It can survive drying out, extreme heat and cold, and even exposure to vacuum. The humble tardigrade can be found practically anywhere there’s enough water for it to live, and quite a few places there isn’t. This weird, ugly-cute little guy’s secret comes down to chemistry.

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Credits:
Producer: Sean Parsons
Writer: Alexa Billow
Scientific Consultants: Thomas Boothby, PhD Michelle Boucher, PhD
Executive Producer: George Zaidan
Fact Checker: Alison Le

Music:
“Apero Hour,” by Kevin MacLeod

Sources:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2124893-tardigrades-turn-into-glass-to-survive-complete-dehydration/
https://www.wired.com/2017/03/secret-crazy-tough-water-bear-finally-revealed/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/science/tardigrades-water-bears-dried-out.html
https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S1097-27651730133-8
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2276334/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18070104
https://benthamopen.com/contents/pdf/TOZJ/TOZJ-3-1.pdf
https://www.britannica.com/animal/tardigrade
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/jexbio/213/7/vi.full.pdf
http://www.biochemist.org/bio/03004/0018/030040018.pdf

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