Can dogs survive a nuclear war. Can dogs survive the effects of a nuclear explosion? Avoid epicenters of explosions

It is no secret that the consequences of a nuclear war can be very deplorable. Massive destruction, the death of millions and even billions of people, thousands of species of animals and plants, a long nuclear winter are just some of the possible consequences. But will any living beings be able to survive an atomic war if something happens? It turns out they can. And there are at least 10 of them. Amoebas do not care about nuclear war

In the event of a cataclysm, amoeba will be able to restore the population of the species as soon as possible. The simplest form of life can survive any global cataclysm. Amoebas can suspend all life processes and spend as much time as they want in a “frozen” state. These unicellular organisms are found in huge numbers in almost all corners of the world, so it is not possible to destroy them all. Amoebas are resistant to radiation, and they simply cannot have genetic mutations. These organisms can reproduce quickly enough that even if 99% of the amoebas are destroyed, the surviving representatives will repopulate the species in the shortest possible time. cockroaches

Cockroaches are perhaps the most tenacious insects! Probably the best-known animal to survive a nuclear war is the cockroach. This insect is able to withstand huge doses of radiation. This is interesting: Scientists have found that the cockroaches, who were only 300 meters from the epicenter at the time of the nuclear bomb explosion in Hiroshima, remained alive. Despite the fact that modern nuclear bombs are much more powerful than the bomb "Kid" dropped on Hiroshima, the extinction of all cockroaches in the event of a global atomic war is unlikely. MythBusters claims that 10% of the cockroaches in their test survived exposure levels of 10,000 rads. For humans, this dose is considered lethal. Death occurs within a few hours from damage to the central nervous system. Why is the fatal dose of radiation for humans not the same for cockroaches? The fact is that the growth rate of these insects is extremely low. Cockroach cells divide only once every 48 hours, so the risk of their mutation is minimal. Scorpion

Scorpions live on every continent except Antarctica Scorpions are another animal that can survive the effects of even the most devastating nuclear war. Scorpions tolerate both ultraviolet and nuclear radiation. They can adapt to any living conditions. Nowadays, they are found on all continents except Antarctica. In addition, a scorpion can even survive a complete freeze. In which case, they will simply “wait out” the nuclear winter in a state of suspended animation, and when the temperature on Earth rises again, they will return to life. Scorpions often hide in burrows or crevices. Such shelters will provide them with some physical protection, such as from fallout and penetrating ionized radiation. This is interesting: These animals practically do not undergo genetic mutations even during evolution. Therefore, scorpions that lived, for example, 300 million years ago, are practically no different from their modern counterparts. Braconid wasps

Lingulata outlived 99% of all species that existed on our planet. Lingulata are a class of animals of the Brachiopod type. In fact, these are ordinary mollusks. The name comes from the Latin word lingula, translated as "tongue". It is their shell that looks like a tongue. There have been five mass extinctions in the history of the Earth (we may be living in the sixth era). We list them: 440 million years ago, during the era of the Ordovician-Silurian extinction, approximately 60% of the species of marine invertebrates disappeared. The Devonian extinction occurred 364 million years ago. During this period, the total number of species of marine life decreased by 2 times. During the "great" Permian extinction, approximately 95% of the species of all plants and animals disappeared. It happened 251 million years ago. More than half of all species of living organisms went off the path of evolution 199 million years ago, during the era of the Triassic extinction. 65.5 million years ago, dinosaurs disappeared from the face of the earth, and with them another 18% of all species. Scientists call this extinction the Cretaceous-Paleogene. Surprisingly, Lingulata survived all 5 mass extinctions without any problems. It seems that in critical cases, these animals are able to dig deep into the ground and fall into suspended animation. But this is just a guess. This is interesting: Scientists do not know how Lingulata managed to survive 99% of all species that have ever existed on Earth. Despite this, few doubt that they are able to survive in a global nuclear war. Drosophila

Drosophila flies tolerate radiation up to 64,000 rads Drosophila fruit flies can tolerate high doses of radiation - up to about 64,000 rads. If the cockroaches mentioned above are able to survive a nuclear war thanks to slow cell division, fruit flies have another trump card. They reproduce very quickly and have only 8 chromosomes. The small size of Drosophila also plays an important role. The fact is that due to the small area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe body, a smaller number of cells are exposed to radiation than in other animals. People

Love saves the world! Are you surprised that there are people on this list? But in vain! Despite the fact that humans are not highly resistant to the effects of radiation, the chances of our species surviving a nuclear war are quite high. And there are several reasons for this. First, the number of nuclear weapons in the world is actually decreasing, which means fewer bombs. Secondly, purely technically, it is very difficult to destroy all people without exception, because they are too widely scattered around the world. This is interesting: Although some modern bombs are 1000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, this does not mean that 1000 times more people will die if they explode. Much depends on where exactly the deadly projectile will be dropped. For example, if an explosion occurs in a remote taiga, dozens, maximum hundreds of people will die. If in a densely populated city, for example, New York, then the number of victims can be in the millions. Other factors also play an important role, for example, the terrain or the nature of the explosion (ground, air, etc.) There are thousands of bomb shelters in the world. There is no doubt that in the event of a nuclear apocalypse, many people will take refuge in them. Most likely, there will be enough survivors so that they can repopulate the earth. True, after reaching the surface, these people will be forced to “return” to the Stone Age, and they will have to forget about all the scientific and technological achievements of our civilization for a long time. Fundulus

