Smaller than you can imagine. Potato-shaped. Mysterious. Romantic. And tough enough to survive the vacuum of space or decades of desiccation. Join professor and confirmed Tardigradologist Dr. Paul Bartels to saunter into a microscopic wonderland of bizarrely long naps, foreign genomes, moon landings, glow-in-the-dark moss piglets, cryptobiosis, kitten claws, knife mouths, balloon butts, spiders on Mars, splicing tardigrade DNA into ours, debunking flim-flam and the friends living in your gutters. 

Follow Dr. Bartels on ResearchGate and Google Scholar

A donation went to the Xerces Society

More episode sources and links

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Other episodes you may enjoy: Bryology (MOSS) with Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, Planariology (VERY COOL WORMS, I PROMISE), Benthopelagic Nematology (DEEP SEA WORMS), Radiology (X-RAY VISION), Microbiology (GUT BIOME), FIELD TRIP: My Butt, a Colonoscopy Ride Along & How-To, Diplopodology (MILLIPEDES & CENTIPEDES), Saurology (LIZARDS), Astrobiology (ALIENS), UFOlogy (UNEXPLAINED AERIAL PHENOMENA), Etymology (WORD ORIGINS), Ursinology (BEARS), Carnivore Ecology (LIONS, TIGERS, & BEARS)

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow @Ologies on Instagram and X

Follow @AlieWard on Instagram and X

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jacob Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth

Transcripts by Aveline Malek 

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn