Foreword. Special issue on desiccation biology.

A minority of living organisms are able to dry out completely and yet remain viable, a phenomenon known as desiccation tolerance. Its occurrence is established in prokaryotes and eukaryotes across all life kingdoms, including plants and lower invertebrates. In the dry state, the metabolism of the organisms is suspended. Even more striking, desiccation tolerant organisms are often also highly resistant to other environmental stresses, surviving extremes of temperature and pressure, for example. How do organisms survive without water, the driving force for cellular organization, and why does the lack of water confer such prodigious abilities, have intrigued scientists for the past 40 years. [...