Friday, April 06, 2012

Tick talk

We already know that ticks are hard to crush, that they like to hang on plants and wait (sometimes for months) until something warm blooded walks below them, that they suck blood and spread diseases, and that they look like some kind of space alien.

It turns out that they can survive vacuum and a scanning electron beam as well. True, the beam injured them and they died two days later, but that's still extraordinary resilience on the tick's part. (I don't know if all ticks are this sturdy, or just this variety.)

"The phasers don't work, sir."

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7 comments:

  1. Sponge-headed ScienceMan7:16 AM

    It's all out war!

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  2. Texan9912:57 PM

    I send them down the drain. I wonder if they survive to climb up out of the septic tank?

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  3. james4:12 PM

    I assume that if there was anything at all to grab hold of, they'd climb out. I'd be surprised if they were easy to drown.

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  4. james4:22 PM

    I should have googled before commenting.

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  5. Sandra7:55 PM

    This is why when I find them on the cat I cut them in quarters with a knife. Half doesn't work if the head is still there, it keeps inching away.

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  6. Texan998:02 PM

    I think we should dust off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

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  7. james8:17 PM

    I don't know about that. Remember The Andromeda Strain?

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