Garnet said that her genetic profile was hybridized with that of a tardigrade (Recombinant DNA technology used to create a transgenic clone) . Tardigrades, also known as the water bear, or moss piglets, are a phylum of small invertebrates or microscopic animals, which can survive in many extreme conditions, such near absolute zero ( -273 degrees Celsius) as well as powerful radiation and the vacuum of space. They were first described by the German pastor J.A.E. Goeze in 1773 and given the name Tardigrada, meaning "slow stepper". The tardigrade lineage is ancient. "Tardigrade microfossils are reported from the Early Cambrian to the Early Cretaceous, 520 million to 100 million years ago". As of the time of this writing, there are 1,250 different species of tardigrade. In times of crisis, a tardigrade can enter into a form of hibernation called cryptobiosis, in which metabolic activities come to a reversible standstill. It is truly a death-like state; most organisms die by a cessation of metabolism. Several types of cryptobiosis exist, the most common include: anhydrobiosis (lack of water); cryobiosis (low temperature); osmobiosis (increased solute concentration, such as salt water); anoxybiosis (lack of oxygen). In more arid conditions, Tardigrades can survive dry periods by curling up into a little ball called a tun, losing only three percent of water. It has been theorized it can be woken up from a dormancy period of 30 or 40 years, and it could survive the 4.37-light year trip to Alpha Centauri (and then longer, if they presumably landed on a friendly exoplanet).