Curious About Tardigrades

PODCAST 192: CURIOUS ABOUT TARDIGRADES

RELEASE DATE: SUNDAY, JUNE 5TH, 2022

D:  HELLO, AND WELCOME BACK TO THE CURIOUS KID PODCAST.  I’M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT OUR TOPIC THIS WEEK.  THE FIRST TIME WE GOT A SUGGESTION TO GET CURIOUS ABOUT THE CREATURES WE ARE GOING TO BE LEARNING ABOUT THIS WEEK, I REALLY HAD NO IDEA WHAT THEY WERE.  IN FACT, I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THEY WERE ANIMALS.  THEN, AFTER LEARNING A BIT ABOUT THEM, I WONDERED HOW IN THE WORLD I HAD NEVER HEARD OF THESE AWESOME LIVING THINGS BEFORE.  

O:  DOUBLE-MAILBAG!

D:  DOUBLE-MAILBAG!

“HI OLIVIA AND JACOB, MY NAME IS AKIRA.  I AM FROM INDONESIA.  I AM SEVEN YEARS OLD.  I LOVE TO HEAR YOUR PODCAST AND I’M CURIOUS ABOUT TARDIGRADES, OR WATER BEARS.  CAN YOU MAKE AN EPISODE ABOUT THEM?  PLEASE.  THANK YOU!”  IN THE EMAIL, AKIRA’S MOM ADDED “HI.  THIS IS AKIRA’S MOM.  AKIRA WROTE THE ABOVE EMAIL HIMSELF.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR PODCAST.  IT HAS HELPED US A LOT FOR AKIRA TO LEARN ENGLISH WORDS AND PRONUNCIATION IN A VERY FUN WAY.  IT ALSO HELPS US CUT DOWN SCREEN TIME AND REPLACE IT WITH AN EDUCATIONAL YET ENTERTAINING PODCAST.  COULDN’T THANK YOU ENOUGH.  CHEERS.”

“IYOUKEEN AND TENAKEE HERE!  WE ARE FROM ALASKA.  WE LISTEN TO YOUR PODCAST WHENEVER WE ARE IN THE CAR AND SOMETIMES IN THE HOUSE!  TENAKEE IS CURIOUS ABOUT BEES, ESPECIALLY THEIR STINGERS!  IYOUKEEN IS CURIOUS ABOUT WATER BEARS, THE HINDENBERG, AND MAGNETISM… BUT NOT ALL AT ONCE.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR WONDERFUL PODCAST!”

O:  WOW.  THOSE ARE A COUPLE OF SUPER DUPER EMAILS.  I CAN’T WAIT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT TARDIGRADES FOR AKIRA, IYOUKEEN, AND TENAKEE.  

D:  IF YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT TARDIGRADES ARE, I THINK YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED BY SOME OF THE INTERESTING FACTS WE ARE GOING TO LEARN ABOUT THEM.  IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TARDIGRADES ARE YET, BUCKLE UP, BECAUSE IT’S POSSIBLE YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF AN ANIMAL AS UNIQUE AS THE TARDIGRADE.  LET’S LEARN MORE ABOUT THEM, STARTING WITH THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK.

O:  THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK IS, WHAT DOES THE WORD TARDIGRADE MEAN?

D:  WHEN I FIRST SAW THE WORD, I KIND OF THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE A MEDICAL DEVICE, LIKE A THERMOMETER OR SOMETHING.  IT ALSO SOUNDS LIKE IT COULD BE THE NAME FOR A REALLY AWESOME VEHICLE.

O:  THEN YOU COULD SAY SOMETHING LIKE, LET’S TAKE A RIDE TO THE SUPERMARKET IN OUR TARDIGRADE.

D:  BUT, AS IT TURNS OUT, TARDIGRADES ARE NOT MEDICAL DEVICES OR VEHICLES.  THEY ARE ACTUALLY VERY SMALL, ALMOST MICROSCOPIC, CREATURES.

O:  TARDIGRADES SOMETIMES GO BY THE NAMES WATER BEAR AND MOSS PIGLET.

D:  IF YOU LOOKED CLOSELY AT A TARDIGRADE, WHICH WOULD ONLY BE POSSIBLE WITH THE HELP OF SOMETHING LIKE A MICROSCOPE, YOU WOULD SEE THAT THEY KIND OF RESEMBLE A BEAR.  THE WAY THEY WALK IS ALSO SIMILAR TO THE WAY BEARS WALK.  

