Bears survive collision at high speed

Little bears have a great résumé when it comes to enduring extreme conditions. Now one more can be added: it survives collisions at speeds of up to 825 meters per second.

Little Bears, a tribe with a scientific name TardigradaThey are eight-legged creatures, half a millimeter long, barely visible with the naked eye. They are the heroes of survival. A trip to space, ten years without water and food, boiling water and large amounts of ultraviolet radiation: the planets are alive.

A good candidate

How do they do that? By putting themselves into a kind of sleep, it is a process Cryptobius he is called. Then their whole body shuts down for a moment, allowing them to survive the harsh conditions. It is one of the few living things that can.

Since bears are wonderful survivors, they are excellent candidates for life that can be found elsewhere in the universe. According to premise Bansprime Life did not originate on Earth, but rather spread throughout the universe. A planet on which life is found can bring that life to a planet by hitting it. But then that life – in the shape of bears, for example – must of course be able to escape the impact of that asteroid.

825 meters per second

This is exactly what astronomers do Alejandra Trasapas On Mark Burchell From the University of Kent They have achieved. First they put the bears to sleep by freezing them. Then they put the sleeping creatures in a large cylinder in some kind of firearm. Thus, they shot targets made of sand in a vacuum.

They shot at different speeds to investigate the effect on the tar. This showed that the Ugliest had survived speeds of up to 825 meters per second. Speeds up turned bugs deadly.

Planet Earth hits a planet at a speed of about one kilometer per second; Only a little faster than the bears can survive. But if an asteroid collides slightly indirectly, it could lead to slower impact velocities and a higher survival rate for bears.

For now, the result is essentially an additional addition to the list of wonderful conditions in which animals can afford to survive.