Water Bears | Tardigrades | B-day Party

I met a human-sized tardigrade (pictured below)!

Also, my birthday is Wednesday and I’m currently in the Azores! Here’s how we’re partying today:

• Flashback to the coolest tardigrade news

• st3v and I share our first pic together

• Baby hippo in Clickables below

We’ll return to normal STEM coverage next week!

-Steve 🥳 

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Water Bear Transport

Tardigrade super powers may increase shelf life for life-saving medications. Researchers identified the key protein enabling water bear anhydrobiosis and applied it to FVIII.

• Anhydrobiosis = reversible dehydration-caused suspended animation

• FVIII = blood-clotting factor VIII

• FVIII treats extreme bleeding, and hemophilia A

CAHS D was identified as the secret super ingredient protecting dehydrated enzymes in tardigrades. Scaling this discovery could save countless lives by limiting dependence on refrigerated medication. Radioactive water bears would be quicker, just saying.

Just add water

Pro Nappers

Survival naps aren’t as lazy passive as we once thought. Scientists recently discovered how tardigrades enter their dormant state, aka tun.

• Tardigrade = micro-animals that survive in extreme environments

• Enter “tun” when facing life-threatening conditions

• Triggered when when cysteine (amino acid) oxidizes

Reversing oxidation acts like an alarm clock, waking tardigrades up when conditions are safe. This finding opens the door for further research into how water bears survive the “impossible”. The epitome of “just sleep it off”.

Just a little micro-tun

Repair Bears

Tardigrades rely heavily on their toolbox for survival. Researchers discovered how water bears repair DNA damage.

• Tardigrade = friendly water bear with st3v and Steve

• Radiation triggers DNA repair proteins like TDR1

• TDR1 = tardigrade DNA damage response protein 1

This finding challenges the previous belief that tardigrade survivability relied primarily on radiation resilience. Learning more about how TDR1 performs during hibernation could lead to enhanced radiation protection for humans. Or maybe just repair that leaky faucet quicker.

Does “righty tighty, lefty loosey” work for DNA?

Unnatural Selection

Last week: “Cooler place to use dolphin mucus to get around?”

Alright, I have the dolphin mucus (don’t ask). Anyone able to get us to space?

st3v on site

Group Photo

First evidence of a tardigrade saying “cheese”.

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