Back to the RadioSpace™ home page
NewsDirect story topics:
Consumer, Business & General Interest
Current Events & Public Affairs
Entertainment & Sports
Health & Medicine
"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Global Worming"
Fully produced report in MP3 format:
48 kbps |
96 kbps
(90 seconds)
-- How Will You Use This Story? --
READER SCRIPT
(DOES NOT FULLY MATCH AUDIO)
FREEZE-DRIED WORM? THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. ANTARCTICA'S DRY VALLEYS ARE AMONG THE MOST-BARREN AND -ROCKY PLACES ON EARTH--DEVOID OF MOST LIFE-FORMS, EXCEPT FOR A COUPLE OF RESEARCHERS FROM BRIGHAM YOUNG, AND A SPECIES OF HALF-INCH WORMS--OR NEMATODES, TO BE EXACT. WHY WOULD THESE SCIENTISTS TREK TO THIS REMOTE REGION--JUST TO DIG WORMS? BECAUSE IT'S A UNIQUE FIELD-LABORATORY TO STUDY BOTH A PLANT-LESS ECOSYSTEM AND CERTAIN UNIQUE GENETIC RESPONSES DEVELOPED BY THIS CREATURE: IT HAS EVOLVED TO THE POINT WHERE IT CAN ACTUALLY MAKE ITS OWN ANTIFREEZE; ITS BODY PRODUCES A FLUID THAT PREVENTS ICE-CRYSTALS FROM FORMING IN ITS BODY, IN THESE EXTREME TEMPERATURES. ESSENTIALLY, THIS WORM CAN'T GET FROSTBITE. HOWEVER, IT ALSO HAS AN EVEN-MORE-AMAZING ABILITY: WHEN CONDITIONS ARE EXTREMELY DRY, THE NEMATODE CAN SIMPLY LET ITSELF DRY OUT--AND GO INTO SUSPENDED ANIMATION--UNTIL WATER RETURNS. THE SCIENTISTS BELIEVE THAT--BY UNDERSTANDING THIS CREATURE'S ADAPTABILITY IN THIS SIMPLE ECOSYSTEM--THEY WILL BE BETTER ABLE TO PREDICT HOW CLIMATE-CHANGE MIGHT AFFECT MORE-COMPLEX ECOSYSTEMS. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