Fundulus live where other fish cannot live. You might think that the fundulus is some kind of mythical creature from Hogwarts, but in fact it is an ordinary fish. It is believed that marine life is very picky about environmental conditions. A slight change in water temperature, salinity or chemical composition can provoke their mass death. However, the fundulus can live anywhere. Scientists find representatives of this species in the most polluted areas of the sea, for example, in oil spills. And this fish managed to visit space! Several were delivered to the Skylab space station in 1973. Scientists have found that weightlessness does not cause them much inconvenience (in the presence of water in a closed container, of course). Fundulus have even bred in space! Their main secret is the ability to quickly adapt to changing conditions. tardigrade

It is almost impossible to kill a tardigrade Tardigrade (or water bear) is a close relative of insects and spiders. The size of adults of representatives of this species does not exceed 1 millimeter. Interestingly, adult water bears differ from individuals that have just hatched from eggs only in size. The number of cells in tardigrades does not increase from the moment of birth. They (cells) simply increase in size. When tardigrades were discovered in hot springs at great depths, scientists decided to find out what conditions they could endure. In December 2006, an interesting article was published in one of the scientific journals. It talked about the fact that one of the representatives of this species, kept in a museum in a dry environment for more than 120 years, suddenly moved its paw! This is interesting: Research has helped to find out that tardigrades can withstand really extreme conditions: they can literally be boiled, crushed, frozen, sent into space, kept without water for several decades. All this will not prevent "clinically dead" organisms from coming back to life! In 1998, Japanese researchers Kunihiro Seki and Mosato Toyoshima placed two species of water bears in tiny containers, which were then immersed in liquid perfluorocarbon. The animals were under an incredible pressure of 600 megapascals for about half an hour. This is about 6 times the pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench (the deepest point in the oceans). Amazingly, 82% of tardigrades of one species and 96% of individuals of another species were able to survive. For comparison: all bacteria known to scientists die already at a pressure of 200 megapascals. But experts were most surprised in 2007, when water bears were sent into low Earth orbit on the Foton-M3 space satellite. Adult tardigrades and their eggs spent a week and a half in a box attached to the outer wall of the satellite. They were not protected from vacuum or deadly ionizing rays, and the ambient temperature was -272°C! Amazingly, 68% of tardigrades successfully endured such an ordeal. The eggs of water bears that had been in outer space were no different from the rest in terms of viability. Unfortunately, researchers do not know what causes the amazing endurance of tardigrades. Bacterium Deinococcus Radioduran

The bacterium Deinococcus Radioduran has an amazing ability: it independently repairs damaged parts of its DNA! This bacterium is the most radiation-resistant form of life on Earth. It can independently repair damaged sections of DNA, and this process occurs very quickly. Members of the scientific community are currently researching this organism to see if it can be used to treat humans. The bacterium Deinococcus Radioduran is already used today to eliminate various contaminants. And it can also become such a “time capsule”! If people are threatened with mass extinction, for example, from a nuclear war, genetic scientists will be able to "write" a message into the DNA of Deinococcus Radioduran. Even after 100 generations, it will remain unchanged. At this stage, scientists can only speculate why the bacterium Deinococcus Radioduran has become so resistant. Of course, it can be very interesting to speculate about what the world might look like after a nuclear war. But the main task of people is to prevent us from ever testing the corresponding guesses in practice.

The simplest form of life can survive any global cataclysm. Amoebas can suspend all life processes and spend as much time as they want in a “frozen” state. These unicellular organisms are found in huge numbers in almost all corners of the world, so it is not possible to destroy them all.

Photos: Public.ru

Amoebas are resistant to radiation, and they simply cannot have genetic mutations. These organisms can reproduce quickly enough that even if 99% of the amoebas are destroyed, the surviving representatives will repopulate the species in the shortest possible time.

cockroaches

This insect is able to withstand huge doses of radiation. Scientists have found that cockroaches, who were at the time of the explosion of a nuclear bomb in Hiroshima, only 300 meters from the epicenter, remained alive.

Even though modern nuclear bombs are much more powerful than the Baby bomb dropped on Hiroshima, the extinction of cockroaches in the event of a global atomic war is unlikely. MythBusters claims that 10% of the cockroaches in their test survived exposure levels of 10,000 rads. For humans, this dose is considered lethal, death occurs within a few hours.

The fact is that the growth rate of cockroaches is extremely low. Cockroach cells divide only once every 48 hours, so the risk of their mutation is minimal.

Scorpion

Scorpions tolerate both ultraviolet and nuclear radiation. They can adapt to any living conditions. Nowadays, they are found on all continents except Antarctica.

A scorpion can even survive a complete freeze. In which case, they will simply “wait out” the nuclear winter in a state of suspended animation, and when the temperature on Earth rises again, they will return to life.

Scorpions often hide in burrows or crevices. Such shelters will provide them with some physical protection, such as from fallout and penetrating ionized radiation.

