In the Animal Olympics event of Surviving Horrible Things, tardigrades would take home the gold, silver, and the bronze. These eight-legged, microscopic creatures — also known as “water bears” — are probably the hardiest animals in existence, able to live through extreme heat, cold, pressure, radiation, and even the vacuum of space. Now, these water-dwelling critters have set a new personal best, with cryobiologists from Japan successfully reviving a tardigrade after it had been frozen for more than 30 years. (The tardigrade’s previous record was nine years.) What’s more, the defrosted creatures even managed to reproduce; with one laying 19 eggs of which 14 successfully hatched.
via The Verge
