When I get shrunken to microscopic size, my bestest friends will be a water bear. Or, to give it a more proper name, a tardigrade. They are SO AMAZING! They can live in space, they can survive being frozen; scientists are toying with splicing their DNA into people to make astronauting more practical and stuff. Here, read this article about it.
Is that cool, or what?
And, if your mind is still marginally unblown, take a gander at this article Jane sent me about the world’s biggest cave and the fabulous world found there. Great pictures! Nifty film clip! Thanks, Jane!
A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: What kind of pet does your character have? Or did have or would like to have?
MA
Jane
September 30, 2016 at 9:55amI truly enjoyed that Vietnamese cave system!
Thanks for the tardigrade info. Very up to date!
I bet Grigori would have a pet stag.
And it would be an aurochs, not any of those regular ol’ critters hanging around these days.
Marian Allen
September 30, 2016 at 10:29amOMG, I can totally see Grigori in a clearing, communing with an aurochs!
A.C.Flory
September 30, 2016 at 7:44pmGreat article about the tardigrade [water bear], but as a sci-fi nut I can’t help wondering /why/ there has been no horizontal gene transfer FROM the water bear to other living creatures. This species is probably the hardiest on earth. It’s the best survivor, so why haven’t other species learned from it. I suspect size is a big part of the answer, and maybe only tiny living things can successfully incorporate all these survival genes…-rolls eyes- Okay, I’ll stop thinking aloud now! π
Marian Allen
October 1, 2016 at 5:58amSave it for the novel! π
A.C.Flory
October 1, 2016 at 7:39amlol – have I mentioned that I really, really like biology? π