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You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Respite Open Thread: Well, This Probably Won’t End Well

Respite Open Thread: Well, This Probably Won’t End Well

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So…this happened:

Tardigrades on the Moon – great band name.

So…let’s recap. A craft carrying Tardigrades AND human DNA crashes on the moon. Nothing to see here, I’m sure they all perished on impact…right? RIGHT?

Sounds like the logline for a great Scifi movie…or the future invasion of earth.

Respite open thread

 

 

Reader Interactions

45Comments

  6. 6.

    sm*t cl*de

    Sounds like the logline for a great Scifi movie…or the future invasion of earth.

    “When the ship’s crew recover a crashed Soviet spacecraft entombed in a block of ice that is infected with alien Tardigrades, they are attacked by shapeshifting alien monsters.”
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbinger_Down

  7. 7.

    Jeffro

    Since this is an Open Thread…

    I think it’s interesting that both Joe Scarborough and Joaquin Castro (no, not the Castro brother running for president) both went big in the past 24 hours trying to list/shame trumpov 2020 donors. They noted the corporations/rich folks/San Antonio-area donors who were getting on board with trumpov 2020 and noted that said donors were essentially supporting white supremacy and its attendant violence. GOOD.

    Naturally, the GOP is flipping out about this, with clowns like Cornyn and McCarthy saying it’s “targeting” their supporters for “retaliation” and “violence”. (Yes, really!). I mean, it’s no hit list of abortion providers or billboard with ‘The Squad’ in the crosshairs but hey…

    Interesting how this hits a real sore spot for them, doesn’t it? Kinda hard to prop up a minority government when the funds ain’t there…what are they going to do, door-knock for volunteers and donations?

    I wonder if D folks are starting to learn how to do this here politics thing…

  13. 13.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Jay: What I found surprising was that Scarborough is also calling this out: Scarborough Issues Warning To Trump 2020 Donors ‘Funding’ White Supremacy

    “For those of you funding Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, you may want to take note: Because you keep writing checks to this president, it’s on you,” he said. “It really is, it’s all on you because you are funding this white supremacist campaign, CEOs. You really are. Business people, millionaires and billionaires, it’s your money that is funding this white supremacy because you won’t tell him to stop.”

    For sure, Castro’s great, and I’m glad he’s doing this. But it’s somewhat of a “dog bites man” story. Scarborough, though — that’s a “man bites dog” story, I think. And that’s surprising.

    I wonder if Mika convinced him to take this step — I have *some* difficulty imagining him doing this all on his own.

  16. 16.

    HalfAssedHomesteader

    @Jay: The nice part is if the rethugs tried to retaliate in kind I’d be like, “Oh yeah, totally gave to Warren. My only regret is I can’t give more.”

  17. 17.

    Jay

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    They were cryofrozen, so as long as the container wasn’t breached, they will remain in hibernation.

    They are also the greatest extremophile on the planet, are known for colonizing new environments, and now have access to human DNA with which to build a Zombie army.

  20. 20.

    jl

    ” They are also the greatest extremophile on the planet, are known for colonizing new environments, and now have access to human DNA with which to build a Zombie army. ”

    Damn straight. I been saying for a while the future belongs to the tardigrads (though I call them water bears).
    Go tardigrades, go!

    What I wonder is, after global warming wipes out humans, and the tardigrades take over here, what will happen when the moon tardigrades meet the earth tardigrades?

  22. 22.

    kindness

    Duh Oh! I clicked the link to the crashed lander and found I used 1 of my 3 free Wired articles for the month. Then in that piece I clicked a link and ended up using my 2nd free article all for the one paragraph I wanted explained more. I don’t really read Wired all that much but am bummed losing my ability to do so this early in a month.

  24. 24.

    hells littlest angel

    If I had to pick one Earth lifeform that might survive on the Moon, it would be the tardigrade.

  25. 25.

    Mary G

    I had no idea what tardigrades are and they are fascinating. Some were frozen and forgotten for 30 years, once thawed they were fine. They are thought to have survived all four major extinction events on earth. So we know who will be on earth after we humans kill ourselves off ignoring climate change.

  26. 26.

    Jay Noble

    Umm . . . Star Trek: Discovery is embroiled in a big plagiarism case over tardigrades. Maybe this incident is how they get their space faring powers???

  28. 28.

    kindness

    @Jay: Yea I know. Just don’t have to do that too much. Usually the only one that gives me problems is the NY Times. The Maddowblog links to them all the time and I forget to check where the link goes before hitting it. I think they give us 10. Nothing against Wired, just don’t really care to subscribe. The NYT on the other hand. Not one thin dime.

  34. 34.

    Paul T

    In a couple hundred years, when the Moon is a hellhole of whatever a Tardigrade is, the Woke World of 2525 will blame Neil Armstrong because he got there first and ruined it forever.

  38. 38.

    J R in WV

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Tardigrades are adorable. Most likely, they will go into their inactive state and will be recovered by some future Moon astronauts (lunanauts?) Lunatics!

    I too fine Tardigades amazing… hope they become well established and evolve to use lunar sun for energy.

    Why was any of the biological material on the spacecraft??

  41. 41.

    daveNYC

    I remember some articles worrying about private spacecraft possibly contaminating other planets (I think there was even some worry that Musk’s Tesla hadn’t been properly sterilized) and now it turns out that the Israelis just up and launched a pile of actual lifeforms and some DNA at the moon.

  42. 42.

    J R in WV

    @J R in WV:

    OK, Now I’ve read the article, all part of a documentation scheme.

    Poor tardigraves, used for someone’s scheme without their consent!

  43. 43.

    low-tech cyclist

    ‘Beresheet’ is of course the transliteration of the first word of Genesis in the original Hebrew; it means “In the beginning.”

    Genesis on the moon, folks! This was the plan all along, I betcha – start new life from tardigrades and human DNA, roll the dice and let God take care of the rest, amirite?

  45. 45.

    TomatoQueen

    @Amir Khalid: So it does. Meanwhile TOON’s boycott of Arsenal on Sunday appears to be fizzling, as the secret signings continue to be revealed, Rafa sends us forlorn yet gracious long goodbyes, but there are a substantial number of unrenewed season tickets available. I can’t figure out how an overseas fan participates beyond hashtags, but Howay the Lads and #AshleyOut!

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