Braconid wasps

Well, someone, and the braconid, we definitely should be afraid. In 1959, scientists found that some wasps of this species could withstand 1800 Gray radiation exposure. At the same time, a person will go to the next world, having received a dose of 9-10 Gray.

Lingulata are the oldest living creatures on the planet.

Lingulates are a class of animals of the type Brachiopods. In fact, these are ordinary mollusks. The name comes from the Latin word lingula, translated as "tongue". It is their shell that looks like a tongue.

There have been five mass extinctions in the history of the Earth (we may be living in the sixth era). Let's list them:

  • 440 million years ago, during the era of the Ordovician-Silurian extinction, approximately 60% of the species of marine invertebrates disappeared.
  • The Devonian extinction occurred 364 million years ago. During this period, the total number of species of marine life decreased by 2 times.
  • During the "great" Permian extinction, approximately 95% of the species of all plants and animals disappeared. It happened 251 million years ago.
  • More than half of all species of living organisms went off the path of evolution 199 million years ago, during the era of the Triassic extinction.
  • 65.5 million years ago, dinosaurs disappeared from the face of the earth, and with them another 18% of all species. Scientists call this extinction the Cretaceous-Paleogene.

Surprisingly, Lingulata survived all 5 mass extinctions without any problems. It seems that in critical cases, these animals are able to dig deep into the ground and fall into suspended animation. But this is just a guess.

Scientists do not know how Lingulata managed to survive 99% of all species that have ever existed on Earth. Few doubt that they are able to survive in a global nuclear war.

Drosophila

Drosophila fruit flies can tolerate high doses of radiation - up to about 64,000 rads. If the cockroaches mentioned above are able to survive a nuclear war thanks to slow cell division, fruit flies have another trump card. They reproduce very quickly and have only 8 chromosomes.

People

Are you surprised that there are people on this list? But in vain! Although humans are not highly resistant to radiation exposure, the chances of our species surviving a nuclear war are quite high. And there are several reasons for this.

First, the number of nuclear weapons in the world is actually decreasing, which means fewer bombs. Secondly, purely technically, it is very difficult to destroy all people without exception, because they are scattered all over the world.

Although some modern bombs are 1000 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima, this does not mean that 1000 times more people will die if they explode. Much depends on where exactly the deadly projectile will be dropped. For example, if an explosion occurs in a remote taiga, dozens, maximum hundreds of people will die. If in a densely populated city, for example, New York, then the number of victims can be in the millions. Other factors also play an important role, for example, the terrain or the nature of the explosion (ground, air, etc.)

There are thousands of bomb shelters in the world. There is no doubt that in the event of a nuclear apocalypse, many people will take refuge in them. Most likely, there will be enough survivors so that they can repopulate the earth. True, after reaching the surface, these people will be forced to “return” to the Stone Age, and they will have to forget about all the scientific and technological achievements of our civilization for a long time.

Fundulus

Fundulus can live anywhere. Scientists find representatives of this species in the most polluted areas of the sea, for example, in oil spills. And this fish managed to visit space! Several were delivered to the Skylab space station in 1973. Scientists have found that weightlessness does not cause them much inconvenience (in the presence of water in a closed container, of course). Fundulus have even bred in space!

Their main secret is the ability to quickly adapt to changing conditions.

tardigrade

The tardigrade (or water bear) is a close relative of insects and spiders. The size of adults of representatives of this species does not exceed 1 millimeter. Interestingly, adult water bears differ from individuals that have just hatched from eggs only in size. The number of cells in tardigrades does not increase from the moment of birth. They (cells) simply increase in size.

When tardigrades were discovered in hot springs at great depths, scientists decided to find out what conditions they could endure. In December 2006, an interesting article was published in one of the scientific journals. It talked about the fact that one of the representatives of this species, kept in a museum in a dry environment for more than 120 years, suddenly moved his paw!

Studies have helped to find out that tardigrades can withstand really extreme conditions: they can literally be boiled, crushed, frozen, sent into space, and kept without water for several decades. All this will not prevent "clinically dead" organisms from coming back to life!

In 1998, Japanese researchers Kunihiro Seki and Mosato Toyoshima placed two species of water bears in tiny containers, which were then immersed in liquid perfluorocarbon. The animals were under an incredible pressure of 600 megapascals for about half an hour. This is about 6 times the pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench (the deepest point in the oceans). Amazingly, 82% of tardigrades of one species and 96% of individuals of another species were able to survive. For comparison: all bacteria known to scientists die already at a pressure of 200 megapascals.

But experts were most surprised in 2007, when water bears were sent into low Earth orbit on the Foton-M3 space satellite. Adult tardigrades and their eggs spent a week and a half in a box attached to the outer wall of the satellite. They were not protected from vacuum or deadly ionizing rays, and the ambient temperature was -272°C! Amazingly, 68% of tardigrades successfully endured such an ordeal. The eggs of water bears that had been in outer space were no different from the rest in terms of viability.

Unfortunately, researchers don't know exactly what accounts for the amazing endurance of tardigrades. Active research is currently underway.

