Unsourced gif appears to be from the series "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey", episode 2, "Some of the Things That Molecules Do". Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I-PQxuPkjA
Maybe[1]. Scientists don't like to waste time on alien life origin theory as it doesn't really solve anything, we still would want to know how tardigrades' home planet created life.
If there was a competition to find the craziest idea that will one day be found to be true - I'd pick panspermia. Although all life being descended from tardigrade cancer is a little out there even for me.
>Before this, the rotifer – another microscopic water creature – was believed to have the most foreign genes of any animal, with 8 or 9 percent. But the new research has shown that approximately 6,000 of the tardigrade’s genes come from foreign species, which equates to around 17.5 percent.
>The team hasn't investigated exactly how this gene-stealing is happening just yet, but they propose that it's a result of one of the tardigrade's other crazy survival mechanisms – the ability to dry out until its body is less than 3 percent water, and then come bounce back once they're rehydrated.
> When this desiccation happens, scientists know that their DNA breaks down into tiny pieces. They also know that when their cells rehydrate, there's a point in time when the cell nucleus is leaky, allowing DNA and other molecules to pass through. That means that while the tardigrade is quickly patching up its own genome, it may accidentally be stitching in another organism's genes.
All adult tardigrades of the same species have the exact same number of cells in their bodies [1] – for some reason, I find that extremely fascinating. I wonder how this interacts with the large amount of foreign DNA in their genes.
My kid loves the PBS show "cat in a hat". There is an episode about the Tardigrade (#207):
> Synopsis: Nick and Sally are trying to guess what animal is the toughest one — is it a lion? Oh no, it must be the enormous elephant! Why not at all, says The Cat. The toughest of all is a teeny tiny Waterbear. Huh?
> Educational Objective: How TARDIGRADES (also known as Waterbears) survive extreme heat, cold and even being a trip into space.
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[ 2.2 ms ] story [ 63.1 ms ] threadOr it's the other way around. Maybe singular cell life on Earth were just tardigrade cancer cells that managed to survive outside of their bodies.
[1] with chance damn close to zero
>Before this, the rotifer – another microscopic water creature – was believed to have the most foreign genes of any animal, with 8 or 9 percent. But the new research has shown that approximately 6,000 of the tardigrade’s genes come from foreign species, which equates to around 17.5 percent.
>The team hasn't investigated exactly how this gene-stealing is happening just yet, but they propose that it's a result of one of the tardigrade's other crazy survival mechanisms – the ability to dry out until its body is less than 3 percent water, and then come bounce back once they're rehydrated.
> When this desiccation happens, scientists know that their DNA breaks down into tiny pieces. They also know that when their cells rehydrate, there's a point in time when the cell nucleus is leaky, allowing DNA and other molecules to pass through. That means that while the tardigrade is quickly patching up its own genome, it may accidentally be stitching in another organism's genes.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade#Anatomy_and_morphol...
> Synopsis: Nick and Sally are trying to guess what animal is the toughest one — is it a lion? Oh no, it must be the enormous elephant! Why not at all, says The Cat. The toughest of all is a teeny tiny Waterbear. Huh?
> Educational Objective: How TARDIGRADES (also known as Waterbears) survive extreme heat, cold and even being a trip into space.