Bartalos

My latest Long View study takes bdelloid rotifers for its theme. These tiny animals’ presence in Antarctica was noted by Shackleton’s crew in 1908 and described by biologist James Murray in the expedition’s book, Aurora Australis. Murray was captivated by the creatures’ resilience to environmental stresses, but he didn’t know half of it. New discoveries about bdelloids have further astounded scientists, turning long-held assumptions about evolutionary processes on their head.

Get the details over at my full post on the Long View blog hosted by the California Academy of Sciences.