1In the deepest oceans, boiling springs and frozen deserts, certain organisms flourish where nothing else could possibly survive.
2Scientists call these remarkable creatures extremophiles, meaning lovers of extreme conditions, and they challenge our definition of habitable environments.
3Some bacteria thrive happily in hot springs whose temperatures would instantly kill almost every other form of life.
4Others survive in water so salty or so acidic that it would dissolve ordinary living tissue within moments.
5Beneath the Antarctic glaciers, tiny microbes have endured complete darkness and crushing cold for millions of years without any sunlight.
6Many extremophiles do not even need oxygen, producing their energy instead from iron, sulphur or other common minerals.
7Studying these organisms has revolutionised biology, because they reveal how flexible and inventive the chemistry of life can be.
8Their special enzymes already serve industry, helping us to wash clothes in cold water and to produce cleaner medicines.
9Perhaps most excitingly, extremophiles suggest that life might exist on other worlds, such as the icy moons of Jupiter.
10If creatures can survive inside boiling vents on Earth, then similar life could hide beneath alien oceans far away.