Tardigrade Tattoos Could Pave the Way for Microscopic Medical Devices

Scientists Are Tattooing Tardigrades Because Why Not

Some of the smallest animals in the world can still be a canvas for art.

Tardigrade Tattoos Could Pave the Way for Microscopic Medical Devices

Learn about the significance of tardigrades being tattooed, a process that could lay the foundation for microscopic, biocompatible devices.

Scientists have found a way to tattoo tardigrados, eight-legged creatures, nicknamed water bears, which measure only half a millimeter in length and can survive virtually everything. Researchers who publish an article in Nano Letters magazine took advantage of the almost indestructible nature of the tardigrados – resistant to freezing temperatures, almost starvation, high pressure, exposure to radiation, outer space and more– and made them tiny …

With electron beams, frozen beards can be imprinted on the finest structures. The animals survive the procedure and carry the patterns even after rehydration.

Small 'tattoos' were used to test a microfabrication technique that allows the construction of microscopic and biocompatible devices