extremophiles

By better understanding underwater brine pools, researchers could learn more about the evolution of life in our oceans and the potential for life on other planets.

Brock’s discovery of a thermophile bacteria at Yellowstone National Park in 1966 eventually enabled the development of PCR.

The microbes had survived on trace amounts of oxygen and were able to feed and multiply once revived in the lab.

As the afternoon breezes blow harder in the Atacama Desert—a place so desolate it’s used as a model of Mars—more microbes move into its driest regions.

Researchers recovered eight species from the salty, alkaline environment—increasing the known biodiversity of animals in the California lake five-fold.

Scientists estimate that subterranean organisms constitute a massive amount of carbon, 245 to 385 times greater than that contained in all humans.

Water bears can reanimate after years of desiccation—and gel-forming proteins unique to the animals may explain how.

Growing evidence points to a once-habitable world—and recent findings suggest that life could exist on Mars today.

High levels of radiation, among other health risks, challenge the future colonization of the Red Planet.

Two previously overlooked archaeal strains fill an evolutionary gap for microbes.

Extremophiles can thrive on perchlorates and metabolize carbon monoxide, researchers report.

Deep-sea microbes possess hallmarks of eukaryotic cells, hinting at a common ancestor for archaea and eukaryotes.

A new American Museum of Natural History exhibit highlights the incredible range of conditions under which life on Earth survives. 

Microorganisms continually challenge our assumptions of what life can achieve.

Extremophiles should not be viewed through an anthropocentric lens; what’s extreme for us may be a perfectly comfortable environment for a microbe.

Meet some of the people featured in the February 2015 issue of The Scientist.

Take a tour of deep-sea methane seeps and meet the organisms that call these extreme environments home.

What researchers are learning as they sequence, map, and decode species’ genomes