Interestingly, not only are those worms _able_ to survive low temperatures, they also _require_ low temperatures:
> They freeze at around −6.8 °C (19.8 °F), and their bodies decompose after continuous exposure to temperatures above 5 °C (41 °F).
Goes to show (perhaps) that adapting to unusual environments is not so much like a superpower but a tradeoff.
breakbread 5 hours ago [-]
Reminds me of a short story by Alastair Reynolds, "Glacial". In it, scientists are studying these worm-like alien creatures that seem to interact with one another via chemical markers left on the tunnel walls. It is theorized that they're acting as a sort of distributed intelligence, although it's really slow due to the extremely low metabolism.
gus_massa 7 hours ago [-]
They look like earthworm that like to live near ice and eat algae. What is the nightmare fuel?
jandrewrogers 6 hours ago [-]
Some people don't like the idea of worms and actively avoid them. I'm not one of them but I know several people that are. The idea of chilling on a pristine glacier somewhere and suddenly finding yourself surrounded by thousands of worms is pretty unsettling to the worm avoidant.
Naturally I introduce these people to the existence of the Giant Palouse Earthworm [0], also in the Pacific Northwest, though these are so rare that it would be of scientific interest if you came across one.
Well, yeah, they're worms. People are irrationally afraid of all sorts of stuff, that doesn't make everything "nightmare fuel". They're just worms that look like worms.
Oh how cool. They are motile. Flagella to move upwards. It does not get any cooler than that. Thanks
contingencies 3 hours ago [-]
Which type of microscope and what level of magnification? Any images? I'm designing one at the moment.
DaveZale 2 hours ago [-]
Sorry, can't tell you that, I let the microbiologists do it for me. They were very possessive about their instruments, like I was with mine. So... how are you doing it? I bought a $29 microscope from China last week to look at the backside of leaves we thought were infected with bindweed mites. Saw circular yellow and red spots on leaves that looked to the naked eye, to have white powdery residue. Under a scope, it's a whole different world.
searine 9 hours ago [-]
Funded primarily by US taxpayers via multiple NSF grants and additional grants from the Human Frontier Science Program, Moore Foundation, Schmidt Foundation, and Dalio Foundation.
whyandgrowth 9 hours ago [-]
Who would have thought that they had been found before, but only now did they undertake a more detailed study.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesenchytraeus_solifugus
> They freeze at around −6.8 °C (19.8 °F), and their bodies decompose after continuous exposure to temperatures above 5 °C (41 °F).
Goes to show (perhaps) that adapting to unusual environments is not so much like a superpower but a tradeoff.
Naturally I introduce these people to the existence of the Giant Palouse Earthworm [0], also in the Pacific Northwest, though these are so rare that it would be of scientific interest if you came across one.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Palouse_earthworm
Those are the worst kind of worms.
Extremophiles are so interesting
EDIT: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watermelon_snow