Will the 'immortal' really only die when the Sun explodes?

This creature is nearly indestructible, can survive comfortably in the harshest conditions and only truly dies when the Sun explodes.

The water bear was first discovered in 1702 by the Dutch scientist Anton van Leeuwenhoek. In a letter to the Royal Society in England, he wrote, "On certain animalcules found in the sediment in gutters on the roofs," mud microorganisms were found on the gutter of the roof. " of houses).

Water bear beetles have a round, fat body, moving by 8 feet fairly large and strong.

More than 7 decades later, an Italian monk and scientist Lazzaro Spallanzani discovered "super powers" inside this creature. Using the same method as Leeuwenhoek, Spallanzani also saw tiny creatures crawling and swimming after adding water. He called them "il Tardigrado" , meaning "crawling very slowly" because these creatures did not move quickly.

On a microscope, the water bear has a round, fat body, moving by 8 feet rather large and strong. Because of this shape, they are associated with bears with similar bodies. The water bear has no eyes but in return, its head has a very large and strong mouth, with sharp edges like the teeth of a beast to bite food.

But we do not have to worry because water bears are very small, never more than 1 mm long and only visible under the microscope. The water bear is actually a group of species with 900 distinct species identified. Most of them are "vegetarian" species by sucking moss, algae and lichen to live. Only a few "eat salty " and some species eat their own kind!

Really die when the sun explodes?

Water bear beetle.

According to Live Science, the water bear's tiny body is specially constructed to help them withstand the most severe conditions. They are known to be the toughest, most destructive creatures on Earth.

Fake water bears are so deadly that they can survive in places where there is no water, with temperatures as low as -200 degrees Celsius and as high as 151 degrees C. When they encounter water, they move again and quickly return. Normal state.

Research results in 2017 showed that water bear's amazingly durable ability is due to its composition of special proteins. They can block vulnerable cell components, prevent membranes, proteins and DNA from being destroyed.

The water bear is actually a group of species with 900 distinct species identified.

Not only surviving freezing, boiling and drying, water bears also withstand pressures of up to 600 megapascals, 6 times the pressure at the sea floor. Just half of that pressure is enough to kill almost every living thing on Earth, a 2017 study said.

Researchers have even brought water bear bugs into space, exposing them to direct solar radiation and gamma rays. But they still live as usual when returning to Earth.

Water bears seem to be resistant to radiation and even repair DNA. This may explain why they recover quickly from the effects of radiation. Because of this longevity, it is thought that water bear bugs only die when the sun explodes.

Dr Thomas Boothby, from the University of North Carolina, said water bears could be "immortal" because they have developed special genes that allow them to survive in extremely harsh living conditions.

1. The protein that makes water bears immortal
2. The shape of the newly discovered water bear in Japan