Bacterium Deinococcus Radioduran

This bacterium is the most radiation-resistant form of life on Earth. She can repair damaged DNA segments and this process is very fast. Members of the scientific community are currently researching this organism to see if it can be used to treat humans.

The bacterium Deinococcus Radioduran is already used today to eliminate various contaminants. And it can also become a "time capsule"! If people are threatened with mass extinction, for example, from a nuclear war, genetic scientists will be able to "write" a message into the DNA of Deinococcus Radioduran. Even after 100 generations, it will remain unchanged.

At this stage, scientists can only speculate why the bacterium Deinococcus Radioduran has become so resistant.

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When the bombs fall, the face of the planet will change forever. For 50 years, this fear has not left people. It is enough for one person to press the button - and the nuclear apocalypse will break out. Today we are not so worried anymore. The Soviet Union collapsed, the bipolar world too, the idea of ​​mass destruction turned into a cinematic cliché. However, the threat will never go away forever. The bombs are still waiting for someone to push the button. And there will always be new enemies. Scientists must conduct tests and build models to understand what will happen to life after the explosion of this bomb. Some people will survive. But life in the smoldering remains of the destroyed world will change completely.

Black rain will fall

Shortly after the atomic bomb explodes, a heavy black downpour will fall. These will not be small droplets clearing away dust and ashes. These will be thick black balls that look like butter and can kill you.

In Hiroshima, black rain fell 20 minutes after the bomb exploded. It covered an area of ​​about 20 kilometers around the epicenter, covering the area with a thick liquid that could bathe the unfortunate in radiation 100 times greater than at the center of the explosion.

The city around the survivors burned and robbed them of their last oxygen. The thirst was unbearable. Trying to fight the fire, desperate people tried to drink even the strange water falling from the sky. But there was enough radiation in this fluid to trigger irreversible changes in human blood. It was strong enough to cause the effects of rain to continue to this day in places where it settled. If another atomic bomb explodes, we have every reason to believe that the same thing will happen.

An electromagnetic pulse will cut off electricity

When a nuclear explosion occurs, it can send out a pulse of electromagnetic radiation that will cut off electricity and knock out all networks, de-energizing a city or an entire country.

In one of the nuclear tests, the impulse sent by the detonation of a single atomic bomb was so strong that it knocked out street lights, televisions and telephones in houses for 1600 kilometers around. This, however, was not planned. Since then, bombs have been developed specifically for this task.

If a bomb, which is supposed to send an electromagnetic pulse, explodes 400-480 kilometers above a country, such as the United States, the entire electrical network of the country will fail.

So when the bomb falls, the lights go out. All refrigerators with food will fail. Data on all computers will be inaccessible. To make matters worse, facilities supplying cities with water will no longer supply clean drinking water.

It is believed that the restoration of the country will take six months. But this is on condition that people can work on it. But when the bomb falls, they won't be up to it.

The smoke will cover the sun

Areas near the epicenters will receive a powerful surge of energy and will be burned to ashes. Anything that can burn will burn. Buildings, forests, plastic and even asphalt on the roads will burn. Oil refineries - which were planned targets during the Cold War - will burst into flames.

The fires that will engulf every target of nuclear bombs will send toxic smoke into the atmosphere. A dark cloud of smoke 15 kilometers above the Earth's surface will grow and move, pushed by the winds, until it covers the entire planet, covering the sun.

In the first years after a nuclear catastrophe, the world will become unrecognizable. The sun will stop giving its light to the planet, and we will see only black clouds covering the usual light. It's hard to say for sure how long it will take before they fly away and the sky turns blue again. But during a nuclear catastrophe, we can expect that we will not see the sky for 30 years.

It will be too cold to grow food

Since the sun will no longer be there, the temperature will start to drop. Depending on how many bombs are sent, the changes will be more and more dramatic. In some cases, global temperatures can be expected to drop by 20 degrees Celsius.

If a total nuclear apocalypse awaits us, the first year will be without a summer. The weather in which we usually grow crops will become winter or late autumn. It will be impossible to grow food. Animals around the world will starve, plants will wither and die.

But there will be no new ice age. During the first five years, the deadly frost will greatly interfere with the plants. But then everything will return to normal, and in about 25 years the temperature will return to normal. Life will go on, if, of course, we can witness it.

The ozone layer will be torn apart

Of course, life will not return to normal soon and not completely. A year after the bomb strike, some of the processes triggered by atmospheric pollution will begin to make holes in the ozone layer. It won't be good. Even with a small nuclear war that uses only 0.03% of the world's arsenal, we can expect up to 50% of the ozone layer to be destroyed.

The world will be destroyed by ultraviolet rays. Plants will die everywhere, and living beings will face mutations in DNA. Even the most resistant crops will become weaker, smaller and less able to reproduce.

So when the skies clear and the world warms up a bit, growing food will be incredibly difficult. When people try to grow food, entire fields will die, and farmers who stay in the sun long enough to grow crops will die a painful death from skin cancer.

Billions of people will starve

If a nuclear apocalypse comes, it will be at least five years before anyone can grow enough food. With low temperatures, deadly frost, and a debilitating blast of ultraviolet radiation from the skies, few crops can survive long enough to be harvested. Billions of people will be doomed to starvation.

