If tardigrades have no fans I’m dead. Tardigrades are cute chubby looking little invertebrates with eight legs that are about half a milimeter long. They can survive high pressure, freezing, starvation, radiation, and more, which is why they have been sent to space more times than Katy Perry!

Last month, researchers from Westlake University in Hangzhou  China used tardigrades to test a microfabrication technique, giving them tiny “tattoos”. These researchers have made the next step in adapting microfabrication to living organisms. Creating micro & nano-scale devices is called microfabrication. It can be used to used to build microprocessors, biosensors and more.

How do they do it? Did they use a really tiny tattoo gun?

The research team slowly dehydrated the tardigrades, putting them in a cryptobiotic state (like a super intense form of hibernation). They then cooled them to -226ºF, and covered them with a protective layer of a frozen organic compound called anisole. They then a used electron beam to carve pattern in the anisole, in a technique called ice lithography. This process transformed the anisole into a biocompatible chemical that stuck to the tardigrade. Once warmed up, it leaves behind a design and the tardigrade returns back to normal life!

What did they draw? A heart with mom?

Using ice lithography, the team was able to draw squares, dots, lines as small as 27 nm wide, and their university’s logo. About 40% of the tardigrades survived this process and the surviving ones seemed to show no change in behavior.

What are some end goals for this type of process?

The next step for this microfabricarion technique is printing micro-electronics onto living tissue, starting with bacteria. This basically allows printing onto living organisms, which opens up a whole realm of possibilities!

As covered on the Daily Tech News Show on May 23rd 2025. For a more detailed discussion of the topic, listen here:

Press release: https://www.acs.org/pressroom/presspacs/2025/april/scientists-have-found-a-way-to-tattoo-tardigrades.html

Article: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c00378