There’s no two ways about it: tardigrades are badass. These eight-legged, microscopic water-dwellers have survived the vacuum of space, extreme dehydration, and temperatures ranging from near absolute ...

S / Shutterstock.) To study how water bears might fare on Mars, microbiologist Corien Bakermans of Penn State University and ...

Tardigrades, commonly known as water bears, may be better suited by a new name: Tardiguardians of the Galaxy. Unlike the fictional ragtag team of unenthusiastic heroes, the microscopic animals are ...

Tardigrades were first discovered in 1773 by a German zoologist and pastor in a pond behind his church. Struck by their pudgy form, he dubbed them “water bears.” Jaime Jiménez was examining moss ...