The NATRC Releases "Tardigrades To Save Planet Earth!" Podcast

WASHINGTON - April 13, 2022 - PRLog -- Today the North America Tardigrade Research Consortium (NATRC)  announces the release of the "Tardigrades To Save Planet Earth!" podcast. Hosted by Amy H. Helfer, co-founder of the NATRC, she explores these incredible micro-animals, revealing what makes them so fascinating from a scientific perspective, plus unveiling their secrets to sustainable life.

The first episode, "Discovering The Superpowers Of Tardigrades" features an all female cast of scientists, journalists, and #tardigradestans including:

●      Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer at Live Science

●      Sonali Verma, current Research Associates at NASA Ames

●      Brooke Shepard, former Research Associates at NASA Ames

They share their experiences studying tardigrades, the fun facts they've discovered along the way plus how these creatures have the potential to save our planet.

Sonali Verma, Research Associates at NASA Ames says, "So my research on tardigrades specifically surrounded this idea of why they are so radio tolerant. Radio tolerant in the sense that why can they survive such extreme conditions of radiation.

So first for some perspective, tardigrades can tolerate up to about 5,000 grays of ionizing radiation. Now, a gray is kind of like just a degree of measurement of radiation. For some perspective, mammals can only survive about four grays of acute ionizing radiation. So 5,000 versus 4 grays. It's a huge difference.

And for some further perspective, you know, a chest x-ray is only about 0.0007 grays. And the firefighters right at the front of the nuclear reactor core at the Chernobyl disaster, the first responders experienced about 180 grays of ionizing radiation. So these bad boys can tolerate orders of magnitude more of just really bad, nasty radiation."

Episode 1 releases on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 on all major podcast directories.

For more information on the NATRC and the podcast, visit https://www.the-natrc.org.

The "Tardigrades To Save Planet Earth!" podcast is produced, written, and edited in partnership by Leah Jackson of Puka Puka Creative and Aha Marketing Strategy.

About: The NATRC is a non-profit research organization focused on bringing awareness and research to one of the most fascinating animals on planet Earth, tardigrades.

We believe that encouraging people to learn about tardigrades and their contribution to the Earth's ecosystem is a powerful investment that can stoke scientific awareness and participation for people of all ages from around the world.