Top 10 Life Forms That Would Survive Nuclear War (P1)

 Top 10 Life Forms That Would Survive  Nuclear War (p1)

The Tardigrade 

Sounds Like Something Out Of Doctor Who, Doesn’t It? The Tardigrade (Or Water Bear) Makes The List On Account Of It Being What Scientists Call An “Extremophile”. This Means They Can Withstand Extremes That Would Put Most Animals To Shame. They Can Be Boiled, Crushed, Frozen, Live In Space, Live Without Water And Be Brought Back To Life After Being Clinically Dead For Almost A Decade. They Only Grow Up To 1.5mm Long As Well So Are Less Likely To Be At Risk From The Explosion Itself. This, Coupled With Their Ability To Survive Everything, Including Radiation, Makes Them Near Certainties To Survive Nuclear War.

The Mummichog

The Rather Delightful Mummichog Might Sound Like A Mythical Creature Found At Hogwarts, But It Is In Fact Just A Simple Fish. Fish Are Not Typically Great Survivors, With Changes In Salt Content, Water Temperature Or Pollution Normally Wiping Them Out. The Mummichog Is Special, However, In That It Can Live Anywhere. It Lives In The Most Polluted Areas Of Sea Which Have Severe Chemical Spills. It’s Also The Only Fish To Have Been To Space. Several Were Taken To The Skylab Space Station In 1973 For Tests And It Was Found That They Could Swim In Space And All Their Offspring Were Born As Usual. Their Ability To Survive Is Linked To Their Ability To Turn Genes On And Off When Required. This Allows The Fish To Survive In Any Mixture Of Chemicals, Any Temperature And Any Salinity. The Fish Have Actually Been Observed “Redesigning” Body Parts To Cope With New Environments. Any Fish That Can Do That Is Surely A Favorite For Survival.

The Human

Surprised? Well, Despite All That’s Known About Our Ability To Survive Radiation, It’s Quite Possible That Humans Would Survive Nuclear War. There Are Several Reasons For This. First, The Amount Of Nuclear Weaponry In The World Is Actually Decreasing, Meaning Fewer Bombs. While The Existing Bombs Could Technically Wipe Everyone Out, That Would Be Unlikely As Humans Are Too Scattered Around The World. Although Bombs Are Around 1,000 Times More Powerful Now Than Hiroshima It Doesn’t Mean That 1,000 Times More People Will Die. This Is Quite Simply Because There Won’t Be That Many People In The Vicinity Of Where The Bomb Is Dropped, Although Every Person There Would Obviously Be Killed. With Humans Living In All Parts Of The World, And With Nuclear Shelters, It Is Possible That Enough People Would Survive To Keep A Viable Population And Live Off The Remaining Land. Also, We’re Fortunate Enough To Possess The Intelligence To Engineer Our Way Out Of Trouble. Or, You Know, We Could Choose Not To Drop The Bombs To Begin With.

The Fruit Fly

The Common Fruit Fly, Or Drosophila If You Want To Be Specific, Can Survive High Doses Of Radiation Up To Around 64,000 Rids. Most Insects, As It Happens, Are Quite Capable Of Surviving Radiation Due To Slow Cell Division, And Extremely Fast Reproduction In The Case Of The Fruit Fly. The Ability To Reproduce Means They Have The Ability To Evolve Very Quickly To Any Change In Conditions. Also The Mere Fact That They’re So Small Works In Their Favor Too, As There Are Less Cells To Be Affected By The Radiation And Less Surface Area To Absorb It. As We Are Beginning To See, The World After Nuclear War Would Not Be Particularly Cute And Cuddly, But There Would At Least Be Some Life.

 Deinococcus Radioduran

Nicknamed “Conan The Bacterium” By Scientists, This Is The Undoubted Survivor. Tardiness May Be Extremeness But Conan Is A “Polyethylene” Meaning It Is Just Generally Better At Everything Than The Already Indestructible Tardigrade. Listed As The “Most Radiation Resistant Life Form” By The Guinness Book Of World Records At One Point It Is Clear That This Is One Tough Cookie. It Is Able To Repair Damaged DNA So Quickly That Scientists Are Trying To Use It For Help In Treating Humans. It Is Already Used For Cleaning Up Polluted Areas And It Is Quite Literally Being Used As A Time Capsule. In Case Of Widespread Death (Say A Nuclear War) A Team Of Scientists Discovered They Can Write A Message In The DNA Of The Bacteria And 100 Generations Later, When They Tested It, The Message Remained. Like Most Bacteria, No One Actually Knows Why It Evolved Resistance To Everything But It Is Still Being Studied. So Not Only Will Future Humans Survive, They Might Actually Be Brought Messages By A Near Indestructible Bacteria Species Going By The Name “Conan”.