Survivors will look for ways to grow food, but it won't be easy. People who live near the ocean will have a better chance because the seas will cool slowly. But life in the oceans will also decrease.

The darkness of the blocked sky will kill plankton, a major food source of the oceans. Radioactive contamination will also spill into the water, reducing the amount of life and making it dangerous for anyone who wants to taste it.

Most people who survived the bombing will not survive the next five years. There will be little food, much competition, many will die.

Canned food can be eaten

Among the few that people will be able to eat in the first five years will be canned food. Tightly packed bags and jars of food can be eaten, and science fiction writers do not deceive us in this.

Scientists conducted an experiment in which they placed beer in a can and soda near a nuclear explosion. Outside, the jars were covered with a thick layer of radiation, so to speak, but inside everything was in order. Drinks that were very close to the epicenter became highly radioactive, but they could also be drunk. Scientists tested radioactive beer and made a completely edible verdict.

Canned food is believed to be as safe as canned beer. There is also reason to believe that water from deep underground wells is also quite suitable. The struggle for survival will certainly turn into a struggle for control of deep-water wells and canned food.

Chemical radiation will penetrate to the marrow of the bones

Even with food, survivors will have to fight the spread of cancer. Shortly after the bombs fall, radioactive particles will rise into the sky and then fall to the ground. When they fall, we won't even be able to see them. But they can still kill us.

One deadly chemical will be strontium-90, which tricks the body into pretending to be calcium when inhaled or consumed. The body sends toxic chemicals straight to the bone marrow and teeth, gifting the victim with bone cancer.

Whether we can survive these radioactive particles depends on our luck. It is not clear how many particles will settle. If it's long, you might be lucky.

If two weeks pass before the particles settle, their radioactivity will decrease by a thousand times, and we will be able to outlive them. Yes, cancer will be wider, life expectancy will be shorter, mutations and defects will be more frequent, but humanity will definitely not be destroyed.

There will be massive storms

During the first two or three years of frosty darkness, we can expect the world to be hit by storms such as the world has never seen.

Garbage sent into the stratosphere will not only cover the sun, but also affect the weather. It will change how clouds form, making them more efficient at producing rain. Until everything returns to normal, we will see constant rain and powerful storms.

In the oceans, things will get even worse. While the temperature on Earth will quickly turn into a nuclear winter, the oceans will cool much longer. They will remain warm, so massive storms will play out on the ocean front. Hurricanes and typhoons will wreak havoc on every coastline in the world, and they will rage for years to come.

People will survive

Billions of people will die if a nuclear catastrophe does occur. 500 million people will die instantly in the explosions of the war. Billions will starve or freeze to death.

But there are many reasons to believe that humanity will survive. There will be few people, but they will be, and that's good. In the 1980s, scientists were convinced that in the event of a nuclear war, the entire planet would be destroyed. But today we are coming to the conclusion that part of humanity will still be able to go through this war.

In 25-30 years, the clouds will dissipate, temperatures will return to normal, and life will have a chance to start anew. Plants will grow. Yes, they won't be as big. But in a few decades the world will look like modern Chernobyl, in which giant forests have grown.

Life goes on. But the world will never be the same again.

The simplest form of life can survive any global cataclysm. Amoebas can suspend all life processes and spend as much time as they want in a “frozen” state. These unicellular organisms are found in huge numbers in almost all corners of the world, so it is not possible to destroy them all.

Amoebas are resistant to radiation, and they simply cannot have genetic mutations. These organisms can reproduce quickly enough that even if 99% of the amoebas are destroyed, the surviving representatives will repopulate the species in the shortest possible time.


Probably the best-known animal to survive a nuclear war is the cockroach. This insect is able to withstand huge doses of radiation.

This is interesting: Scientists have found that the cockroaches, who were only 300 meters from the epicenter at the time of the nuclear bomb explosion in Hiroshima, remained alive.

Despite the fact that modern nuclear bombs are much more powerful than the bomb "Kid" dropped on Hiroshima, the extinction of all cockroaches in the event of a global atomic war is unlikely. MythBusters claims that 10% of the cockroaches in their test survived exposure levels of 10,000 rads. For humans, this dose is considered lethal. Death occurs within a few hours from damage to the central nervous system.

Why is the fatal dose of radiation for humans not the same for cockroaches? The fact is that the growth rate of these insects is extremely low. Cockroach cells divide only once every 48 hours, so the risk of their mutation is minimal.


Scorpions are another animal that can survive the aftermath of even the most devastating nuclear war.

Scorpions tolerate both ultraviolet and nuclear radiation. They can adapt to any living conditions. Nowadays, they are found on all continents except Antarctica. In addition, a scorpion can even survive a complete freeze. In which case, they will simply “wait out” the nuclear winter in a state of suspended animation, and when the temperature on Earth rises again, they will return to life.

Scorpions often hide in burrows or crevices. Such shelters will provide them with some physical protection, such as from fallout and penetrating ionized radiation.

This is interesting: These animals practically do not undergo genetic mutations even during evolution. Therefore, scorpions that lived, for example, 300 million years ago, are practically no different from their modern counterparts.


