Magical Microbes
We might come up with superheroes with wacky superpowers, but microbes are the real stars and what they can do is nothing short of magic! Behold, some of the microscopic champs!
Thug life
Bdelloid rotifers are literally like superheroes and not surprisingly, they are found everywhere, even in Antarctica. They are masters of survival. If there’s a lot of water, they’re happy. If it’s completely dry, they’re still happy because they can simply dry up and stay in that state for years; when there’s water again, they continue as if nothing happened. The secret to their success? Stealing DNA from organisms like plants, fungi or other microbes to repair damages to their own DNA. If that’s not the coolest superpower, what is?
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Rama Ramesh is a creative writer who has written stories and features for children’s magazines and has co-authored a series of nanotechnology books for kids.
