Danny da Boy

As some of you know, I’ve been advocating the idea that aging in humans—not mice—is driven by accumulation of long-lived forms of molecular damage. If this is the case, then to understand damage suppression, and possibly even age reversal, we need to look around at species with exceptional damage control abilities. Enter the tardigrades, or water bears—possibly the most resilient organisms on Earth. These tiny invertebrates, measuring just 0.1 to 1.5 mm, are masters of survival. Before I connect this to anti-aging interventions, let’s review what makes them so extraordinary (I am sorry to my friends who know most of this). When faced with extreme conditions, tardigrades can enter a state of suspended animation, surviving for years in a near-death state. They withstand pressures up to 6,000 atmospheres (5.5 times the pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench) and survive near-complete dehydration, reducing their metabolism to 0.01% of normal levels. They’ve been recorded surviving temperatures from liquid nitrogen levels to over 60°C, for periods ranging from hours to weeks. Tardigrades were the first known organisms to survive in outer space. In 2007, during an international experiment aboard the Russian satellite Foton-M3, water bears not only survived but also produced viable offspring after more than 10 days on the satellite’s surface. They endured space vacuum, cosmic rays, and solar radiation. In 2011, Italian scientists confirmed similar results aboard the International Space Station. These and other experiments show that tardigrades can withstand ionizing radiation levels 1,000 times higher than any other organism (5,000 Gray of gamma radiation compared to the 5 Gray maximum dose for humans). Tardigrades have been around for 530 million years, surviving all mass extinctions. They are, in essence, living fossils—testaments to nature’s molecular engineering prowess, essential for survival on our planet. Despite, however, their incredible resilience, tardigrades live in the most ordinary places—near us, in moss and lichen on the ground, trees, and rocks. For an intellectual exercise, consider this: Why did evolution create an “indestructible” being capable of surviving a nuclear war or a trip to Mars, only to place it on a wet stone next to your house? I mean... are they simply waiting for the next volcanic eruption or nuclear war (depending on what’s more likely in your area), ready to ascend into the stratosphere and, catching the solar wind, find a new planet. Every joke has a kernel of truth. Ben Rich, an engineer who worked on the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes, noted in his memoirs that at altitudes over 20 km, planes still encounter insects. At speeds over three times the speed of sound, each collision is a serious test for the aircraft. Some American engineers speculated that these insects could have been carried into the upper atmosphere by nuclear tests. Who really knows how far Earth’s biosphere extends? In April 2019, the Israeli spacecraft Beresheet crashed on the Moon. It was carrying tardigrades, and Nova Spivack, the entrepreneur behind the Ark Mission project that sent them, is convinced they survived the crash and now reside on the Moon. Water bears pose many interesting questions since they can rapidly repair almost any molecular damage. So, why in hell (I am sorry for my French here), do these creatures even age? Depending on how is this post doing, I will expand on this observation and relate what we can learn about aging and damage from this animals. And in the meanwhile, be like a water bear—stay resilient. And don’t forget to follow, like, and repost if you haven’t already.

Jessefrost / frosstfursuits is buddies with Cenny, the loud and proud known Zoophile. Just in case you need yet ANOTHER reason to block them.