Our planet hosts some very special microbes that live in some crazy places. Called extremophiles, these microorganisms are able to withstand severe and harsh environments that may be horribly hot or incredibly acidic. It’s been suggested that other kinds of bacteria diverged from these extreme-loving organisms more than one billion years ago.
This video features extremophile expert Dr. Brian Hedlund, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who explains a bit about the biology that enables these bugs to get by in such challenging places, including features that protect their DNA or their cellular structure.