Scientists have found a damage suppressing gene in tardigrades that they have called "Dsup". It directs the production of a protein that can protect DNA, partially explaining tardigrades' resistance to the effects of radiation. The scientists also inserted the gene into human cells and found that Dsup-treated cells suffered less damage from X-ray exposure.
Extremotolerant tardigrade genome and improved radiotolerance of human cultured cells by tardigrade-unique protein (open, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12808) (DX)
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2016, @12:52PM
73 years in and counting ... by now we can safely assume to have reached the 5 sigmas threshold on that experiment.