Presentation is available

If anyone is interested in taking a second look it has been posted over in the links bar on the right :)

Tardigrades on a Rocketship

I have yet to paint the TARDIS on the back, but I think it looks pretty nifty and our Waterbear looks happy :)

TARDIS Rocketship

Currently in the process of building a TARDIS rocketship for the newest member of our group based upon this article from the European Space Agency: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Research/Tiny_animals_survive_exposure_to_space

Introducing our new group member- Hypsibius dujardini aka WATERBEAR!

"FACTS: One of the more fascinating organisms in the microsphere is the common tardigrade - technically speaking, "slow walker." However, it is not the tardigrade's sluggish speed that captures attention, but rather the fact that as this minuscule creature lumbers along on its eight tiny legs, it bears an uncanny resemblance to, well, a bear.

First described in 1773 by Johann August Ephraim Goeze as "kleiner Wasserbär," these "little Waterbears" are unusually hardy. By entering a state of cryptobiosis - a kind of super-hibernation where the metabolism becomes inactive - waterbears can survive boiling water, and at temperatures close to absolute zero. They can dry out and survive 99% dehydrated for decades. They can survive a thousand times more radiation than  humans can. They can even survive in the vacuum of outer space!

Needless to say, with these death-defying abilities, waterbears are found all over the world, from the highest mountain peaks to the depths of the deep. But they are typically found nearby in the miniature rainforests created by common mosses (indeed, they are sometimes called "moss piglets") - so backyard adventurers with low-powered microscopes can easily go on a waterbear hunt.

But never fear: although a few species (such as the grizzly Milnesium tardigradum) are aggressively carnivorous, as a whole, waterbears (including our own  Hypsibius dujardini) are quiet herbivores who live gentle little lives, picnicking and playing - and taking long, slow walks."

Bill Nye Excerpt

Just thought I'd post the url to the video excerpt we're using, so here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3by9GBAFpas

Presentation Update

Hey, just wanted to say I started the presentation in a google presentation. I can share it with you guys tomorrow during the meeting. (I needed to get a jump start on making my slides... I won't have much time this coming week to work on them.)

Images

Here are the images I discussed in the email that we might want to include in our presentation:

They're from Essential Microbiology by Stuart Hogg, 2005