The invincible threads of life

 

Human endurance is a mere fraction of what many species on earth possess in terms of survival against odds. We claim superiority through incessant verbosity, while they—the smaller species—covered in dusty layers of neglect perform superhero feats with humility and natural ease. Nothing to boast and flaunt the flagrant colors of ego born of the super achievement.

Now it comes to light that the moss—yes, the ordinary tiniest plants found in shady, damp places—possesses extraordinary resilience. Moss ancestors were the earliest covering or clothing of life on what was then a baby earth, just emerging from the onslaught of hot lava. It was the harshest environment when life took soft baby steps in the form of moss, giving mother earth its first layer of clothing.

In 2022, scientists put a handful of moss spores on the outer walls of the International Space Station. The 20,000 moss spores remained exposed to the harshest elements of open space for more than nine months. After that they were brought back to earth and put to tests in a laboratory. Almost ninety percent of them had survived and germinated.

The reproductive tissue in a moss spore is safely hidden under multiple layers of spore walls. Marvelous self-fashioning! The exotic regalia of its well-protected procreative urge. The astounding will to survive. And still we brag about our armored vehicles even after coming across such humbling facts of mother nature!

We the master crafters creating juggernauts with sawdust, varnish, tar, paint, seasoning wood. While the moss simply has an inert shield against cosmic forces.

If we learn our lesson well, it might help in developing ‘sustainable life-support systems’ in space. Maybe the lessons from moss resilience will help in generating oxygen, controlling humidity and forming soil in space.