Researchers Tattooed Tardigrades. They Promise It Will Be Useful

Microfabrication is—simply put—the construction of tiny things, including microscopic and nanoscopic objects and patterns. Microfabrication has major potential in medicine and biomedical engineering, in addition to fields like electronics and photonics—but first, researchers need to develop techniques that are biologically compatible. One team of researchers thinks a crucial step toward that goal involves tattooing tardigrades. In order to test the techniques necessary to build microscopic biocompatible devices, researchers in China have found a way to give tardigrades tattoos. If you think that’s wacky, just wait. Their approach, detailed in a study published at the end of March in the journal Nano Letters, could have important implications for the development of living microrobotics, such as microbial cyborgs. In reality, tardigrades, also known as water bears, aren’t just “hardy” creatures. They’re eight-legged animals about 0.02 inches (0.5 millimeters) long, and are virtually in ... Read full article.