O:  ALSO, EVEN THOUGH TARDIGRADES CAN BE FOUND IN LOTS OF DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS, ONE OF THEIR PREFERRED ENVIRONMENTS WOULD BE IN OR AROUND WATER.  BECAUSE OF THAT, AND THEIR PUDGY BODIES, THEY GO BY THE NAME MOSS PIGLET AS WELL.  

D:  TARDIGRADES WERE DISCOVERED IN THE YEAR 1773 BY A GERMAN ZOOLOGIST.  HE CALLED THEM LITTLE WATER BEARS.

O:  AND, ONLY THREE YEARS LATER, AN ITALIAN BIOLOGIST WAS THE FIRST TO CALL THEM TARDIGRADES.  

D:  TARDIGRADES HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR AN INCREDIBLY LONG TIME.  WHEN I THINK OF ANIMALS THAT EXISTED MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO, I USUALLY THINK OF DINOSAURS FIRST AND FOREMOST, BUT TARDIGRADES WERE AROUND EVEN BEFORE THE FIRST DINOSAURS APPEARED.

O:  THE FIRST DINOSAURS APPEARED ONLY 230 MILLION YEARS AGO.  THAT’S NOTHING COMPARED TO THE TARDIGRADE, THAT HAS BEEN AROUND FOR ABOUT 600 MILLION YEARS.    

D:  EVEN THOUGH TARDIGRADES MAY REMIND YOU OF A BEAR OR A PIGLET IF YOU LOOKED CLOSELY AT ONE, TARDIGRADES DON’T REALLY HAVE A LOT IN COMMON WITH THOSE ANIMALS.  FOR STARTERS, THEY ARE INCREDIBLY SMALL.  MOST TARDIGRADES ARE LESS THAN A HALF OF A MILLIMETER LONG.  THAT’S LESS THAN 1/50TH OF AN INCH.  A HUMAN’S BODY HAS MANY TRILLIONS OF CELLS.  IN COMPARISON, A TARDIGRADE HAS ONLY ABOUT 1,000 CELLS IN IT’S ENTIRE BODY.    

O:  TARDIGRADES ALSO HAVE EIGHT LEGS, WITH CLAWS AT THE END.  THEY HAVE A FLAT FACE.  THEIR TEETH, OR STYLETS, ARE LIKE NEEDLES.  

D:  WITH NAMES LIKE WATER BEAR AND MOSS PIGLET, YOU KIND OF EXPECT TARDIGRADES TO BE SUPER CUTE.

O:  IT’S STRANGE.  THERE IS SOMETHING CUTE ABOUT THEM, BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, THEY ARE ALSO KIND OF SCARY AT THE SAME TIME.  I CAN’T DECIDE IF THEY ARE MORE CUTE OR SCARY.  

D:  MAYBE WE CAN CONSIDER THEM MORE CUTE THAN SCARY BECAUSE HUMANS DON’T NEED TO BE SCARED OF TARDIGRADES AT ALL.  THEY ARE OMNIVORES.  MANY TARDIGRADES FEED ON ALGAE, FUNGUS, AND PLANTS.  THEY USE THOSE SHARP TEETH TO PUNCTURE A HOLE IN THEIR FOOD AND THEN SUCK THE LIQUID INTO THEIR MOUTHS.  SOME TARDIGRADES EAT ANIMALS SMALLER THAN THEM, LIKE NEMATODES, WHICH OFTEN GO BY THE NAME ROUNDWORMS.  TARDIGRADES HAVE ALSO BEEN KNOWN TO EAT EACH OTHER.  

O:  TARDIGRADES DON’T HAVE ANY BONES IN THEIR SMALL BODIES.  INSTEAD, THEY HAVE WHAT’S CALLED A HYDROSTATIC SKELETON.

D:  THAT JUST MEANS THEY HAVE A COMPARTMENT IN THEIR BODY FILLED WITH A LIQUID CALLED HEMOLYMPH THAT HAS ALL THE NUTRIENTS THEY NEED.  THEIR HEMOLYMPH SERVES A SIMILAR FUNCTION FOR THEM AS BLOOD SERVES FOR US HUMANS.  THEY HAVE A DIGESTIVE SYSTEM THAT ALLOWS THEM TO EAT AND PROCESS FOOD, BUT THEY DON’T HAVE ANYTHING THAT RESEMBLES A CIRCULATORY OR RESPIRATORY SYSTEM.  THEY NEED OXYGEN, BUT THEY GET THAT OXYGEN FROM WATER.  

