In the deepest of crevices, in the midst of space, in the grips of agonizing radiation, and the cold mountains, only a few species can survive who are called extremophiles. They are the product of lucky evolution and survival, and they can live through some of the weirdest and painful conditions that even humans can't survive, and they are what we are going to talk about today.
To get things started, what are extremophiles? Well, let's look very closely at the word extremophiles. In the word extremophiles, there are two parts. 'extremo', and 'philes'. We can assume 'extremo' is supposed to be extreme, and extreme means "beyond reason and convention", and if we look up the definition for '-philes', we get "an organism, especially a micro-organism, that prefers a particular habitat". So, if we combine these two definitions, we get an organism that can handle conditions beyond comprehension. We can check this by looking at the actual definition for extremophiles, which is "one that lives in conditions of extreme temperature, acidity, alkalinity, or chemical concentration."
Extremophiles have very weird and unique ways of working, so let's just focus on one; the tardigrade. The way the tardigrade works is that it expels 99% of the water in its body, replacing it with sugar that it synthesizes, and curls up into a shriveled ball, allowing it to survive almost all places on Earth. But, if you just add a drop of water, it almost magically reanimates and goes on as if nothing ever happened. Some extremophiles feed on raw elements expelled from underwater volcanos, which explains the need for these adaptations. Tardigrades eat moss, rotaphers, other tardigrades and nematodes. The only predator of tardigrades are nematodes, and other tardigrades.
The first extremophiles were most likely formed in the cambrian period, but the first extremophiles were first discovered in the 1960's by Thomas Brock, a professor in Indiana College, and because of this, they began to reassess their thearies on how life was formed. This caused extravagant discoveries in this line of science, because extremophiles would explain how life was created, and extremophiles help do quick lab experiments because they are small, yet they can handle conditions that big animals are adapted to . There are many types of extremophiles:
1. Thermophiles live in extreme heat - i.e. Pompeii worm
2. Psychrophiles survive in cold temperatures - i.e. Antarctic Krill
3. Piezophiles reside in crazy amounts of atmospheric pressure - i.e. Pyrococcus yayanosii
4. Halophiles dwelll in places with high salinity - i.e. Salinibacter ruber
In general, extremophiles are one of the strongest organisms on Earth, and they are born from the miracles of Mother Nature. They can do what anyone else can't, and they are worth researching and studying, to find out more on our ancestry and life itself.
In the end, extremophiles are fascinating creatures that we need to do more research on I hope you enjoyed reading.