News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come back to life. Parent comment

Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by prolikewh0a on Thursday July 26, 2018 @11:59PM (#17623336)
Tardigrades are hardcore.

From Wikipedia: Tardigrades are considered to be able to survive even complete global mass extinction events due to astrophysical events, such as gamma-ray bursts, or large meteorite impacts. Some of them can withstand extremely cold temperatures down to 1 K (−458 °F; −272 °C) (close to absolute zero), while others can withstand extremely hot temperatures up to 420 K (300 °F; 150 °C) for several minutes, pressures about six times greater than those found in the deepest ocean trenches, ionizing radiation at doses hundreds of times higher than the lethal dose for a human, and the vacuum of outer space. They can go without food or water for more than 30 years, drying out to the point where they are 3% or less water, only to rehydrate, forage, and reproduce. Tardigrades that live in harsh conditions undergo an annual process of cyclomorphosis, allowing for survival in sub-zero temperatures.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by topmonk on Friday July 27, 2018 @02:18AM (#17623865)
They actually aren't very tough unless they are prodded into going into a sort of hibernation called cryptobiosis. If the temperature changes too quickly, they die quite easily.

https://venturebeat.com/2017/02/24/complicated-weird-beautif...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by viach on Friday July 27, 2018 @02:41AM (#17623936)
Awesome. This is how Trisolarians might look like.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by F_r_k on Friday July 27, 2018 @02:47AM (#17623966)
For those who don't catch it, it's from the "the three body problem" book. I highly recommend it to anyone if you like a techy sci fi with philosophical questions.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by jorvi on Friday July 27, 2018 @03:22AM (#17624103)
Actually, its from a full trilogy: “The Three Body Problem”, “The Dark Forest” and “Death’s End”. Wonderful books and indeed wholly recommended to any sci-fi buff.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by mkingston on Friday July 27, 2018 @04:06AM (#17624319)
For anyone who missed this, it's being made into a tv series: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/the...
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by achileas on Friday July 27, 2018 @10:27AM (#17626194)
There's also a ton of cryopreservation in the trilogy, especially the third book.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by singularity2001 on Friday July 27, 2018 @03:08AM (#17624047)
Unscientific trope of pure love: In German they are called Bärtierchen (lose translation: bear-thingies) whose name and appearance is reminiscent of gummy-bears.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by larrykwg on Friday July 27, 2018 @03:27AM (#17624128)
translates more like "bear animal" actually
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by scandox on Friday July 27, 2018 @04:43AM (#17624478)
Tierchen is surely cuter than just Animal? Like maybe like critter or beastie?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by zaarn on Friday July 27, 2018 @07:37AM (#17625188)
Yes.

"Tier" would be an animal of sorts. "chen" is a common suffix for cutiefying something or indicate it's small (and adorable).

"Tierchen" would be a cute animal, usually a small one too.

The suffixes "-lein" und "-erl" function similarly but have been largely replaced in common german (though in southern germany, both are alive and well)

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by sushimako on Friday July 27, 2018 @08:58AM (#17625604)
The linguistic term for what you are describing is "diminutive".
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by pavel_lishin on Friday July 27, 2018 @08:57AM (#17625594)
I assuem that's the "-lein" in "Fraulein"? Is "-erl" the masculine version?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by blensor on Friday July 27, 2018 @10:18AM (#17626128)
Hmm, interesting to try and pinpoint the difference between "lein" and "erl". I would say they are both diminutive but not exactly in the same way.

erl ... would be more related to the actual size

  Sack -> Sackerl (bag -> small bag)
  Wagen -> Wagerl (cart -> small cart)
lein ... would be more related to the inner size (sorry I can't frame this into words any better)

  Frau -> Fräulein (Woman -> Younger/Fragile woman (unmarried))
  Wagen -> Wäglein (Cart -> smaller but also lesser cart)
edit: referring to the answer of pavel_lishin. Yes "qualitative" modifier was the word I am looking for.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by pavel_lishin on Friday July 27, 2018 @10:31AM (#17626226)
"erl" seems to be a purely quantitative diminutive, whereas "lein" seems to be more of a qualitative modifier, I guess?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by taejo on Friday July 27, 2018 @09:58AM (#17625969)
It is the "-lein" in "Fräulein", but "-lein" isn't only for feminine nouns: the word "Männlein" also exists. I suspect "-erl" is the same, though I don't speak a dialect where it's used; some dialects have "-l" or "-li" which can also attach to any gender of noun (as in "Hansl" and "Gretl")
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by pavel_lishin on Friday July 27, 2018 @10:11AM (#17626073)
Awesome, thanks!
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by nothrabannosir on Friday July 27, 2018 @10:24AM (#17626171)
In English they’re also called water bears.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by Roritharr on Friday July 27, 2018 @01:59AM (#17623789)
We should seed the universe with tardigrades. It sounds like they deserve it.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by gnur on Friday July 27, 2018 @02:13AM (#17623838)
Perhaps the tardigrades have already done that.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by Baeocystin on Friday July 27, 2018 @04:17AM (#17624370)
Considering they've been around for the five major extinction events here on Earth, some of which involved very large impacts, it is almost certain that there are, to this day, bits of frozen, orbiting ejecta that actually do contain tardigrades.

Still viable? Almost certainly not. But it makes for a fun what if to ponder on the other option!

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by SiVal on Friday July 27, 2018 @04:29AM (#17624425)
Or maybe tardigrades seeded Earth with our ancestors. Maybe tardis and tardigrade come from the same ancient language. If so, I for one am ready to serve our diminutive overlords.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by fit2rule on Friday July 27, 2018 @02:31PM (#17628060)
What if we have the little ones, but normal tardigrades are gigantic, and like to eat stars, huh? I mean, come on.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by nootropicat on Friday July 27, 2018 @04:16AM (#17624363)
Sounds like a reliable self-repairing and self-replicating storage solution. Encode the data in their dna and secure it with a hash.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by Uberphallus on Friday July 27, 2018 @04:49AM (#17624512)
And chain that hash to the next self-replicated individual to form a bioblockchain, to distribute copies and achieve bioconsensus. I worry though about viral 51% attacks.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Worms frozen in permafrost for up to 42,000 years come ba... by everdev on Friday July 27, 2018 @12:26PM (#17627131)
Is there any speculation in the scientific community as to why they developed these adaptations?
[ Parent | on HN ]