Tiny, speedy creature found in 200-million-year-old Antarctic cocoon

Researchers in Antarctica found a bizarre, 200-million-year-old microscopic animal with a springy tail encased in a slimy mucous cocoon. Luckily, the mini-beast did not immediately come to life, burrow into someone’s bloodstream and reenact "The Thing" like we would have expected. Instead the deceased but stunningly intact animal is getting "oohs" and "ahhs" from researchers who place it as living during the Late Triassic Period, when Earth was warmer and dense with rain forests. The creature's "coiled stalk" is an insanely efficient biological mechanism that can propel the 25 micron-wide animal 8 centimeters a second — the human equivalent of crossing three football fields in a second. [Source]

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