![]() These organisms survive extreme conditions-of temperature, pressure and radiation-to a degree unparalleled in nature. In their cryptobiotic state, desiccated or frozen, they are astonishingly durable. Their moist realm is transient, and in response tardigrades have evolved an array of strategies based on induced cryptobiosis-the suspension of metabolism by drying or freezing. ![]() ![]() In the microenvironments made by water that coheres in the fissures of mosses and lichens due to surface tension, tardigrades thrive by feeding on smaller organisms and by sucking contents out of plant cells. In actuality, tardigrades are translucent and display a variety of colors-white, green, orange, red. The technology gives a false sense of the “hide” of this tardigrade. EMs are produced by layering a molecular film of metal on a sample. In this colorized electron micrograph (EM), which has the feel of a museum diorama, a tardigrade emerges from under a moss leaf to hunt for food or a companion. ![]()
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