placed in room temperature water, they revived every time. Scientists examined a museum specimen of dried moss, found tardigrade husks in it, and revived them. They had been in suspended animation for 120 years.
WEIRD WORMS
Page 4
FAST FACTS • A type of parasitic worm lives only under the eyes of a hippo, surviving on its tears. • Worms, flies, and snails have hearts. • A robin can eat up to 14 feet (4 m) worth of worms in a day. • Earthworms have no lungs. They breathe through their skin.
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• A flatworm, when cut in half, will regenerate both missing halves to form two complete new worms. McConnell and Thompson in 1953 taught flatworms that a bright light would be followed by an electric shock. Soon the worms curled into a ball whenever a light was shown, before the shock came. Now McConnell and Thompson wondered if you cut the worms in half and let them regenerate, which half would remember the knowledge? Experiments showed both halves remembered equally well. Another researcher split a worm halfway down the middle, resulting in a twoheaded worm. Two heads, he discovered, are better than one, as two-headed worms were able to learn faster than one-headed worms. • Planarians are small flatworms that live in ponds and streams. Dr. William Corning put a number of them in a bowl filled with water. He then turned on a bright light and followed it with a mild electric shock. The worms curled into a tight ball when they received the shock. Dr. Corning wanted to see if he could teach the worms to curl up in a ball before they received the shock. Two days later, when he turned on the bright light prior to giving them the shock, he was amazed to see the worms climb out of the water and perch on the bowl's rim! • Between 20 to 30% of Florida's citrus trees are killed by weevils which attack the roots. Nematodes (tiny worms) can control weevils, but they die quickly if the soil dries out. Enter super slurper—a modified corn starch product that absorbs water like a sponge and retains it. Scientists hope that soon citrus farmers will be able to buy pre-packaged nematodes, mix them with super slurper, and sprinkle them on the roots before planting. The result is happy nematodes, unhappy weevils, and happy citrus farmers. • The sheep-liver fluke is a small worm which hatches inside a snail. The snail ejects it in a ball of slime. The slime is then eaten by a passing ant, whereupon the fluke makes its way to the ant's brain. There it takes over the ant, forcing it to sit on top of a piece of grass, where a sheep soon eats it. From there the fluke makes its way to the sheep's liver, thereby completing the cycle. • The tardigrade is a type of microscopic worm. The name tardigrade is Latin for 'slow walker.' It has six tiny legs with claws, two eyes, and a mouth adapted to piercing and sucking out the contents of plants and other microscopic creatures. The tardigrade is unusual because it is capable of going into suspended animation. Its body is normally 85% water, but when conditions are dry, it dehydrates to the point of being just a husk, and can survive in a state of apparent death for decades. Tardigrades have been placed into vacuums; kept for months in pure hydrogen, nitrogen, helium, carbonic acid, and hydrogen sulphide; stored for months in liquid air at -392°F.; exposed to liquid helium at -519°; and dried for hours in temperatures up to 300°F. Still, when
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