#extremophiles — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #extremophiles, aggregated by home.social.
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💁🏻♀️ TIL: 🏔️🐭 Researchers collected 167 Andean leaf-eared #mice from sea level to the #volcano summits of the central #Andes, over 6,700 meters up, then exposed them to simulated thin air in the lab.
The highland mice turned out to use #oxygen more efficiently in their skeletal #muscle and generate more body heat than their lowland relatives. Genome sequencing also showed adaptations for detoxifying toxins in the very #plants they eat.
#adaptation #wildlife #biology #science #evolution #ecology #mammals #nature #extremophiles #genetics #rodents
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💁🏻♀️ TIL: 🏔️🐭 Researchers collected 167 Andean leaf-eared #mice from sea level to the #volcano summits of the central #Andes, over 6,700 meters up, then exposed them to simulated thin air in the lab.
The highland mice turned out to use #oxygen more efficiently in their skeletal #muscle and generate more body heat than their lowland relatives. Genome sequencing also showed adaptations for detoxifying toxins in the very #plants they eat.
#adaptation #wildlife #biology #science #evolution #ecology #mammals #nature #extremophiles #genetics #rodents
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💁🏻♀️ TIL: 🍄🪨 Researchers at the University of #Michigan pulled #water from gas wells deep under the #GreatLakes and found a dense #ecosystem.
The water has remained #underground since the #IceAge more than 11,000 years ago. The isolated #environment contains hundreds of fungal species alongside tiny #worms and #tardigrades.
👉 https://www.popsci.com/science/rock-eating-fungi-great-lakes/
#fungi #microrganisms #ecology #science #groundwater #biodiversity #carbon #carboncycle #soil #biology #extremophiles
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💁🏻♀️ TIL: 🍄🪨 Researchers at the University of #Michigan pulled #water from gas wells deep under the #GreatLakes and found a dense #ecosystem.
The water has remained #underground since the #IceAge more than 11,000 years ago. The isolated #environment contains hundreds of fungal species alongside tiny #worms and #tardigrades.
👉 https://www.popsci.com/science/rock-eating-fungi-great-lakes/
#fungi #microrganisms #ecology #science #groundwater #biodiversity #carbon #carboncycle #soil #biology #extremophiles
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"[I]f life can be found at our planet’s extremes, then there’s a chance that life may exist elsewhere in the universe. Extremophiles offer a hypothetical peek at alien biology, helping us better imagine what kinds of life forms might evolve on other relatively inhospitable worlds, from our neighbor Mars to far beyond."
https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-organisms-that-make-earths-harshest-places-home-20260720/
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"[I]f life can be found at our planet’s extremes, then there’s a chance that life may exist elsewhere in the universe. Extremophiles offer a hypothetical peek at alien biology, helping us better imagine what kinds of life forms might evolve on other relatively inhospitable worlds, from our neighbor Mars to far beyond."
https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-organisms-that-make-earths-harshest-places-home-20260720/
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The Organisms That Make Earth’s Harshest Places Home #science #extremophiles #biology
Posted into FLIPBOARD EXCHANGE FEED 🗞️ @flipboard-exchange-feed-Econopass
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💁🏻♀️ TIL: 🩸🧊 Iron rich #saltwater trapped beneath Taylor #Glacier for over a million years seeps out in red pulses that look like bleeding.
A 2026 study from #Louisiana State University caught an outflow in action using #GPS, #cameras, and temperature #sensors. #Sulfate breathing #bacteria thrive in the dark brine, making Blood Falls a model for life on icy worlds.
#antarctica #bloodfalls #taylorglacier #subglacial #brine #extremophiles #microbiology #bacteria #astrobiology #mars #ice #earthscience #glaciology #hiddenworld #science
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💁🏻♀️ TIL: 🩸🧊 Iron rich #saltwater trapped beneath Taylor #Glacier for over a million years seeps out in red pulses that look like bleeding.
A 2026 study from #Louisiana State University caught an outflow in action using #GPS, #cameras, and temperature #sensors. #Sulfate breathing #bacteria thrive in the dark brine, making Blood Falls a model for life on icy worlds.
#antarctica #bloodfalls #taylorglacier #subglacial #brine #extremophiles #microbiology #bacteria #astrobiology #mars #ice #earthscience #glaciology #hiddenworld #science
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From space-surviving tardigrades to ghostly deep-sea fish, these creatures thrive in conditions that should kill anything. #extremophiles #wildlife #biology
Posted into FLIPBOARD EXCHANGE FEED 🗞️ @flipboard-exchange-feed-Econopass
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Microbes live everywhere. The ones that like the harshest environments, we call extremophiles, and there are few environments as harsh as salt lakes. Some microbes that survive in there dress up with an outer sheath to isolate themselves.