Well, someone, and the braconid, we definitely should be afraid. In 1959, scientists found that some wasps of this species could withstand 1800 Gray radiation exposure. At the same time, a person will go to the next world, having received a dose of 9-10 Grays.

This is interesting: Considering that mutations in DNA during irradiation occur much faster than usual, one can only fantasize what braconid wasps will look like in the world after a nuclear war and in which animals they will have to lay eggs.


Lingulates are a class of animals of the type Brachiopods. In fact, these are ordinary mollusks. The name comes from the Latin word lingula, translated as "tongue". It is their shell that looks like a tongue.

There have been five mass extinctions in the history of the Earth (we may be living in the sixth era). Let's list them:

  • 440 million years ago, during the era of the Ordovician-Silurian extinction, approximately 60% of the species of marine invertebrates disappeared.
  • The Devonian extinction occurred 364 million years ago. During this period, the total number of species of marine life decreased by 2 times.
  • During the "great" Permian extinction, approximately 95% of the species of all plants and animals disappeared. It happened 251 million years ago.
  • More than half of all species of living organisms went off the path of evolution 199 million years ago, during the era of the Triassic extinction.
  • 65.5 million years ago, dinosaurs disappeared from the face of the earth, and with them another 18% of all species. Scientists call this extinction the Cretaceous-Paleogene.

Surprisingly, Lingulata survived all 5 mass extinctions without any problems. It seems that in critical cases, these animals are able to dig deep into the ground and fall into suspended animation. But this is just a guess.

This is interesting: Scientists do not know how Lingulata managed to survive 99% of all species that have ever existed on Earth. Despite this, few doubt that they are able to survive in a global nuclear war.


Drosophila fruit flies can tolerate high doses of radiation, up to about 64,000 rads. If the cockroaches mentioned above are able to survive a nuclear war thanks to slow cell division, fruit flies have another trump card. They reproduce very quickly and have only 8 chromosomes.

The small size of Drosophila also plays an important role. The fact is that due to the small area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe body, a smaller number of cells are exposed to radiation than in other animals.


Are you surprised that there are people on this list? But in vain! Despite the fact that humans are not highly resistant to the effects of radiation, the chances of our species surviving a nuclear war are quite high. And there are several reasons for this. First, the number of nuclear weapons in the world is actually decreasing, which means fewer bombs. Secondly, purely technically, it is very difficult to destroy all people without exception, because they are too widely scattered around the world.

This is interesting: Although some modern bombs are 1000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, this does not mean that 1000 times more people will die if they explode. Much depends on where exactly the deadly projectile will be dropped. For example, if an explosion occurs in a remote taiga, dozens, maximum hundreds of people will die. If in a densely populated city, for example, New York, then the number of victims can be in the millions. Other factors also play an important role, for example, the terrain or the nature of the explosion (ground, air, etc.)

There are thousands of bomb shelters in the world. There is no doubt that in the event of a nuclear apocalypse, many people will take refuge in them. Most likely, there will be enough survivors so that they can repopulate the earth. True, after reaching the surface, these people will be forced to “return” to the Stone Age, and they will have to forget about all the scientific and technological achievements of our civilization for a long time.


You might think that the fundulus is some kind of mythical creature from Hogwarts, but in fact it is an ordinary fish. It is believed that marine life is very picky about environmental conditions. A slight change in water temperature, salinity or chemical composition can provoke their mass death.

However, the fundulus can live anywhere. Scientists find representatives of this species in the most polluted areas of the sea, for example, in oil spills. And this fish managed to visit space! Several were delivered to the Skylab space station in 1973. Scientists have found that weightlessness does not cause them much inconvenience (in the presence of water in a closed container, of course). Fundulus have even bred in space!

Their main secret is the ability to quickly adapt to changing conditions.


The tardigrade (or water bear) is a close relative of insects and spiders. The size of adults of representatives of this species does not exceed 1 millimeter. Interestingly, adult water bears differ from individuals that have just hatched from eggs only in size. The number of cells in tardigrades does not increase from the moment of birth. They (cells) simply increase in size.

When tardigrades were discovered in hot springs at great depths, scientists decided to find out what conditions they could endure. In December 2006, an interesting article was published in one of the scientific journals. It talked about the fact that one of the representatives of this species, kept in a museum in a dry environment for more than 120 years, suddenly moved its paw!

This is interesting: Research has helped to find out that tardigrades can withstand really extreme conditions: they can literally be boiled, crushed, frozen, sent into space, kept without water for several decades. All this will not prevent "clinically dead" organisms from coming back to life!

In 1998, Japanese researchers Kunihiro Seki and Mosato Toyoshima placed two species of water bears in tiny containers, which were then immersed in liquid perfluorocarbon. The animals were under an incredible pressure of 600 megapascals for about half an hour. This is about 6 times the pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench (the deepest point in the oceans). Amazingly, 82% of tardigrades of one species and 96% of individuals of another species were able to survive. For comparison: all bacteria known to scientists die already at a pressure of 200 megapascals.

