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Scientists have long considered that water bears, also known as tardigrades, may hold genetic secrets which could one day be key to human survival and longevity. The eight-legged tiny animal which is smaller than a millimeter in length, has been described as follows:

Tardigrades are tiny, cute and virtually indestructible. The microscopic animals are able to survive in a pot of boiling water, at the bottom of a deep-sea trench or even in the cold, dark vacuum of space. In August, an Israeli spacecraft carrying tardigrades as part of a scientific experiment crashed on the moon, and scientists believe they may have survived.

Having isolated the Tardigrade's gene capable of producing shieldlike proteins which can protect against radiation and other harms, the Chinese team said it "found a way to introduce this gene into human DNA using CRISPR/Cas9, a gene-editing tool now available in most bio-labs," according to the SCMP review of the experiment.

"In their laboratory experiment, nearly 90 per cent of the human embryonic cells carrying the water bear gene survived a lethal exposure to X-ray radiation, according to the team led by professor Yue Wen with the radiation biotechnology laboratory at the Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing," the report continues.