People could not live in a glacier, volcano or nuclear reactor. Extremophiles, though, thrive under such extreme conditions.
People could not live in a glacier, volcano or nuclear reactor. Extremophiles, though, thrive under such extreme conditions.
amazingly flexible
An extremophile is an organism or micro-organism that can only live in conditions which would be impossible for most of the life on earth. Such as in temperatures of over 100°C or under high pressure. In the 1980s and 1990s, biologists discovered that microbial life is amazingly flexible in this regard. There are all sorts of extremophile fungi, algae, bacteria and archaea. There are an especially large number of extremophile archaea.
toughest bacteria
Some micro-organisms, the polyextremophiles, can live in lots of extreme conditions at the same time. Deinococcus radiodurans is one of these. This micro-organism can deal with high doses of radiation as well as extreme cold, extremely dry conditions, a vacuum and high acidity. The Guinness Book of World Records describes Deinococcus radiodurans as the toughest bacteria on earth.
partial to gastric juices
Some extremophiles live in our bodies, for example in our stomachs. The stomach’s gastric juices kill practically all the bacteria which we consume. The Helicobacter pylori, however, can easily survive it. Not everyone has these bacteria in their stomachs. That is a good thing, because these extremophiles can cause stomach ulcers.