Feeding tardigrades

ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet captured feeding tardigrades in one of the International Space Station experiments.

Thomas shared this image on his social media channels with the caption: "Researchers are investigating the effects of microgravity on these microscopic creatures, also known as water bears, through an experiment called Cell Science 4. Did you know the largest tardigrade species is just over 1mm in length and they're incredibly hardy – surviving extreme environments in space and on Earth. In this case, researchers want to characterise the genes that allow tardigrades to survive during short and long periods in space, then assess how the use of these genes changes across generations. Maybe we can harness their secrets!"

Follow Thomas and his Mission Alpha on his blog.