THE toughest members of the animal kingdom are mites less than half a
millimetre long.
Tardigrades, tiny mites nicknamed 鈥渨ater bears鈥� because of their bear-like
appearance, were known to be able to survive boiling, freezing and exposure to a
vacuum. Now Kunihiro Seki and Masoto Toyoshima of Kanagawa University in Japan
have shown that these microscopic animals can even withstand pressures of 6000
atmospheres鈥攏early six times the pressure at the bottom of the deepest
ocean trench (Nature, vol 395, p 853).
The tardigrades achieve this feat of endurance by going into a state of
suspended animation known as a 鈥渢un鈥�, which they can maintain for more than a
century. 鈥淭he volume of the body is reduced by 50 per cent or more, accompanied
by an almost total loss of water,鈥� says Seki.
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