A GEEK SALAD OF TARDIGRADES AND INFINITY

Now that I'm relaxing on my summer break I can reflect on some of the interesting and pleasant conversations I had with young people last school year.

I recall vividly discussing the supreme hardiness of the tardigrade. Now, I had only heard of these tough critters about 5 years ago, when they came to the fore as they went into space as part of the ISS I think. Known also as water bears and my favourite, moss piglets, the tardigrade's immense durability has been measured and metered under water, at altitude, under pressure and at extreme temperatures and surpassing all.

Our conversation ultimately lead to whether such a microscopic Hercules could survive that most lethal of all horizons, the event horizon of a black hole. We wished the moss piglet well in such an endeavor but decided that even it wouldn't live through the matter trap it would face.

Tardigrades even appeared in the film Inanimate 2015, in which they'd became genetically bonded to a cosmonaut.

Another talk revolved around the end of things or not as the case may be. We discussed the possible difference between infinity and eternity. Without googling it we chucked around ideas as to what these concepts might be and where they may meet. My young colleague argued that infinity was to do with the end of measurable things like time and distance and everything within. Eternity, he argued, is what follows infinity, the immeasurable and therefore the unknowable lasting forever and ever.

I still haven't googled these definitions and enjoy the memory of the long talks in the common room.

What do you think about these things readers?