Underwater brine pool
Science Snapshot: The Beach Beneath
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.
Science Snapshot: The Beach Beneath
Science Snapshot: The Beach Beneath

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.

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.

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extremophiles
Dr. Brock standing in nature, holding a walking stick and wearing binoculars around his neck.
Microbiologist Thomas Brock Dies at 94
Lisa Winter | Apr 23, 2021
Brock’s discovery of a thermophile bacteria at Yellowstone National Park in 1966 eventually enabled the development of PCR.
bacteria, microbe, deep sea, South Pacific Gyre, JOIDES Resolution, field research, sediment, geomicrobiology
Scientists Awaken Deep Sea Bacteria After 100 Million Years
Amanda Heidt | Jul 29, 2020
The microbes had survived on trace amounts of oxygen and were able to feed and multiply once revived in the lab.
Extreme Biotech: Understanding Extremophile Biology to Impact Human Health
The Scientist Creative Services Team
Jaclyn Winter and Shiladitya DasSarma will discuss how they harness the unique biology of extremophiles for the discovery and development of new therapeutics.
Life Rides the Wind in the Desert
Ashley Yeager | Dec 1, 2019
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.
Arsenic-Resistant Nematodes Found in Mono Lake
Abby Olena | Sep 26, 2019
Researchers recovered eight species from the salty, alkaline environment—increasing the known biodiversity of animals in the California lake five-fold.
Life Deep Underground Is Twice the Volume of the Oceans: Study
Carolyn Wilke | Dec 11, 2018
Scientists estimate that subterranean organisms constitute a massive amount of carbon, 245 to 385 times greater than that contained in all humans.
New Insights into Tardigrades’ Ability to Withstand Drying Out
Kerry Grens | Dec 6, 2017
Water bears can reanimate after years of desiccation—and gel-forming proteins unique to the animals may explain how.
Search for Life on the Red Planet
Diana Kwon | Dec 1, 2017
Growing evidence points to a once-habitable world—and recent findings suggest that life could exist on Mars today.
astronaut on red landscape
Infographic: The Hazards of Life on Mars
Diana Kwon | Nov 30, 2017
High levels of radiation, among other health risks, challenge the future colonization of the Red Planet.
Researchers Discover Salt-Loving Methanogens
Abby Olena | May 26, 2017
Two previously overlooked archaeal strains fill an evolutionary gap for microbes.
Microbes Persist in Super-Salty Conditions
Tanya Lewis | Jun 23, 2016
Extremophiles can thrive on perchlorates and metabolize carbon monoxide, researchers report.
Prokaryotic Microbes with Eukaryote-like Genes Found
Jyoti Madhusoodanan | May 6, 2015
Deep-sea microbes possess hallmarks of eukaryotic cells, hinting at a common ancestor for archaea and eukaryotes.
Extremophiles on Display
Ashley P. Taylor | Apr 2, 2015
A new American Museum of Natural History exhibit highlights the incredible range of conditions under which life on Earth survives. 
Stubbornly Persistent
Mary Beth Aberlin | Feb 1, 2015
Microorganisms continually challenge our assumptions of what life can achieve.
The Energy of Life
Jeffrey Marlow and Jan Amend | Feb 1, 2015
Extremophiles should not be viewed through an anthropocentric lens; what’s extreme for us may be a perfectly comfortable environment for a microbe.
Contributors
Molly Sharlach and Jenny Rood | Feb 1, 2015
Meet some of the people featured in the February 2015 issue of The Scientist.
Extreme Living
Jeffrey Marlow and Jan Amend | Jan 31, 2015
Take a tour of deep-sea methane seeps and meet the organisms that call these extreme environments home.
Genome Digest
Jyoti Madhusoodanan | Aug 26, 2014
What researchers are learning as they sequence, map, and decode species’ genomes
Astrogerm
Bob Grant | Nov 11, 2013
Researchers find a new bacterial species lurking in clean rooms used to assemble spacecraft at NASA and the European Space Agency.