extremophiles

From space-surviving tardigrades to ghostly deep-sea fish, these creatures make Earth’s impossible places look alive.

Grades K-2 or Adult Naive Learner Grades 3-5 or Adult Emerging Learner Grades 6-8 or Adult Building Learner Grades 9-12 or Adult Sophisticated Learner Storyline Extensions What makes an extremophile extreme?The word “extremophile” is sometimes seen as being a little anthropocentric. That’s because the one thing that makes extremophiles extreme is that they live in […] The post What types of condi…

Pushed to the limits with Mars-like conditions, a simple organism behaved in ways researchers didn’t fully expect.

Until the first half of the 20th century, scientists assumed that places like acidic lakes and volcanic hot springs would be devoid of any life due to their extreme conditions. However, the discovery of the bacterium Thermus aquaticus in a hot spring in Yellowstone National Park in 1969 marked a turning point in our understanding […] The post #FEMSmicroBlog: Sniffing the most extreme forms of lif…

New research finds that a unique component of cell membranes in an archaea species conveys protection against acidic surroundings by Fatima Husain Even in Earth’s most inhospitable environments, life has taken hold. Extremophiles, the organisms most well-known for withstanding extreme temperatures, pHs, salinity, and even nutrient-starvation, have evolved special mechanisms that enable them to su…