Tardigrades have been exposed to the vacuum of space and lived. Kenneth Nealson is looking awfully sane for a man who's basically just told me that he has a colony of aliens incubating in his laboratory. We're huddled in his modest office at the University of Southern California (USC), on the fifth floor of Stauffer Hall. Nealson is wearing a rumpled short-sleeve shirt, a pair of old suede loafers, white socks—your standard relaxed academic attire—and leaning back comfortably in his chair. An encouraging collection of academic awards hangs on one wall. Propped behind him is a well-worn guitar, which he sometimes breaks out to accompany his wife's singing. And across the hall is the...
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