So researchers looked closely at the genes that turned on as water bears dried out.

Here almost every product of the land and water bears the unmistakable stamp of the American continent.

Adult tardigrades, also known as water bears, thrive in wet conditions and eat algae, bacteria or single-celled animals.

Here almost every product of the land and of the water bears the unmistakable stamp of the American continent.

They are commonly known as " water bears".

The black water bears a greenish-brown floating scum, which for ever bubbles up from the putrid mud of the bottom.

The color of the water bears witness to this, as it is much the muddiest that I have ever seen.

It also, in a nod to super science nerds, features tardigrades, the microscopic " water bears" that look like pill bugs in khakis.

Water bears also can tolerate pressures six times that of the deepest oceans.