How Much Radiation Can a Water Bear Take?

For a person, a whole-body dose of around four grays is often fatal, while for one tardigrade species the dose that kills half of them is about 5,000 grays. 🐻

That is more than a thousand times yours, although doses above 1,000 grays leave the water bears sterile.

3D models are simplified illustrations and may not be exact. 3D person: "Realistic Human Male Body" by vtr3d (RenderHub, Extended Use); "Iridescent Waves" by Tycho Magnetic Anomaly (CC BY 4.0); the water bear is our own build. Sources: Horikawa et al. 2006, International Journal of Radiation Biology; CDC, Acute Radiation Syndrome: Information for Clinicians. #tardigrade #radiation #biology #science #shorts