Tardigrades are nearly indestructible organisms that have existed for at least 540 million years. But their tiny size makes finding fossilized tardigrades is hard. A new study describes a tardigrade ...

Scientists discovered an incredibly rare fossil suspended in 16 million-year-old amber: a never-before-seen species of tardigrade, a pudgy, aquatic critter that rarely crops up in the fossil record.

• Tardigrades are hardy enough to survive large asteroid impacts and even supernova blasts. • Water bears have survived all five mass extinctions on Earth since they first evolved about half a billion ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. Imagine a creature so small it can fit between the grains ...