Ice worms... more fodder for the intelligent design crowd?

Pretty fascinating little buggers, I can well imagine the ID supporters latching on to this as further proof of their pseudo-science beliefs.

I also think its a waste spending this sort of money on something this useless (I'll reserve judgment on the preservation of transplanted organs applications).

"Rutgers-Camden prof finds ice-hardy worms have much to offer

NASA recently gave Daniel Shain, an associate professor of biology, a three-year, $214,206 grant to figure what makes the ice worms such survivors. The answer to such studies might show how life might survive on distant ice worlds such as Jupiter's moon Europa, as well as provide answers to more earthbound problems such as preserving transplant organs kept on ice.

The threadlike, black Mesenchytraeus solifugus -- which feed on microorganisms as they crawl through tiny ice cracks in coastal mountain glaciers in Alaska, British Columbia and Washington state -- thrive at the freezing point of 32 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Shain.

Drop the temperature a few degrees and they freeze. Raise it a few degrees and their flesh starts to melt.

"If you put an earthworm or any other organism on ice, they wouldn't live very well. But with an ice worm, they come to life," Shain said.

The 40-year-old Shain, who has studied the worms for the past decade, says many people who live around the mountains in Alaska have never heard of the inch-long worms, or believe they are mythological creatures".

Complete article

and how did he find enough ice to keep them nice and comfy.

Kinda like Noah: "Durn that mosquito" swat!

and how did he fit them aboard that tiny ass ark of his?? How did Noah get to New Zealand, Peru, IceLand, Canada, Alaska, CapeTown, Brazil, etc?

Then, how did the animals get back??

I don't see how the ice-worm undermines darwinian evolution, and no, I don't think scientific studies such as this one are "a waste of money".

In fact, I don't see the point of yer post at all.

Why would a supreme being bother making a type of worm that only can live on ice?

In contrast, evolution tells us that there was an ecological niche open, so something adapted and filled it.

Read Dobzhansky's classic "Nothing makes sense in biology, except in light of evolution" for more good examples of the same. (like why are there so many more species of fruit fly in Hawaii than in the rest of the world.)