"Extremophiles" is a term that refers to bacteria that are able to exist and thrive in environments that are extremely harsh (harsh, that is, in comparison with those environments classically envisioned as being hospitable to bacterial growth). The...

Most animals live in conditions where the temperature is between 4°C and 40°C (39°F-104°F), the pH (which measures acidity and alkalinity) is between 5 and 9, and oxygen is abundant. Some animals, called extremophiles, live in...

An extremophile is an organism adapted to living in physically or geochemically extreme conditions. Most known extremophiles are microbes. It is estimated that these microbes comprise anywhere from 1/3 to over 1/2 the living biomass (D’Hondt,...