Extremophile

An extremophile is an organism (a living thing) which lives best in extreme conditions that are harmful to most life on Earth.^[1][2] They are different from organisms that live in normal places, called mesophiles or neutrophiles.

In the 1980s and 1990s, biologists found that microbes can survive in extreme environments. These are niches that are extreme in some way. They may be extremely hot, or cold, or dry, or under huge pressure, or very salty or acidic. Complex organisms, such as animals or plants, cannot live in these environments.^[3]

Some scientists suggest that life may have begun on Earth in hydrothermal vents far below the ocean surface.^[4] Environments such as hot oceans, hot springs and deep ocean hydrothermal vents would have been common during the Archaean eon, about 3.9 billion years ago. Early forms of life lived in those conditions.^[5]

1. ↑ Wilson ZE, Brimble MA 2009. Molecules derived from the extremes of life. Natural Product Reports 26 (1): 44–71. doi:10.1039/b800164m. PMID 19374122
2. ↑ Seckbach J; Oren A. & Stan-Lotter H. eds. 2013. Polyextremophiles: life under multiple forms of stress. Dordrecht: Springer. ISBN 978-94-007-6488-0
3. ↑ Hogan, C. Michael 2010. Extremophile. In (eds) Monosson E. & Cleveland C. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council of Science & the Environment. [1]
4. ↑ "Mars exploration - Press kit" (PDF). NASA. June 2003. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
5. ↑ Gouy M. & Chaussidon M. 2008. Ancient bacteria liked it hot. Nature 451: p635.