Tardigrades (posted 11/25/2019)
I’d wager most of my readers never heard of a tardigrade.
Tardigrade (image credit: Shutterstock)
On page 222 of my book, Countdown to Adam, is the sub-title, Tardigrades: Satan’s Counterfeit. In this fictional account, Satan’s spies have returned with knowledge of an angelic contest to design body-types of trilobites; the Creator plans to breath life into these various trilobites as he launches his “Cambrian Explosion”. Here are some excerpts from the book:
“Vanity, with an entourage of his staffers in tow, strolled across the opulent courtyard of Satan’s palace in central Gemini-babylon; there was a confidence in his stride. He was quickly ushered into the presence of the demoted, but still powerful archangel.
“Lord Satan, I bring you good news.”
Things never went well for his subjects when bad news was the topic.
“What is this good news you bring to me, Prince Vanity?”
“My spies just returned from Earth with important documents pertaining to a new initiative by the Almighty; it is a project or contest that has something to do with creatures called trilobites and the launching of a new era called the Paleozoic. There are details in these documents about a coming abundance of new life forms that are scheduled to appear in a period labeled ‘Cambrian Explosion.’ I don’t get it; is he going to blow everything up and start over?”
Trilobite (Image Source: Mental Floss)
“So, why is that of any interest to me? What’s the good news?”
“Well, it just so happens that embedded in the details are references to a human named Adam, perhaps the very first image bearer. I think we have some clues to his identity, something about a phylum called Chordata.”
That got Satan’s attention.
“So, how did you obtain these ‘secret’ files?”
“Some of my spies were roaming Earth and happened upon a conversation between Phenyl and Tamin (unfallen angels). They were discussing some details of this contest, whereby their teams were to design sketches of new types of trilobites based on what they termed a prototype trilobite, which, in turn, was based upon the drawing of a rudimentary model given to them by Wisdom (God’s ‘Chief of Staff’). Using our long-range tele-scanner, we could obtain images of the prototype and of its accompanying documents. If it pleases your majesty, here are the documents and protype drawing for your consideration.”
“Did you learn anything else from their conversation?”
“Yes, we learned that drafts from angelic teams would be submitted to the Almighty through Wisdom’s office. The Almighty would then make his selections from this pool, and somehow breathe life into them, literally making them into living creatures. Once alive, these trilobites would live on the bottom of the oceans. Because God will give each variety of trilobite its own signature pattern, called DNA, they would have the ability to replicate themselves, over-and -over again, until they have multiplied and filled the sea; it’s kind of like ‘cloning’, I think.”
“Hmm, let me see that prototype again. Seems to me that the model is somewhat flawed. I know we weren’t invited into the contest, but I bet the Creator would be pleased if I were to personally submit an improved version of the prototype, like, unsolicited? So, Vanity, here’s what I want you to do. Form a team and design a model with only the cephalon (head); of course, you can splice in some legs, making it a ‘walking head,’ and you could decorate it with spines if you want.”
He snickered at the thought of a walking head and of his own creative genius,
“I want your candidates on my desk by this time next week. Once I have the sketches, you and I will send word to Wisdom that we desire to meet with the Master Designer (God) himself. Perhaps he will be merciful and permit us to have a small stake in his new initiative, Cambrian Explosion. Worst that can happen is he sends us packing, emptyhanded, back to Gemini-babylon. It seems unfair that a third of his angels would be excluded from such a significant Earth-initiative. After all, Earth is a second home to us; that makes us, in my humble opinion, stakeholders.”
A week passed. Right on schedule, Vanity, with his design team, arrived at Satan’s headquarters.
Satan said, “You may enter. What have you for me; I trust it will please me?”
“My lord Satan, behold … the ‘tardigrade.’ We’re sure this creature will be far superior to anything submitted by any of Heaven’s teams.”
If first impressions meant anything, the expression on Satan’s face was priceless.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before: eight legs with four sharp claws growing out of each leg: it’s grotesque. It’s totally comical, looks something like a ‘water bear,’ whatever that might be. So, what’s so special about this tardigrade?”
Internal anatomy of a tardigrade, image credit: Pinterest
As is his nature, once again Satan tried to play ‘God.’ In this little story, he attempted to steal God’s idea, and then tried to improve upon it, thus shifting the credit (glory) to himself – typical of his rebellious ways. Satan knew that only God could breathe life into a creature, both temporal and eternal life. Scientists tell us that the tardigrade is the closest thing to limitless life that exists in nature; as a phylum, they are virtually indestructible.
Tardigrades, also known as ‘water bear’ and ‘moss piglet’, are a separate phylum with roughly 1,100 species. They are animals that range in size from 0.1 to 1.2 millimeters; you need a microscope to see any detail. They are considered to be the hardiest life-form on earth, a super-bug or extremophile. Here are some reasons for that distinction:
- They can withstand up to 570,000 rads of x-ray radiation; 2000 rads is enough to kill a human being.
- They can survive in temperatures up to 300 degrees F, well above the boiling point.
- They can survive in temperatures of -458 F, nearly absolute zero and colder than temperatures measured in outer space.
- They can go without food or water for over 30 years.
- They can go dormant for over 120 years and still be revived.
- They can live in the deepest oceans with pressures over 6000 atmospheres.
- They can live in a vacuum, which means they can survive space travel.
The internal anatomy of a tardigrade is rather primitive (see figure above). They have relatively large brains; they have no known organs of circulation or respiration; and they feed by piercing individual plant or animal cells with their stylets and then sucking out the cell contents. When encountering unfavorable conditions, they go into a state of suspended animation called the “tun” state. Contributing to their long-term survival is a unique protein, “Dsup”, that binds itself to DNA.
Don’t you sometimes wonder what God was thinking when he designed a creature like the tardigrade? At first glance it seems purposeless and superfluous. But wait! Recent scientific experiments, applying Dsup to cultured human cells, suppressed x-ray-induced DNA damage by a whopping 40 percent! Such technology has the potential to nearly eradicate the free-radical damage to a cell that causes cancer and extend the average human life span into Methuselah-like territory. If Dsup dehydration-tolerance can become transferable, it could transform the way we preserve various biological materials, including cells, crops, meats, fish, and so on, providing more food to support a growing global population. Perhaps the tardigrade is a blessing in disguise, a gift to mankind from the Creator.
