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Trevor Blake: Extremophiles [LINK-ZUM]

Extremophiles are living beings that thrive under conditions most living beings cannot survive. Some snakes can go six months without eating. There are fish that live in near-boiling, near-acid liquids. The plant welwitschia mirabilis can live for two thousand years, and the seeds of the methuselah plant can sprout after the same period of time. Bacteria can live for eight million years. The panspermia theory of life on Earth suggests that life arrived on Earth after surviving without atmosphere and under constant cosmic radiation while drifting through space, surviving also dropping into our atmosphere and crashing onto the surface of the Earth. There was some concern at one time that extremophile life on the moon posed a threat to astronauts. And, in fact, the bacteria streptococcus mitis is known to be able to survive a rocket launch, space vacuum, three years of radiation exposure, regular exposure to 20 degrees above absolute zero temperatures, and going without nutrients, water or an energy source on the surface of the moon. There are not many compilations of stories on extremophiles, but there are a one or two. What might humanity be able to engineer for ourselves to become extremophiles? What dangers do exremophiles present to humanity?

Labels: extremophiles, science

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