Reminds me of a short story by Alastair Reynolds, "Glacial". In it, scientists are studying these worm-like alien creatures that seem to interact with one another via chemical markers left on the tunnel walls. It is theorized that they're acting as a sort of distributed intelligence, although it's really slow due to the extremely low metabolism.
Interestingly, not only are those worms _able_ to survive low temperatures, they also _require_ low temperatures:
> They freeze at around −6.8 °C (19.8 °F), and their bodies decompose after continuous exposure to temperatures above 5 °C (41 °F).
Goes to show (perhaps) that adapting to unusual environments is not so much like a superpower but a tradeoff.
gus_massa 3 hours ago [-]
They look like earthworm that like to live near ice and eat algae. What is the nightmare fuel?
jandrewrogers 2 hours ago [-]
Some people don't like the idea of worms and actively avoid them. I'm not one of them but I know several people that are. The idea of chilling on a pristine glacier somewhere and suddenly finding yourself surrounded by thousands of worms is pretty unsettling to the worm avoidant.
Naturally I introduce these people to the existence of the Giant Palouse Earthworm [0], also in the Pacific Northwest, though these are so rare that it would be of scientific interest if you came across one.
Well, yeah, they're worms. People are irrationally afraid of all sorts of stuff, that doesn't make everything "nightmare fuel". They're just worms that look like worms.
omnicognate 54 minutes ago [-]
> worms that look like worms
Those are the worst kind of worms.
htek 5 hours ago [-]
I've seen this movie before. I hope the researchers are safe and checked their flamethrowers for fuel.
Indeed. The Borg are in there. Not to be messed around with
LargoLasskhyfv 4 hours ago [-]
No No, that was AVP ...err... antarctic video performances...
jajko 3 hours ago [-]
Assistant Vice... Predator
LargoLasskhyfv 4 hours ago [-]
Which one? 1951? 1982? 2011?
jihadjihad 4 hours ago [-]
'82, for sure
NoMoreNicksLeft 3 hours ago [-]
Agent Mulder figured out what to do about these in less than 42 minutes. Well, maybe Scully helped a little...
DaveZale 2 hours ago [-]
I brought a sample of "pink snow" back to the lab- common at high altitudes in California. Under the scope, the algae were pink spheres.
Extremophiles are so interesting
whyandgrowth 5 hours ago [-]
Who would have thought that they had been found before, but only now did they undertake a more detailed study.
mrweasel 4 hours ago [-]
Extreme life - Sponsored by Red Bull.
searine 5 hours ago [-]
Funded primarily by US taxpayers via multiple NSF grants and additional grants from the Human Frontier Science Program, Moore Foundation, Schmidt Foundation, and Dalio Foundation.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesenchytraeus_solifugus
> They freeze at around −6.8 °C (19.8 °F), and their bodies decompose after continuous exposure to temperatures above 5 °C (41 °F).
Goes to show (perhaps) that adapting to unusual environments is not so much like a superpower but a tradeoff.
Naturally I introduce these people to the existence of the Giant Palouse Earthworm [0], also in the Pacific Northwest, though these are so rare that it would be of scientific interest if you came across one.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Palouse_earthworm
Those are the worst kind of worms.
Extremophiles are so interesting