But experts were most surprised in 2007, when water bears were sent into low Earth orbit on the Foton-M3 space satellite. Adult tardigrades and their eggs spent a week and a half in a box attached to the outer wall of the satellite. They were not protected from vacuum or deadly ionizing rays, and the ambient temperature was -272°C! Amazingly, 68% of tardigrades successfully endured such an ordeal. The eggs of water bears that had been in outer space were no different from the rest in terms of viability.

Unfortunately, researchers do not know what causes the amazing endurance of tardigrades.


This bacterium is the most radiation-resistant form of life on Earth. It can independently repair damaged sections of DNA, and this process occurs very quickly. Members of the scientific community are currently researching this organism to see if it can be used to treat humans.

The bacterium Deinococcus Radioduran is already used today to eliminate various contaminants. And it can also become such a “time capsule”! If people are threatened with mass extinction, for example, from a nuclear war, genetic scientists will be able to "write" a message into the DNA of Deinococcus Radioduran. Even after 100 generations, it will remain unchanged.

At this stage, scientists can only speculate why the bacterium Deinococcus Radioduran has become so resistant.

Conclusion.

Of course, it can be very interesting to speculate about what the world might look like after a nuclear war. But the main task of people is to prevent us from ever testing the corresponding guesses in practice.

It is no secret that the consequences of a nuclear war can be very deplorable. Massive destruction, the death of millions and even billions of people, thousands of species of animals and plants, a long nuclear winter are just some of the possible consequences. But will any living beings be able to survive an atomic war if something happens? It turns out they can. And there are at least 10 of them.

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Amoebam nuclear war at all


In the event of a cataclysm, amoeba will be able to restore the population of the species as soon as possible

The simplest form of life can survive any global cataclysm. Amoebas can suspend all life processes and spend as much time as they want in a “frozen” state. These unicellular organisms are found in huge numbers in almost all corners of the world, so it is not possible to destroy them all.

Amoebas are resistant to radiation, and they simply cannot have genetic mutations. These organisms can reproduce quickly enough that even if 99% of the amoebas are destroyed, the surviving representatives will repopulate the species in the shortest possible time.


Cockroaches are perhaps the most tenacious insects!

Probably the best-known animal to survive a nuclear war is the cockroach. This insect is able to withstand huge doses of radiation.

This is interesting: Scientists have found that the cockroaches, who were only 300 meters from the epicenter at the time of the nuclear bomb explosion in Hiroshima, remained alive.

Despite the fact that modern nuclear bombs are much more powerful than the bomb "Kid" dropped on Hiroshima, the extinction of all cockroaches in the event of a global atomic war is unlikely. MythBusters claims that 10% of the cockroaches in their test survived exposure levels of 10,000 rads. For humans, this dose is considered lethal. Death occurs within a few hours from damage to the central nervous system.

Why is the fatal dose of radiation for humans not the same for cockroaches? The fact is that the growth rate of these insects is extremely low. Cockroach cells divide only once every 48 hours, so the risk of their mutation is minimal.


Scorpions live on every continent except Antarctica.

Scorpions are another animal that can survive the aftermath of even the most devastating nuclear war.

Scorpions tolerate both ultraviolet and nuclear radiation. They can adapt to any living conditions. Nowadays, they are found on all continents except Antarctica. In addition, a scorpion can even survive a complete freeze. In which case, they will simply “wait out” the nuclear winter in a state of suspended animation, and when the temperature on Earth rises again, they will return to life.

Scorpions often hide in burrows or crevices. Such shelters will provide them with some physical protection, such as from fallout and penetrating ionized radiation.

This is interesting: These animals practically do not undergo genetic mutations even during evolution. Therefore, scorpions that lived, for example, 300 million years ago, are practically no different from their modern counterparts.

Braconid wasps


Braconid wasps lay their eggs in the bodies of other insects.

Well, someone, and the braconid, we definitely should be afraid. In 1959, scientists found that some wasps of this species could withstand 1800 Gray radiation exposure. At the same time, a person will go to the next world, having received a dose of 9-10 Grays.

This is interesting: Considering that mutations in DNA during irradiation occur much faster than usual, one can only fantasize what braconid wasps will look like in the world after a nuclear war and in which animals they will have to lay eggs.

Lingulata are the oldest living creatures on the planet.


Lingulata survived 99% of all species that existed on our planet

Lingulates are a class of animals of the type Brachiopods. In fact, these are ordinary mollusks. The name comes from the Latin word lingula, translated as "tongue". It is their shell that looks like a tongue.

There have been five mass extinctions in the history of the Earth (we may be living in the sixth era). Let's list them:

  • 440 million years ago, during the era of the Ordovician-Silurian extinction, approximately 60% of the species of marine invertebrates disappeared.
  • The Devonian extinction occurred 364 million years ago. During this period, the total number of species of marine life decreased by 2 times.
  • During the "great" Permian extinction, approximately 95% of the species of all plants and animals disappeared. It happened 251 million years ago.
  • More than half of all species of living organisms went off the path of evolution 199 million years ago, during the era of the Triassic extinction.
  • 65.5 million years ago, dinosaurs disappeared from the face of the earth, and with them another 18% of all species. Scientists call this extinction the Cretaceous-Paleogene.

