Tardigrades

Latest about tardigrades

A tardigrade illustration

Tardigrades can survive being shot out of a high-speed gun

By Yasemin Saplakoglu published

Tardigrades, those adorable, chubby water bears, are notoriously hardy — and they can even survive being shot out of a gun, up to a point.

Animals
Paramacrobiotus shows tolerance to UV radiation and exhibits fluorescence under UV light.

Adorable tardigrades fight UV rays with glowing shield

By Mindy Weisberger published

Tough little tardigrades use biofluorescence to resist damage from ultraviolet rays.

Animals
A tubby tardigradelike shape appeared in recent images of the sun, captured by the NASA and ESA mission Solar Orbiter.

Tubby 'tardigrade' crawls across sun's surface in spectacular images

By Mindy Weisberger published

New images of the solar surface, the closest ever seen, included a flaw that resembled a tardigrade.

Astronomy
Artist's impression of a city on Mars, which SpaceX wants to help establish with its Starship transportation system.

Colonizing Mars may require humanity to tweak its DNA

By Mike Wall published

Genetic enhancement could allow humanity to push surprisingly far out into the final frontier.

Space
Fluorescent staining shows a tardigrade's full stomach.

'Disco' tardigrade parties under microscope, wins international photo prize

By Mindy Weisberger published

A tardigrade, a mouse brain and a wasp ovary were some of the standout images in a contest celebrating the beauty in the very small.

Tech
A protein found only in tardigrades provides cellular DNA with a unique form of protection.

Adorable Tardigrades Have a Surprising, Fatal Weakness

By Stephanie Pappas published

Tiny-but-tough tardigrades aren't as indestructible as previously believed.

Planet Earth
Tardigrades have been to the moon.

12 Times Science Proved the World Is Amazing in 2019

By Jeanna Bryner published

Here's a look at the gems science turned up in 2019.

Planet Earth
A tardigrade in space.

Tardigrade DNA Added to Human Cells Could Help Us Survive on Mars, Scientist Says

By Chelsea Gohd published

Will we one day combine tardigrade DNA with our cells to go to Mars?

Mars
A protein found only in tardigrades provides cellular DNA with a unique form of protection.

'Damage Suppressor' Protein Protects Adorable Tardigrades ... and Human Cells, Too

By Mindy Weisberger published

Scientists deciphered a key ingredient in tardigrades' arsenal of superpowers, learning how a unique protein in microscopic water bears provides protection from harmful radiation.

Animals
A chubby tardigrade looms before an image of the moon.

There Are Thousands of Tardigrades on the Moon. Now What?

By Mindy Weisberger published

What might it mean for the moon to have thousands of tardigrades as new inhabitants?

The Moon
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