The reason why tardigrades can withstand “1000 times the lethal dose of radiation for humans” has been revealed! – Nazology

The strongest living creature, the tardigrade, can survive even when exposed to “1000 times the lethal dose of radiation for humans”

Tardigrade (scientific name: Tardigrade)is a general term for organisms belonging to the phylum Tardigrade, which are so small (body length from 50 μm to 1.7 mm) that they are difficult to see with the naked eye.

They are known to inhabit all kinds of environments, including the ocean, water, and land, and more than 1,000 species have been confirmed.

And this tardigrade is intolerable to most living creatures.“The strongest living thing” that survives even in harsh environmentsIt is famous as

For example, they can survive temperatures from -272°C, near absolute zero, to 150°C, above the boiling point of water.

It can also survive 10 days in space and withstand the 1,000 atmospheres of pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Additionally, a study conducted in 2022 by Germany’s University of Stuttgart, which repeated freezing and thawing of tardigrades, revealed that their lifespan is not consumed during freezing.

After freezing and thawing tardigrades many times, we found that their lifespan does not decrease during freezing!

In addition, the tardigrade, which is the strongest living thing,Can survive exposure to large amounts of radiation and is resistant to radiation levels between 5000 and 6200 Gy.It is said that.

In the case of humans, if the whole body is exposed to radiation of 1 Gy or more at once, it is said to cause damage to various organs and tissues.

It is said that if the value reaches 7 Gy, most humans will die.

Radiation damages the DNA of cells. DNA is the blueprint for creating cells. Therefore, when DNA is destroyed, cells cannot reproduce.

For this reason, even if there are no abnormalities in the body immediately after exposure to radiation, abnormalities occur one after another in the body as it metabolizes.

With a small amount of radiation, damage to DNA can be repaired quickly.When exposed to a large amount of radiation, damage to DNA cannot be repaired, causing organ damage and cancer, and in the worst case, cells cannot be replaced through metabolism, leading to death..

Even though it isTardigrades can survive exposure to radiation doses approximately 1,000 times more lethal than humans.can do.

So, why do tardigrades have such high resistance to radiation even though they are living organisms like humans?