## Tardigrades — near-microscopic superheroes

Don’t let the cuddly exterior fool you: tardigrades are some tough cookies. Though their cute colloquial name — water bears — might suggest otherwise, these tiny animals are among the most resilient creatures on Earth.

Tardigrades have segmented bodies that rarely extend beyond 1 millimeter. Typically, each individual is made up of only around 1,000 cells, compared to trillions of cells constituting a human body.