Surprisingly, Lingulata survived all 5 mass extinctions without any problems. It seems that in critical cases, these animals are able to dig deep into the ground and fall into suspended animation. But this is just a guess.

This is interesting: Scientists do not know how Lingulata managed to survive 99% of all species that have ever existed on Earth. Despite this, few doubt that they are able to survive in a global nuclear war.

Drosophila


Drosophila flies tolerate radiation up to 64 thousand rads

Drosophila fruit flies can tolerate high doses of radiation - up to about 64,000 rads. If the cockroaches mentioned above are able to survive a nuclear war thanks to slow cell division, fruit flies have another trump card. They reproduce very quickly and have only 8 chromosomes.

The small size of Drosophila also plays an important role. The fact is that due to the small area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe body, a smaller number of cells are exposed to radiation than in other animals.

People


Love saves the world!

Are you surprised that there are people on this list? But in vain! Despite the fact that humans are not highly resistant to the effects of radiation, the chances of our species surviving a nuclear war are quite high. And there are several reasons for this. First, the number of nuclear weapons in the world is actually decreasing, which means fewer bombs. Secondly, purely technically, it is very difficult to destroy all people without exception, because they are too widely scattered around the world.

This is interesting: Although some modern bombs are 1000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, this does not mean that 1000 times more people will die if they explode. Much depends on where exactly the deadly projectile will be dropped. For example, if an explosion occurs in a remote taiga, dozens, maximum hundreds of people will die. If in a densely populated city, for example, New York, then the number of victims can be in the millions. Other factors also play an important role, for example, the terrain or the nature of the explosion (ground, air, etc.)

There are thousands of bomb shelters in the world. There is no doubt that in the event of a nuclear apocalypse, many people will take refuge in them. Most likely, there will be enough survivors so that they can repopulate the earth. True, after reaching the surface, these people will be forced to “return” to the Stone Age, and they will have to forget about all the scientific and technological achievements of our civilization for a long time.


Fundulus live where other fish cannot live

You might think that the fundulus is some kind of mythical creature from Hogwarts, but in fact it is an ordinary fish. It is believed that marine life is very picky about environmental conditions. A slight change in water temperature, salinity or chemical composition can provoke their mass death.

However, the fundulus can live anywhere. Scientists find representatives of this species in the most polluted areas of the sea, for example, in oil spills. And this fish managed to visit space! Several were delivered to the Skylab space station in 1973. Scientists have found that weightlessness does not cause them much inconvenience (in the presence of water in a closed container, of course). Fundulus have even bred in space!

Their main secret is the ability to quickly adapt to changing conditions.


It's almost impossible to kill a tardigrade

The tardigrade (or water bear) is a close relative of insects and spiders. The size of adults of representatives of this species does not exceed 1 millimeter. Interestingly, adult water bears differ from individuals that have just hatched from eggs only in size. The number of cells in tardigrades does not increase from the moment of birth. They (cells) simply increase in size.

When tardigrades were discovered in hot springs at great depths, scientists decided to find out what conditions they could endure. In December 2006, an interesting article was published in one of the scientific journals. It talked about the fact that one of the representatives of this species, kept in a museum in a dry environment for more than 120 years, suddenly moved its paw!

This is interesting: Research has helped to find out that tardigrades can withstand really extreme conditions: they can literally be boiled, crushed, frozen, sent into space, kept without water for several decades. All this will not prevent "clinically dead" organisms from coming back to life!

In 1998, Japanese researchers Kunihiro Seki and Mosato Toyoshima placed two species of water bears in tiny containers, which were then immersed in liquid perfluorocarbon. The animals were under an incredible pressure of 600 megapascals for about half an hour. This is about 6 times the pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench (the deepest point in the oceans). Amazingly, 82% of tardigrades of one species and 96% of individuals of another species were able to survive. For comparison: all bacteria known to scientists die already at a pressure of 200 megapascals.

But experts were most surprised in 2007, when water bears were sent into low Earth orbit on the Foton-M3 space satellite. Adult tardigrades and their eggs spent a week and a half in a box attached to the outer wall of the satellite. They were not protected from vacuum or deadly ionizing rays, and the ambient temperature was -272°C! Amazingly, 68% of tardigrades successfully endured such an ordeal. The eggs of water bears that had been in outer space were no different from the rest in terms of viability.

Unfortunately, researchers do not know what causes the amazing endurance of tardigrades.


The bacterium Deinococcus Radioduran has an amazing ability: it independently repairs damaged parts of its DNA!

This bacterium is the most radiation-resistant form of life on Earth. It can independently repair damaged sections of DNA, and this process occurs very quickly. Members of the scientific community are currently researching this organism to see if it can be used to treat humans.

The bacterium Deinococcus Radioduran is already used today to eliminate various contaminants. And it can also become such a “time capsule”! If people are threatened with mass extinction, for example, from a nuclear war, genetic scientists will be able to "write" a message into the DNA of Deinococcus Radioduran. Even after 100 generations, it will remain unchanged.

At this stage, scientists can only speculate why the bacterium Deinococcus Radioduran has become so resistant.

Of course, it can be very interesting to speculate about what the world might look like after a nuclear war. But the main task of people is to prevent us from ever testing the corresponding guesses in practice.



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