O:  EVEN THOUGH A LOT OF THE THINGS WE’VE ALREADY LEARNED ABOUT TARDIGRADES MAKE THEM VERY DIFFERENT FROM OTHER ANIMALS, THERE IS ONE THING THAT REALLY SEPARATES THEM FROM OTHER ANIMALS OUT THERE.  TARDIGRADES ARE NEARLY INDESTRUCTIBLE.  THEY CAN SURVIVE EXTREME CONDITIONS OTHER ANIMALS, INCLUDING HUMANS, CAN’T SURVIVE.

D:  EVEN THOUGH THEY PREFER LIVING IN WATER OR ON DAMP LAND, THEY CAN SURVIVE ON TOP OF THE COLDEST SNOW COVERED MOUNTAINS OR AT THE BOTTOM OF THE MARIANA TRENCH, THE DEEPEST LOCATION ON EARTH.  

O:  YOU CAN BOIL THEM, TRY TO CRUSH THEM, OR DEPRIVE THEM OF WATER, BUT TARDIGRADES CAN SURVIVE ALL OF THAT.

D:  THEY CAN SURVIVE IN TEMPERATURES WELL ABOVE 300 DEGREES AND WELL BELOW 400 DEGREES BELOW ZERO.

O:  NOT ONLY CAN TARDIGRADES SURVIVE CONDITIONS THAT HUMANS CAN’T HERE ON EARTH, THEY CAN ALSO SURVIVE LONGER THAN HUMANS IN SPACE.

D:  HUMANS NEED TO WEAR SPECIAL SPACE SUITS TO PROTECT THEM FROM THE PRESSURE OF FLYING IN SPACE.  THEY ALSO NEED TO SHIELD THEMSELVES FROM THE HIGH AMOUNTS OF RADIATION IN SPACE.  IT TURNS OUT THAT TARDIGRADES CAN SURVIVE IN SPACE FOR 10 OR MORE DAYS WITHOUT ANY PROTECTION AT ALL.  THE AMOUNT OF RADIATION THAT TARDIGRADES CAN WITHSTAND IS ALSO ABOUT 100 TIMES MORE THAN THE AMOUNT HUMANS CAN TOLERATE.  

O:  MOST AMAZING OF ALL IS THAT TARDIGRADES CAN SURVIVE WITHOUT FOOD AND WATER FOR DECADES.  THERE ARE REPORTS OF TARDIGRADES LIVING FOR OVER 100 YEARS WITHOUT FOOD OR WATER.  

D:  THEY ARE ABLE TO DO THIS BECAUSE THEY HAVE A SPECIAL SUPERPOWER CALLED CRYPTOBIOSIS.  THE WORD CRYPTOBIOSIS TRANSLATES TO “HIDDEN LIFE”.  WHEN TARDIGRADES GO THROUGH CRYPTOBIOSIS, THEY ARE ALIVE, BUT IT WOULD BE HARD TO TELL, BECAUSE THEY WILL APPEAR TO BE NEARLY DEAD INSIDE AND OUT.  

O:  THEY GO THROUGH CRYPTOBIOSIS TO SURVIVE EXTREME CONDITIONS, AND WAIT UNTIL BETTER CONDITIONS TO COME BACK TO LIFE.

D:  THEY DO THIS BY GETTING RID OF ALMOST ALL OF THE WATER FROM THEIR BODIES AND THEN RETRACTING THEIR HEADS AND LEGS, CURLING THEMSELVES UP INTO A TINY LITTLE BALL CALLED A TUN, SPELLED T-U-N.  DURING CRYPTOBIOSIS, ALMOST ALL BODILY FUNCTIONS STOP COMPLETELY.  A TARDIGRADE’S METABOLIC ACTIVITY DROPS TO AS LOW AS 1/100TH OF A SINGLE PERCENT OF NORMAL METABOLIC LEVELS.  IT’S QUITE A NEAT TRICK THAT TARDIGRADES DO THAT MAKE THEM CLOSE TO INDESTRUCTIBLE.  

O:  IF YOU WANT A TARDIGRADE TO COME BACK TO LIFE WHEN IT’S ROLLED UP INTO A TUN, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ADD A FEW DROPS OF WATER.  ADD SOME WATER, AND THE TARDIGRADE WILL SPRING BACK TO LIFE AS IF NOTHING EVER HAPPENED.  

D:  DOESN’T THIS MAKE YOU WONDER HOW LONG TARDIGRADES LIVE FOR?  

O:  TARDIGRADES ACTUALLY HAVE SURPRISINGLY SHORT LIFE SPANS.  MOST TARDIGRADES LIVE FOR ONLY A FEW MONTHS, WHILE SOME ARE ABLE TO SURVIVE FOR ABOUT 2 OR 3 YEARS.  

