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Most people don’t know that there are species that can, e.g. drop their metabolic rate down to .01% of baseline to survive without water or food for 30 yrs. Or survive in high radiation environments, or high pressure and temperature environments. More people should know that there is genetic precedent for crazy phenotypes that could theoretically extend to other species in the future.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade



Tuberculosis has an alternative metabolism that allows it to survive even encased in an oxygen -free environment that the immune system puts around it, called granulomas. There are 2000y old mummies with granulomas in their lungs that were found to still contain live tuberculosis.


Are you certain about the 2000 year dating?

I curious because the mummification process changed drastically over time, and during the early Roman period was much less elaborate than 1000 years earlier.




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