Keep on Swimming

Canadian artist Julie Laurin recently started a livestream of tardigrades — microscopic, eight-legged micro-animals also known as “water bears” — wriggling around on Twitch. And it’s exactly the kind of thing we need right now.

You can watch a full, narrated hour of tardigrade action on Laurin’s Twitch channel.

The stream, first spotted by Boing Boing, is part of a project called “A Tiny World” that explores microscopic life that surrounds us.

Good morning! Here's a little Tardigrade that I collected in a sample of balcony water yesterday. @tardigradopedia pic.twitter.com/hwcC0cOMxv

— A tiny world (Julie Laurin) (@atinyworldorg) March 25, 2020

All Around

“By sharing this journey with you, my hope is that maybe you’ll be inspired to get your own microscope, or to look closer at the little objects and creatures all around you!” Laurin’s description of the project reads on an official website.

So where is Laurin finding all of these critters? In dirt found on her balcony. “There are hundreds and hundreds of #Tardigrades that live on my balcony and I think they thrive in this brownish-greenish film and dirt that has formed over the years due to improper draining,” Laurin wrote in a tweet.

Little Water Bears

First discovered by biologists in the late 1700s, tardigrades are tiny micro-animals that can be found in a huge variety of environments, from oceans to sand dunes.

They’re also immensely resilient creatures: they can survive the vacuum of space, adapt to severe dehydration, and can even block intense blasts of radiation. But they might have an Achilles heel after all, according to recent research: global warming.

READ MORE: It’s fun to watch tardigrades squirm around on Twitch, adorably [Boing Boing]

More on tardigrades: Scientists: Global Warming Could Kill Tardigrades

The post This Livestream of Tardigrades on Twitch is Oddly Soothing appeared first on Futurism.

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This Livestream of Tardigrades on Twitch is Oddly Soothing