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HARDY TARDI

While tardigrade toughness is the stuff of legends, we don’t often see the micro-animal’s humble beginnings. This embryo was just 2 days old

when University of Kassel Ph.D. student Vladimir Gross photographed it at 1,800x magnification. This creature, only a fifteenth of a millimeter

long, belongs to Hypsibius dujardini, one of about 1,100 tardigrade varieties known to exist. Also called water bears or moss piglets, tardigrades

can be revived after exposure to temperatures as low as minus 458 degrees Fahrenheit and the vacuum of open space.

 ERNIE MASTROIANNI; PHOTO BY VLADIMIR GROSS