Extreme Life: Tardigrades are so tough, they can survive outer space

[Demeter]

Boil them, deep-freeze them, crush them, dry them out or blast them into space: tardigrades will survive it all and come back for more...

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150313-the-toughest-animals-on-earth?ocid=global_bbccom_email_16032015_earth

IS THIS HOW THE EARTH WAS COLONIZED? IS ALL LIFE DESCENDED FROM THESE?

[MADem]

1. Man, that is an ugly thing!

[Cirque du So-What]

2. I dunno

I find them kinda...charming. I really dig their upholstery!

[Cirque du So-What]

3. I'm more of the opinion

that other forms of life developed on earth, but that it's within the realm of possibility that these guys are extraterrestrial in origin.

[Demeter]

4. good point

I wonder if there has been any analysis of DNA and other components of tardigrades to determined if they are similar to other inhabitants of earth. If there was sufficient peculiarities to say that their origin was extra-terrestrial...that would be a discovery!

Then there's the question of whether other forms of life are possible. It could be that quantum physics forces only one manifestation of what we call life....under earth conditions, at least.

I remember reading of bacteria in ocean vents that ate or breathed sulfur dioxide...not part of the Krebs cycle, at all.