Episode 7
12 October 2005 - Alaskan Bugs on Ice
The Alaskan arctic is near the limit of life on Earth. Bugs love the heat, but, up in Alaska, it's freezing most of the year. However, the bugs in Alaska don't just survive. They positively thrive. How? In many places there's only ice and snow as far as the eye can see. Glaciers, vast, slow moving sheets of ice. They cover almost 30,000 square miles. Only the north and south poles have more snow. In this climate you make one mistake and you're history. Prolonged exposure to extreme cold can lead to frostbite. Cell membranes are torn apart, tissue dies, flesh turns black and gangrene sets in. The best cure is prevention. And for us mammals that would mean thick clothing or a coat of fur. But, what about the bugs? How do they do it? You see, bugs are cold-blooded, so they love the warmth. They thrive in the tropics where they can reproduce and grow at an astonishing rate. But summer in Alaska only lasts for eight weeks, and it's still not what you'd call warm. But, that's good enough for the bugs. They find strange and wonderful ways of coping in this icy environment. Meet bugs who live their whole life encased in ice, bugs that can stop their blood from freezing and bugs that have been frozen solid for thousands of years and came back to life. And along the way we'll find out what we can learn from these ice insects and how they can help us transplant organs and maybe give us clues about life on other planets.
