The Sleeping Chironomid
The impossible claim This insect was dead for 17 years — no water, no heartbeat, 99% of its body dried out — then someone added water and it woke up. The verified facts The African chironomid Polypedilum vanderplanki lives as a larva in temporary rock pools that dry out. It enters cryptobiosis: it dries to an almost total loss of body water (~3% remains) and becomes a lifeless-looking husk. In this state it can survive years to decades — recorded revivals after 17 years — and tolerates extremes from liquid helium temperatures to vacuum and radiation. ...