Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Water Bears - the new sea monkeys?


I've received many comments regarding the post on tardigrades, the cute invertebrate often called a water bear. As soon as the weather warms up, I'm going to take out my 40 year old microscope and see if I can find a few hiding in a moss clump.
<-- From Matt Norwood


Mark Fraunfelder of Boing Boing fame says water bears looks more like bears than sea monkeys look like monkeys. Maybe there's a huge business opportunity here. When I was little, I bought a sea monkey kit from an ad in a comic book. (I may be weird but I think that female sea monkey is strangley attractive)

They were okay, but nothing special. Could someone start a company selling water bears? Given that they don't need much care and are nearly impossible to kill, they could be the next big hit. The only problem is that you need a magnifying glass or better to see them. Hmmm, that's a problem.

Anyway, reader Matt Norwood did a bunch of water bear research and posted it on his blog. For those inquiring minds who want to know, here's more.

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