The smallest Tattoo ever. © Zhao et al., Nano Lett, 2025 American Chemical Society
Scientists have created the smallest “tattoo” ever on tardigrades by using advanced micro- and nanofabrication techniques to “write” tiny patterns on their bodies.
While these fabrication methods have transformed modern photonics and electronics, they usually can’t be used on living things because of issues like poor surface coating, radiation damage, and toxic chemicals.
Now, researchers have developed a technique called ice lithography to directly make microscopic and nanoscopic patterns on tardigrades while they are in their dormant, cryptobiotic state. Amazingly, when the tardigrades are rehydrated and come back to life, the patterns stay on their bodies.
The smallest Tattoo ever. © Zhao et al., Nano Lett, 2025 American Chemical Society
By carefully adjusting factors like the thickness of the ice layer, the energy of the beam, and the surface the tardigrades rest on, the team was able to avoid harming the creatures while creating patterns as small as 72 nanometers. These tiny tattoos stayed in place even after the tardigrades were stretched, soaked in solvents, rinsed, and dried.
This method offers new insights into how tough tardigrades are and could help advance fields like cryopreservation, biomedicine, and the search for life in space. It also opens the door to combining micro- and nanofabrication techniques with living systems, which could lead to new developments in biosensing, biomimicry, and microrobotics.
source ACS Publications
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