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Microbes live everywhere. The ones that like the harshest environments, we call extremophiles, and there are few environments as harsh as salt lakes. Some microbes that survive in there dress up with an outer sheath to isolate themselves.
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This Microscopic Fungus Survived NASA’s Sterilization Protocols—and Is Potentially Hardy Enough to Contaminate Mars
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-microscopic-fungus-survived-nasas-sterilization-protocols-and-is-hardy-enough-to-potentially-contaminate-mars-180988728/
13 May 2026 -
This Microscopic Fungus Survived NASA’s Sterilization Protocols—and Is Potentially Hardy Enough to Contaminate Mars
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-microscopic-fungus-survived-nasas-sterilization-protocols-and-is-hardy-enough-to-potentially-contaminate-mars-180988728/
13 May 2026 -
💁🏻♀️ ICYMI: ❄️🧊 #Antarctica looks empty from above, but researchers find signs of #history and life hidden deep beneath the #ice.
Cleo Abram talks with scientists about subglacial #lakes and ice cores that act as a frozen timeline of our #atmosphere. The remote environments could help us understand how life might survive on icy moons like #Jupiter's #Europa.
👉 Learn more: https://seethis.tv/post/what-is-under-antarctica-vostok-video
#air #animals #astrobiology #biology #climate #climatechange #discoveries #earth #extremophiles #geography #geology #geothermal #glaciers #lasers #limnology #microbes #moons #mountains #mystery #science #snow #space #underground #virus #volcanoes #water #womeninstem #tksst #video
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💁🏻♀️ ICYMI: ❄️🧊 #Antarctica looks empty from above, but researchers find signs of #history and life hidden deep beneath the #ice.
Cleo Abram talks with scientists about subglacial #lakes and ice cores that act as a frozen timeline of our #atmosphere. The remote environments could help us understand how life might survive on icy moons like #Jupiter's #Europa.
👉 Learn more: https://seethis.tv/post/what-is-under-antarctica-vostok-video
#air #animals #astrobiology #biology #climate #climatechange #discoveries #earth #extremophiles #geography #geology #geothermal #glaciers #lasers #limnology #microbes #moons #mountains #mystery #science #snow #space #underground #virus #volcanoes #water #womeninstem #tksst #video
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❄️🧊 #Antarctica looks empty from above, but researchers find signs of #history and life hidden deep beneath the #ice.
Cleo Abram talks with scientists about subglacial #lakes and ice cores that act as a frozen timeline of our #atmosphere. The remote environments could help us understand how life might survive on icy moons like #Jupiter's #Europa.
👉 Learn more: https://seethis.tv/post/what-is-under-antarctica-vostok-video
#air #animals #astrobiology #biology #climate #climatechange #discoveries #earth #extremophiles #geography #geology #geothermal #glaciers #lasers #limnology #microbes #moons #mountains #mystery #science #snow #space #underground #virus #volcanoes #water #womeninstem #tksst #video
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❄️🧊 #Antarctica looks empty from above, but researchers find signs of #history and life hidden deep beneath the #ice.
Cleo Abram talks with scientists about subglacial #lakes and ice cores that act as a frozen timeline of our #atmosphere. The remote environments could help us understand how life might survive on icy moons like #Jupiter's #Europa.
👉 Learn more: https://seethis.tv/post/what-is-under-antarctica-vostok-video
#air #animals #astrobiology #biology #climate #climatechange #discoveries #earth #extremophiles #geography #geology #geothermal #glaciers #lasers #limnology #microbes #moons #mountains #mystery #science #snow #space #underground #virus #volcanoes #water #womeninstem #tksst #video
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Memories from Februaries spent in the #Atacama desert. Team members would take nights off to recover from the heat and do laundry in town, pick up supplies at the hardware store.
Often we had to get those foil-faced windshield covers to protect computers that would overheat in the sun.
Driving through that otherworldly #landscape was exhilarating.
#extremophilia #chile #nasa #marsrover #seti #antofagasta #fieldscience #extremophiles #desert #mondaymemories
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Memories from Februaries spent in the #Atacama desert. Team members would take nights off to recover from the heat and do laundry in town, pick up supplies at the hardware store.