D:  BUT THERE IS ONE INTERESTING THING TO ADD TO THAT.  IF TARDIGRADES DO THEIR COOL CRYPTOBIOSIS THING, THE CLOCK PAUSES ON THEIR LIFE SPAN.  THEY DON’T SEEM TO AGE AT ALL DURING CRYPTOBIOSIS.  ALRIGHT OLIVIA, LET’S ANSWER THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK.  WHAT DOES THE WORD TARDIGRADE TRANSLATE TO?

O:  THE WORD TARDIGRADE MEANS “SLOW PACED”.  THEY HAVE THE NAME BECAUSE THEY MOVE SO SLOWLY.  BEFORE THEY WERE GIVEN THE NAME TARDIGRADE, THE WORD TARDIGRADE WAS ACTUALLY USED TO DESCRIBE HOW SLOWLY TORTOISES MOVE.  

D:  IT WASN’T UNTIL ABOUT THE YEAR 1800 THAT THE WORD WAS FREQUENTLY USED TO DESCRIBE THE RECENTLY DISCOVERED, ALMOST INVINCIBLE CREATURE WE LEARNED ABOUT TODAY.  WELL, THAT’S A WRAP FOR THIS WEEK’S EPISODE.

O:  192 - TARDIGRADES.

D:  GREAT JOB OLIVIA, AND GREAT JOB AKIRA, IYOUKEEN, AND TENAKEE FOR THE INDESTRUCTIBLY STRONG EPISODE TOPIC SUGGESTION.  WITH JUST 2 MONTHS TO GO BEFORE EPISODE 200, I WANT TO PLAN SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR OLIVIA, JUST LIKE WE DID FOR EPISODE 100.  FOR THAT EPISODE, WE ASKED OUR LISTENERS TO SEND IN RECORDINGS CONGRATULATING HER FOR THE BIG MILESTONE OF 100 EPISODES.  WE WOULD LOVE TO DO THE SAME THING FOR EPISODE 200.  DO YOU WANT TO CONGRATULATE OLIVIA AND MAYBE EVEN HEAR YOURSELF IN EPISODE 200?  IF SO, SEND AN EMAIL WITH YOUR RECORDING OVER TO CURIOUSKIDPODCAST@GMAIL.COM.  JUST A FEW SMALL THINGS TO REMEMBER.  FIRST, PLEASE USE THE SUBJECT “EPISODE 200 RECORDING” IN YOUR EMAIL.  THAT WILL ALLOW ME TO EASILY SEPARATE THE RECORDINGS WHEN IT COMES TIME TO ADD THEM INTO THE EPISODE.  ALSO, PLEASE MAKE SURE THE RECORDINGS DON’T RUN LONGER THAN 30 SECONDS, SO WE CAN GET AS MANY OF THEM INTO THE EPISODE AS POSSIBLE.  FINALLY, PLEASE GET YOUR RECORDINGS OVER TO US NO LATER THAN JUNE 30TH.  BEFORE WE SAY GOODBYE FOR THE WEEK, WE HAVE A COUPLE OF SPECIAL PEOPLE TO THANK. 

O:  THANK YOU TO OUR NEWEST PATREON SUPPORTERS, HALLIE AND JULES G. AND EMILY C.

D:  A BIG THANKS TO HALLIE, JULES, AND EMILY FOR THE SUPPORT.  YOU HELP US DO WHAT WE LOVE DOING… CREATING A FUN AND EDUCATIONAL PODCAST FOR KIDS… AND CURIOUS ADULTS!  WITH YOUR HELP, WE WILL CONTINUE MAKING THIS PODCAST FOR A LONG TIME. 

O:  WE ALSO WANT TO THANK USERNAME PECAN522 FOR THE 5 STAR REVIEW.

D:  THE REVIEW SAYS “GOOD!” FOLLOWED BY A HAPPY FACE HEART EYES EMOJI AND TWO THUMBS UP EMOJIS.  THIS REVIEW WE RECEIVED FROM AUSTRALIA MAY ONLY BE ONE WORD LONG, BUT IT STILL FILLED OUR HEARTS AND IT ALSO HELPS LISTENERS DISCOVER THE PODCAST.  JOIN US NEXT WEEK, WHEN WE WILL GET CURIOUS ABOUT ICE CREAM FOR LISTENERS IN CALIFORNIA AND THE UNITED KINGDOM.  AS ALWAYS, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LISTENING AND GETTING CURIOUS WITH US.