The cute but almost indestructible tardigrade or water bear.

可爱但几乎坚不可摧的缓步动物或水熊虫。

Tardigrades are some of nature's toughest animals.

缓步动物是自然界中最顽强的动物之一。

The genome for a species of tardigrade was first sequenced last year.

去年科学家首次排列出了缓步动物的基因组。

Now, a new genome has been published of an exceptionally hardy tardigrade species.

现在，在异常顽强的水熊基因中发现了一种新的基因组。

Of course, he says tardigrades didn't evolve to endure the perils of space travel.

当然，他说，缓步动物的进化并不是为了承受太空旅行的危险。

But can tardigrades or anything else live long enough to make it to an entirely different solar system?

但缓步类动物或其它微生物的寿命能否长到能穿越到达另一个太阳系呢？

Kadonaga says understanding the tardigrade's secret weapon may also inform biotechnology and pharmaceutical research.

卡多纳加表示，了解缓步动物的秘密也可能为生物技术和制药研究提供信息。

Well it turns out there is something that awesome, and it's called a tardigrade!

好吧，事实证明有一种很棒的东西，它叫做缓步动物！

But Kadonaga suspected that a protein found only in tardigrades, called Dsup, might protect their DNA under both conditions.

但卡多纳加怀疑，在这两种情况下，只在缓步动物身上发现的一种名为Dsup的蛋白质可能会保护它们的DNA。

We know that tardigrades, for example, can live for decades, and they're able to survive the harsh environment of space.

例如， 我们知道，缓步类动物有数十年的寿命，它们能够在极端的太空环境中存活。

And that includes our old pals, tardigrades.

这包括我们的老朋友，缓步动物。

Larger than a tardigrade, though only a single cell.

比缓步动物大，但只有一个细胞。

The biggest tardigrades, which have thousands of cells, are 1.5 mm long.

最大的缓步动物有数千个细胞，长 1.5 毫米。

For many tardigrades, this requires that they go through something called a tun state.

对于许多缓步动物来说，这需要它们经历一种叫做 tun 的状态。

That's right, some tardigrades are cannibals!

没错，有些缓步动物是食人族！

And however extraordinary, tardigrades aren't alone.

无论多么非凡，缓步动物并不孤单。

Normally, dehydration would make tardigrade DNA susceptible to damage from chemicals called hydroxyl radicals, which form when water molecules split.

通常情况下，脱水会使缓步DNA容易受到一种名为羟自由基的化学物质的伤害，这种物质在水分子分裂时形成。

All of the tardigrade samples were exposed to both ionizing solar and galactic cosmic radiation.

所有的缓步动物样本都暴露在电离太阳和银河宇宙辐射下。

This has led to some erroneous speculation that tardigrades are extraterrestrial beings.

这导致了一些错误的猜测，认为缓步动物是外星生物。

In 2007, samples of tardigrades were exposed to a space vacuum and two different ultraviolet radiation spectral ranges.

2007 年，缓步动物样本暴露在太空真空和两种不同的紫外线辐射光谱范围内。