Often we had to get those foil-faced windshield covers to protect computers that would overheat in the sun.
Driving through that otherworldly #landscape was exhilarating.
#extremophilia #chile #nasa #marsrover #seti #antofagasta #fieldscience #extremophiles #desert #mondaymemories
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🌍🌋 Three tectonic plates are pulling apart in northeastern #Ethiopia to create the #Danakil Depression. This geological rift contains #magma pools and acidic #springs where the average temperature exceeds 46ºC.
Scientists visit the site to study #polyextremophiles which are #bacteria that survive in environments with no oxygen and high acidity.
👉 https://www.discoverwildlife.com/environment/danakil-depression
#geology #earthscience #biology #extremophiles #nature #science #environment #research #volcanoes #africa
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🌍🌋 Three tectonic plates are pulling apart in northeastern #Ethiopia to create the #Danakil Depression. This geological rift contains #magma pools and acidic #springs where the average temperature exceeds 46ºC.
Scientists visit the site to study #polyextremophiles which are #bacteria that survive in environments with no oxygen and high acidity.
👉 https://www.discoverwildlife.com/environment/danakil-depression
#geology #earthscience #biology #extremophiles #nature #science #environment #research #volcanoes #africa
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💎🌡️ The Cueva de los Cristales is home to giant beams of selenite that grew over hundreds of thousands of years in extreme heat. Scientists recently found dormant #microbes trapped inside the #crystals that may provide clues about how life survives in the harshest environments on #Earth.
👉 https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/crystal-cave
#cave #mexico #geology #microbiology #extremophiles #science #nature #exploration #minerals #discovery #earthscience #biology
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💎🌡️ The Cueva de los Cristales is home to giant beams of selenite that grew over hundreds of thousands of years in extreme heat. Scientists recently found dormant #microbes trapped inside the #crystals that may provide clues about how life survives in the harshest environments on #Earth.
👉 https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/crystal-cave
#cave #mexico #geology #microbiology #extremophiles #science #nature #exploration #minerals #discovery #earthscience #biology
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🦠🪐 New #research from Johns Hopkins University suggests that the boundary between #planets might be a lot leakier than we thought.
By sandwiching the hardy bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans between steel plates and shooting them at nearly 500 km/h (~300 mph), scientists demonstrated they can survive 30,000 times atmospheric pressure.
#science #space #biology #astronomy #mars #panspermia #extremophiles
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🦠🪐 New #research from Johns Hopkins University suggests that the boundary between #planets might be a lot leakier than we thought.
By sandwiching the hardy bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans between steel plates and shooting them at nearly 500 km/h (~300 mph), scientists demonstrated they can survive 30,000 times atmospheric pressure.
#science #space #biology #astronomy #mars #panspermia #extremophiles
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#Extremophiles that can digest #radiation ☢️ and toxicities are already used to clean up everything from oil spills to the fallout of radioactive sites.
This means we could #engineer microbes that are resistant to freezing ❄️ temperatures and high levels of radiation.
Given that #microbes 🦠 helped make Earth habitable, we could use synthetic #biology to engineer microbes to speed up a similar process for #Mars 🔴 https://theconversation.com/how-to-engineer-microbes-to-enable-us-to-live-on-mars-253456
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#Extremophiles that can digest #radiation ☢️ and toxicities are already used to clean up everything from oil spills to the fallout of radioactive sites.
This means we could #engineer microbes that are resistant to freezing ❄️ temperatures and high levels of radiation.
Given that #microbes 🦠 helped make Earth habitable, we could use synthetic #biology to engineer microbes to speed up a similar process for #Mars 🔴 https://theconversation.com/how-to-engineer-microbes-to-enable-us-to-live-on-mars-253456
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🦠 Life can flourish in Earth’s most hostile corners. What does that resilience suggest about where life could persist beyond Earth?
✍️ Read the full exploration: https://TPC8.short.gy/mgHJjLGk
Perhaps the cosmos holds more tenacious possibilities than we expect.
#Astrobiology #Extremophiles #Tardigrades #Habitability #Biodiversity #Cosmos #Microbes #Science #LifeBeyondEarth #Biology #TPC8
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🦠 Life can flourish in Earth’s most hostile corners. What does that resilience suggest about where life could persist beyond Earth?
✍️ Read the full exploration: https://TPC8.short.gy/mgHJjLGk
Perhaps the cosmos holds more tenacious possibilities than we expect.
