Scientists revive microscopic water bears after 30 years of deep freeze

In the Animal Olympics event of Surviving Horrible Things, tardigrades would take home the gold, silver, and the bronze. These eight-legged, microscopic creatures — also known as "water bears" — are probably the hardiest animals in existence, able to live through extreme heat, cold, pressure, radiation, and even the vacuum of space. Now, these water-dwelling critters have set a new personal best, with cryobiologists from Japan successfully reviving a tardigrade after it had been frozen for more than 30 years. (The tardigrade's previous record was nine years.) What's more, the defrosted creatures even managed to reproduce; with one laying 19 eggs of which 14 successfully hatched.

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