water bear

noun

: tardigrade

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

An illustration of the water bear. —Marla Broadfoot, Discover Magazine, 25 Nov. 2015

Building on the research, the Japanese scientists decided to sequence the genome of a different species of water bear, Ramazzottius varieornatus, considered among the most hardy of the tardigrades. —Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 20 Sep. 2016

Researchers have also documented about 40 species of tardigrade, a tiny, nearly invisible eight-legged invertebrate also known as a water bear; 21 had never before been observed in Madagascar, and three were entirely new to science; one of those will be named after Wright, Milnesium wrightae. —Dyan Machan, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 July 2022

Earlier this year, researchers at Rockefeller University examined the water bear's distinctive gait and concluded the creature's movement resembles that of insects 500,000 times their size, according to a paper published in August in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. —Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 28 Dec. 2021

The tiny water bear was roaming the lakeshore mosses within Crater Cirque, a natural bowl hollowed out by ancient glaciers. —Carl Engelking, Discover Magazine, 19 June 2014

And even if the water bear army fails, the hardy critters would still outlive the Enterprise’s crew. —Kyle Hill, Discover Magazine, 31 May 2013

One of these hardier options is the tardigrade, or water bear (see image above). —The Physics Arxiv Blog, Discover Magazine, 9 Nov. 2021

Spencer Debenport, a plant pathologist at Ohio State University, sports a tattoo of a tardigrade, a microscopic animal known as the water bear. —Carl Zimmer, Discover Magazine, 7 Nov. 2011

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Word History

First Known Use

1848, in the meaning defined above