PST APNet Home Online Journals Book Catalog Journal Sites High Pressure Water-Bears Put most cells under about 3000 atmospheres of pressure, and the life will be squeezed out of them. But tiny animals called tardigrades can survive pressures twice as high and trundle away unharmed, according to a paper in today's Nature .
Tardigrades are tiny, bear-shaped animals that nestle in damp moss or ponds.
When their humid home dries out, they shrivel into a super-resistant form called a tun. Now, Kunihiro Seki and Masato Toyoshima, biologists at Kanagawa University in Hiratsukashi, Japan, have put the squeeze on these hardy tuns to see how much pressure they can withstand. The pair placed two species of tardigrades in a water-filled capsule and ratcheted up the pressure with a hydraulic press. Although that may sound like quite a feat, biologist Robert Wainberg of Piedmont College, in Demorest, Georgia, is not surprised. However, he doubts they specifically evolved to deal with such high pressures.