We are moving deeper and deeper into Mark’s newest adventure, babysitting a crowd of tech workers at some nearby mountain retreat. I might be overstating the case. This past week Mark kept trying to get the right information from editor Rod Radagast about a matter of fighting bears. Turns out that under cross-examination, the original investigative journalist might have been talking about water bears. Mark explained the difference between real bears and water bears, but to little avail, as the editor clearly lacked the proper educational background. Well, this was the week that was, I reckon. With luck, Mark will end this tortured interview and get on with the project. Until then, check this out:

Water bears? What a surprise! Clearly, the outer space gimmick has Rivera’s attention, since she repeats the assocation. But what else can one say about tardigrades? They don’t make good pets. They are food for other tiny creatures.

Wikipedia reports that their very taxonomy is still an ongoing concern. Yet, in spite of their small size, there seems to be some fossilized examples from the Cambrian and Cretaceous eras. I think we have to give special awards to the paleontologists who found these examples, given that the average size of a tardigrade is only 0.020 in.