromatin (chromatin - double-stranded DNA strands and special proteins in the form of nucleosome structures), creating a "protective cloud" that shields cells from the harmful effects of reactive molecules. hydroxyl radical reaction. These molecules appear when exposed to X-rays. In theory, it seems that Dsup's bonds should protect DNA in many different types of cells.