TBT: The crashed Israeli spacecraft that spilled water bears on the moon

PLUS: The best WIRED stories from this month a year ago. View this email in your browser  |  Manage newsletter subscriptions 08.06.20 Tardigrades, also known as water bears, are microscopic animals that can survive pretty much any environment. They can be burned, frozen, dried, or radiated and survive. Theoretically, they can survive space, too. But a year ago that was put to the test in an unceremonious way: A lunar lander crashed on the moon with thousands of them in tow, spilling them all over. Read all about water bears on the moon, plus the best WIRED stories from this month a year ago.   A Crashed Israeli Spacecraft Spilled Tardigrades on the Moon The Beresheet lunar lander carried thousands of books, DNA samples, and a few thousand water bears to the moon. But did any of it survive the crash? The Best Stories From This Month, Last Year Ebola Is Now Curable. Here's How the New Treatments Work Officials cut short a clinical trial in the Democratic Republic of Congo after two treatments appear to greatly increase patients' survival rates. This Teen Hacker Found Bugs in School Software That Exposed Millions of Records Some kids play in a band after school. Bill Demirkapi hacked two education software giants. The Radical Transformation of the Textbook Digital-first. Open source. Subscription. The way textbooks are bought and sold is changing—with serious implications for higher education. I Replaced My Oven With a Waffle Maker, and You Should Too Dust off that waffle iron and enter a world of cooking that goes way beyond breakfast. Fractal Patterns Offer Clues to the Universe's Origin A new look at a ubiquitous phenomenon has uncovered unexpected fractal behavior that could help explain the birth of the universe and the arrow of time. How to Land a Busted Airliner in a Russian Cornfield A Ural Airlines plane executed an emergency landing after a bird strike, summoning memories of 2009's "Miracle on the Hudson."     This e-mail was sent to you by WIRED. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, wired@newsletters.wired.com, to your address book.   View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe or manage your newsletter subscriptions