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Scientists have found a way to 'tattoo' tardigrades

(phys.org)
56 points PaulHoule | 5 comments | 06 May 25 01:51 UTC | HN request time: 2.159s | source
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kaonwarb ◴[07 May 25 03:35 UTC] No.43912022[source]▶
Impressive... and more research needed:

> About 40% of the tardigrades survived the procedure

Still impressive!

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protocolture ◴[07 May 25 09:28 UTC] No.43913689[source]▶
"New Laser kills 60% of Tardigrades" wasn't as snappy for the paper headline.
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snvzz ◴[07 May 25 10:18 UTC] No.43913986[source]▶
Tardigrades are quite durable otherwise.
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1. dekhn ◴[07 May 25 14:38 UTC] No.43916321[source]▶
only in their dried-out state. Under regular conditions, they are easily squished.
replies(1): >>43919995 #
2. stavros ◴[07 May 25 19:57 UTC] No.43919995[source]▶
OK, how? All the photos I've seen of them are taken with SEMs, implying that you can't squish them any more than you can squish an amoeba.
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3. dekhn ◴[07 May 25 21:29 UTC] No.43920747[source]▶
I work with live tardigrades under a microscope and you could easily squish them with a little metal pick, or by pressing on the glass coverslip.

Tardigrades are very different from amoeba. They have a well-defined cuticle exoskeleton surrounding a liquid space, about 1000 cells, while an amoeba is single cell and highly deformable.

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4. stavros ◴[07 May 25 21:30 UTC] No.43920757{3}[source]▶
Ahh, I thought you meant with your fingers or something, that makes sense.
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5. dekhn ◴[07 May 25 22:35 UTC] No.43921203{4}[source]▶
I suspect if you really tried to deposit a pile of tardigrades on your finger and squeezed really tight you could probably damage them with the ridges of your fingerprints. I don't know enough about the biophysics of finger pressure and how the surfaces interact, and I wouldn't really want to do this (feels cruel, even if they have very limited nervous systems).