#Astrobiology #Extremophiles #Tardigrades #Habitability #Biodiversity #Cosmos #Microbes #Science #LifeBeyondEarth #Biology #TPC8
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"Life can exist on orders of magnitude lower power and sustain their living cells for orders of magnitude more years than previously thought possible. This means that many of these living beings bump up against the energetic limits of life, and in the process seem to have cracked the code for near-immortality. These types of intraterrestrials have such extremely long lifespans that we need a new term to describe the type of extremophiles that they are. The word aeonophiles fits, since they like (-phile) long periods of time (aeon-)."
https://aeon.co/essays/the-discovery-of-aeonophiles-expands-our-definition-of-life
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"Life can exist on orders of magnitude lower power and sustain their living cells for orders of magnitude more years than previously thought possible. This means that many of these living beings bump up against the energetic limits of life, and in the process seem to have cracked the code for near-immortality. These types of intraterrestrials have such extremely long lifespans that we need a new term to describe the type of extremophiles that they are. The word aeonophiles fits, since they like (-phile) long periods of time (aeon-)."
https://aeon.co/essays/the-discovery-of-aeonophiles-expands-our-definition-of-life
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🌋🦠 Extreme life redefined! This “fire amoeba” survives scorching 80°C temps—hotter than any complex life before—proving eukaryotes can thrive in hellish spots. Clues for alien worlds? Rethinking biology’s limits! Read more: https://thedebrief.org/we-need-to-rethink-whats-possible-this-fire-amoeba-proves-complex-life-can-survive-new-extremes/
#GoodNews #FireAmoeba #Extremophiles #LifeDiscovery #ScienceWin
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Polar Microbes and Climate Change by Alysson Wagner, 2025
A Molecular Understanding for Sustainable Future
Recent studies on #extremophiles have focused on #thermophiles, microbes that thrive in high temperatures, while #psychrophiles, which prefer cold environments, have received less attention. However, interest in cold-adapted microbes, especially those in polar regions, has increased significantly in recent decades.
#books
#nonfiction
#microbes
#PolarRegions
#ClimateChange
#Springer -
Polar Microbes and Climate Change by Alysson Wagner, 2025
A Molecular Understanding for Sustainable Future
Recent studies on #extremophiles have focused on #thermophiles, microbes that thrive in high temperatures, while #psychrophiles, which prefer cold environments, have received less attention. However, interest in cold-adapted microbes, especially those in polar regions, has increased significantly in recent decades.
#books
#nonfiction
#microbes
#PolarRegions
#ClimateChange
#Springer -
The genome of an animal, a deep-sea annelid, that grazes on bacterial growing off hot thermal vents in largely anoxic environments at the bottom of the ocean. Great potential for being a treasure trove of new proteins for use in molecular biology.
"Chromosome-scale genome assembly and gene annotation of the hydrothermal vent annelid Alvinella pompejana yield insight into animal evolution in extreme environments", El Hilali et al. 2025
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12915-025-02369-7 -
The genome of an animal, a deep-sea annelid, that grazes on bacterial growing off hot thermal vents in largely anoxic environments at the bottom of the ocean. Great potential for being a treasure trove of new proteins for use in molecular biology.
"Chromosome-scale genome assembly and gene annotation of the hydrothermal vent annelid Alvinella pompejana yield insight into animal evolution in extreme environments", El Hilali et al. 2025
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12915-025-02369-7 -
🌱🚀 Researchers from #Hokkaido University attached #moss spores to the outside of the #ISS for nine months, exposing them to the vacuum of #space, extreme temperatures, and radiation.
Over 80% of the Physcomitrium patens moss samples survived the ordeal and were able to reproduce normally when returned to #Earth, suggesting they could survive up to 15 years in space.
#biology #plants #astrobiology #research #extremophiles #science
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🌱🚀 Researchers from #Hokkaido University attached #moss spores to the outside of the #ISS for nine months, exposing them to the vacuum of #space, extreme temperatures, and radiation.
Over 80% of the Physcomitrium patens moss samples survived the ordeal and were able to reproduce normally when returned to #Earth, suggesting they could survive up to 15 years in space.
#biology #plants #astrobiology #research #extremophiles #science
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🔬🐻 Microscope footage shows a baby water bear (#tardigrade) breaking free from its egg after its mother drags babies around in a sack of shed exoskeleton. A tardigrade researcher explains that water bears use two egg-laying strategies – either in the shed skin with smooth eggs, or freely in the environment with ornamented eggs that prevent them from washing away in rain.
