In the Super Natural, marked by the awards of the writer-nauki Alex Reili, tells about his inquisitive, generous view of extremists. No, not the extreme right or extreme left; This is much stupidity, distant and distant life forms that inhabit less ready -made earth biomes. These wonderful creatures demonstrate dexterity for prosperity – at least from painted turtles to painted turtles and tardgrades demonstrate a detailed one – or at least carry with them – in their own niche. Mr. Riley chatted with the help of a video with a member of the monitor Erin Douglas about the miracles and the possibilities of such lives on the verge. The interview was edited and compressed.
You describe the search for comfort in nature as a boy who grew up in the 1990s. Do you have an early memory that stands out?
I grew up in North Yorkshire, and Northern England. It was very rural, very picturesque, but very lonely. You had to find your own interests.
Why did we write this
From snail to Tardigrad, creatures that flourish in extreme climates inspire curiosity and fear. They also provide scientists with the opportunity to study how species adapt to harsh conditions over time.
We had this pond at the bottom of the garden, and there was frogspawn. This is very ordinary for adults, the frog turns from a tadpoles to a frog to a frog, but for me to watch how exciting it is. Even today it considers me something incredible: transformations are happening around us, whether it be caterpillars for moths or tadpoles in frogs. I think the metamorphosis was really important for my upbringing.
You organize a book under the conditions – heat, cold, depth, height, etc. Why did you choose this structure?
I didn't want to do it too complicated. I wanted the layman to take this book, look at these chapters and say: “Well, I understand these environmental stresses and I want to know more about them.”
In the sequence of the book, I started with the water – or flaw Water – because water is so associated with life. This is what NASA used to search for extraterrestrial life. Everything that we know from the point of view of life on Earth is connected with water and requires this in our cells. We developed from the water.
What is the title?
There is a double meaning. You, Americans, say “super” for “very” – so all this Very natural. But there is this supernatural element that cannot be inexplicable. We can’t even understand how the mushrooms survived in Chernobyl on the reactor, which exploded, and actually used radiation for their existence. We cannot imagine what it was like to live in complete darkness and have nothing to do with sunlight. This is what we cannot understand.
You call Tardigrade “a poster, a child of the stability of life.” What makes these tiny creatures so amazing?
They have been studied since the 1770s, and we are still trying to reveal how tough they are. They are amazing: under a microscope, they look like small bears with pigs, eight puffy legs. Even their movement is delightful. They do not just swim or walk – they bumble through the grains of sand and mx and on the seabed. And yet they are almost indestructible.
Which creature struck you the most?
Microbes that live in underground. There is water below, and there is radiation from rocks, and that radiation breaks down water and produces hydrogen. All these microbes need hydrogen and something to accept it; Hemosynthesis is what they do, but it is very, very simple. We did not know that life could exist below the surface, below the soil level. But these microbes were found five kilometers down into the root rock.
If we are going to find an extraterrestrial life, say, on the moon of Saturn or Lun Jupiter, these are worlds that are covered with ice, and they will be dark. Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe. If life is in another place, then these small microbes in the undergrounds seem to be a good example of what it can be.
You emphasize that endurance for centuries is possible only with ingenuity – and differ. Would you say more about this?
Life should differ in order to survive, because in order to compete for resources, you should go against grain.
If you are a snail that lives 8000 meters down in the Marian tranchet, you have a pretty good life, because you have pushed to this extreme, which no other fish can get into. You have no predation, and you have all the anthropods that you can eat. These oddities are actually a natural part of what makes life on Earth. This is an example of how we are all part of this adaptation.
For people, our ingenuity was our intellect, for all its costs and all its negatives. This will be ingenuity – in renewable energy sources and other forms of technology – which will allow us to live steadily on this planet.
Are there the last thoughts?
There is this comfort that I get from thought in a deep time, not in political five-year slot machines, but thinking outside human life. What will happen next? Perhaps life will be more symbiotic because we were so mining. This is a spectrum of hope that I have. I think that we can, we must live more stable. But even if we do not, life adapts, and this will be just another example of this creativity and ingenuity.
