In recent years, polar ice worms have become a hot scientific research object, this creature because of its fear of heat and cold, ice through, as well as special hardiness and normal cell metabolism at low temperatures, so that researchers pay more and more attention, some biologists have joined forces with NASA and the United States "National Geographic" to invest in joint research, why study it? What secrets are hidden in the tiny body of the Polar Ice Worm?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" > what is a polar ice worm</h1>
We imagine that the Arctic glacier should be lifeless and only large animals such as polar bears live, where there is no need to consider those nasty mosquitoes, do not think that the world is big, there are still bugs, such as snow fleas, snow nematodes and snow spiders, but the most amazing and interesting is the polar ice worms that are afraid of heat and cold, they are called by biologists as the most active creatures in the glacier land and the only creatures on the earth that are not afraid of cold.
They are small and about 1 cm long, resembling earthworms, and are distant relatives of earthworms, which look like tiny black lines in the snow, mainly living on the northern Pacific coast, Alaska, Oregon, and glacier areas near the polar year-round ice and snow, and biology divides them into the family Phytophthora.
For them, the seaweed and microorganisms of the ice layer and other digestible residues can be used to maintain life, and the seemingly simple life of the ice worm has overwhelmed the researchers, because each of its very casual life skills and habits make scientists scratch their heads!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="104" > hardy mystery</h1>
Under the bone-chilling cold temperatures of the glacier region, polar bears rely on thick fur to isolate them from the outside world at low temperatures, Antarctic cod relies on the antifreeze in their own blood to live as usual, and polar ice insects, which have neither fur nor antifreeze and any insulating material, are fearless, still going their own way, how much energy is contained in the small body.
Scientists have found that when the temperature decreases, the energy in their bodies rises, mainly related to the highly efficient ATP (adenosine triphosphate) mechanism in the body.
Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a high-energy compound prepared by biological fermentation technology based on hypoxanthine nucleotides, adenosine triphosphate is the direct source of energy required for all life activities of tissue cells in the body, and is known as the "molecular currency" of energy in cells.
All living things rely on ATP to power the reaction in the body, but the ATP molecule of the polar ice worm is close to 100% efficient, which makes other organisms feel bad, and the DNA in its body will help in the reaction, which is equivalent to accelerating the production of ATP.
They also have a modified cellular "thermostat" that continues to produce ATP during cold times, and the combination of these differences means that its intracellular ATP concentration is much higher than that of most organisms, in order to maintain energy levels in the cold.
Simply put, the ATP molecule in the ordinary organism is equivalent to a naturally aspirated engine with a displacement of 1.0 liters, while the ice worm is a 1.5 liter turbocharged engine, and the power difference is so large that the fuel consumption of the polar ice worm is still low enough to make you doubt life.
During the course of the study, scientists put several polar ice worms in the refrigerator, and after two years, they still live in the refrigerator without eating or drinking.
Other biologists believe that this is because polar ice worms are full of melanin and can obtain heat from solar radiation.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="95" > the mystery of wearing ice</h1>
On the ice surface, ice worms generally grasp the ice at a speed of 3km/h through the small bristles on the outside of the body, which is not a big deal, but in the ice can still walk freely and live normally, how does the ice pass through it? It's not like you can dig a hole in the soil, even if you can dig a hole, it doesn't have a hard enough tool, is it by relying on the extraordinary heat of the body to melt the ice?
The reality is that this is still a mystery, and some researchers believe that the polar ice worm comes out of the crevice of the ice and does not break the ice; some people think that it will break the ice and then come out of the crevice; the conjecture of the large number of people agreeing is that it has ice material in its body, and when it needs to travel, the body will release related substances to melt the ice cubes, thus forming a channel.
As for melting ice cubes by body heat, it is impossible to know that ice worms are cold-blooded animals. It is believed that with the progress of science and the efforts of researchers, this mystery will be solved.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="102" > the mystery of hiding</h1>
In the summer, they break the ice and search for food, and the cold nights are the peak of their activity, and before the sun rises, they dive into the underground ice to hide, seemingly because they are afraid of the sun and live a day and night life.
Ice worms that are afraid of heat and cold are incomprehensible in the summer, and they disappear in the winter.
Scientists suspect that ice worms may dive into the ice layer in winter to "hibernate", some researchers also run to the snow-capped mountains in winter to find their figures, the ground in addition to snow has nothing but to dig deep underground has a surprise, and later found that they are really hidden in the ground hole of more than three meters underground in winter, biologists speculate that the surface should be covered by ice and snow without any food can only hide underground, as for the scientific explanation, it is regrettable that it is still under study.
Perhaps for polar ice worms, a winter without food is better than a white effort to lie flat!
In addition, ice worms are afraid of heat and cold is also limited, and the temperature range suitable for active survival is very narrow, below minus 6.8 degrees Celsius The body will freeze, above 4 degrees Celsius above zero, its cells will produce lysozymes and "autolysis" with the increase in temperature, as the temperature rises, it will eventually turn into a clump of viscous substances, perhaps the ice worms hide underground in winter because the surface environment is not suitable for survival.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="135" > NASA to study ice bugs</h1>
The polar ice worms with their many mysteries fascinate biologists, and there are clearly factors associated with NASA and geography magazines funding and participating.
Because polar ice worms can live in ice and obviously have the ideal characteristics of extraterrestrial life, scientists speculate that there are also hardy creatures similar to ice bugs on alien planets; similarly, NASA believes that if it can study the mechanism of ice bugs living in ice, it can prove that similar alien creatures may exist on jupiter's several ice hockey moons or other planets.
Europa
What interests geography magazines is how the cells of polar ice worms maintain their metabolism normally at low temperatures!
Today's transplanted organs in the process of refrigeration will consume energy and rapidly shrink, if unraveling the secret of polar ice worm metabolism will help transplant organs better refrigeration, very practical significance, and feel that the use of polar ice worms to study this is more reliable than the so-called extraterrestrial life!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="172" > written at the end</h1>
As early as 1887, the polar ice worm was discovered by photographers and named "snow eel", and now more than a century later, the study of polar ice worms is almost blank, but there is really not much time left for scientists, and polar ice worms have too many secrets waiting to be revealed!
As global warming exacerbates the endangerment of polar animals, some of the glaciers previously discovered have disappeared, others are shrinking, such as the Nisquarie Glacier has retreated by an average of 33 meters per year since 2003, they are limited by temperature and their own survival range is small, scientists have no doubt that ice insects will continue to go extinct, perhaps in the future people can only lament their magic in the history books!
Reference: National Geographic Recognizes Ice Worms Living in Glaciers – A Scientific "Paradox" by Douglas Maine
The image comes from the Internet.