👉 https://nautil.us/witness-the-rare-birth-of-a-water-bear-1244573/
#tardigrades #microscopy #biology #science #nature #extremophiles #animals #birth
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🔬🐻 Microscope footage shows a baby water bear (#tardigrade) breaking free from its egg after its mother drags babies around in a sack of shed exoskeleton. A tardigrade researcher explains that water bears use two egg-laying strategies – either in the shed skin with smooth eggs, or freely in the environment with ornamented eggs that prevent them from washing away in rain.
👉 https://nautil.us/witness-the-rare-birth-of-a-water-bear-1244573/
#tardigrades #microscopy #biology #science #nature #extremophiles #animals #birth
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🌋 Deep life's survival secret: Crustal faulting generates key energy sources, study shows
https://phys.org/news/2025-07-deep-life-survival-secret-crustal.html
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🌋 Deep life's survival secret: Crustal faulting generates key energy sources, study shows
https://phys.org/news/2025-07-deep-life-survival-secret-crustal.html
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New review: An entertaining romp through life's outliers, Super Natural explores the extreme conditions under which some organisms not only survive, but often thrive.
#Books #BookReview #Bookstodon #Scicomm #Extremophiles #Evolution #Physiology @bookstodon
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New review: An entertaining romp through life's outliers, Super Natural explores the extreme conditions under which some organisms not only survive, but often thrive.
#Books #BookReview #Bookstodon #Scicomm #Extremophiles #Evolution #Physiology @bookstodon
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New bacterial genome announcement from our team:
Draft genome sequence of Desulfobacterota strain M19, a mesophilic sulfur-disproportionating bacterium from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mra.00295-25
This new bacterium was found on a #DeepSea hydrothermal vent, 1663m deep under the Atlantic ocean surface. It can grow by both "eating" and "breathing" a single chemical—pure elemental sulfur.
#Bacteria #Microbes #Genomics #HydrothermalVents #Extremophiles
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New bacterial genome announcement from our team:
Draft genome sequence of Desulfobacterota strain M19, a mesophilic sulfur-disproportionating bacterium from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mra.00295-25
This new bacterium was found on a #DeepSea hydrothermal vent, 1663m deep under the Atlantic ocean surface. It can grow by both "eating" and "breathing" a single chemical—pure elemental sulfur.
#Bacteria #Microbes #Genomics #HydrothermalVents #Extremophiles
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‘As we worked, I thought that maybe it was a good time to ask him about our escape plan, in case an eruption did happen. He looked up brightly and said, “Yes, of course! I’m so glad you asked. The exit strategy is simple. If this crater starts erupting, you should turn toward it and enjoy the view…because it will be your last.”’
https://lithub.com/a-volatile-proposition-exploring-life-inside-earths-most-extreme-environments/
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‘As we worked, I thought that maybe it was a good time to ask him about our escape plan, in case an eruption did happen. He looked up brightly and said, “Yes, of course! I’m so glad you asked. The exit strategy is simple. If this crater starts erupting, you should turn toward it and enjoy the view…because it will be your last.”’
https://lithub.com/a-volatile-proposition-exploring-life-inside-earths-most-extreme-environments/
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Scientists discover #protein key to #bacteria's survival in extreme environments.
#extremophiles #sporulation #Bacillus #metabolism #protein #MdfA #nzymes #ClpC
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-scientists-protein-key-bacteria-survival.html
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Scientists discover #protein key to #bacteria's survival in extreme environments.
#extremophiles #sporulation #Bacillus #metabolism #protein #MdfA #nzymes #ClpC
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-scientists-protein-key-bacteria-survival.html
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Simultaneous #aerobic and #anaerobic #respiration in a Yellowstone #thermophile challenges scientific norms
#mightymicrobes #extremophiles #chemolithotroph #genomic #metabolism #bacteria #archea #funded_by_NASA #funded_by_us
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-simultaneous-aerobic-anaerobic-respiration-yellowstone.html
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Simultaneous #aerobic and #anaerobic #respiration in a Yellowstone #thermophile challenges scientific norms
#mightymicrobes #extremophiles #chemolithotroph #genomic #metabolism #bacteria #archea #funded_by_NASA #funded_by_us
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-simultaneous-aerobic-anaerobic-respiration-yellowstone.html
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Discovery of #stromatolite-like #biofilms in thermal waters sheds light on ancient ecosystems.
#mightymicrobes #extremophiles #thermophiles #evolution #early_life
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-discovery-stromatolite-biofilms-thermal-ancient.html