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Extreme Energy
By Eliza Bicknell of Lotus Petal Yoga
Would you believe there are organisms living on Earth that get their energy from somewhere other than the sun like plants and animals do? Buried deep into rocks, frozen under polar ice sheets, or swimming around in boiling hot thermal hot pools, strange organisms called extremophiles live. Most extremophiles are special kinds of bacteria. They are tougher than the bacteria found on the surface of the Earth and can go where humans cannot.
Some extremophiles are basically rock eaters. Surviving miles below the surface of the Earth, they drink from the radioactive wastes produced when certain elements like uranium decay. Others prefer to dine on iron to metabolize their food. Some eat hydrogen which is given off when water seeps through the rocks and reacts with it. All of these extremophiles are called anaerobic because they do not need oxygen for survival. 1,200 feet below the surface of Lake Vostok in Antartica, cut off from all sunlight and frozen for perhaps millions of years, microbes that are still alive have been found. Living in a state of dormancy, kind of like suspended animation, they are able to live almost forever it seems. Findings such as these are a good sign for the possibility of life on other planets. Boiling hot hot springs, like those found at Yellowstone National Park are also home to some extremophiles. The hot springs are heated from geothermal reactions deep within the Earth. Temperatures can reach upwards of 80 C or 177 F. Even more extreme are those that live by volcanic vents near mid ocean ridges where temperatures can reach up to 350 C or 662 F! That’s much hotter that boiling water, yet they still are able to flourish, getting their energy from sulfur or iron. Some of these same extremophiles also face enormous water pressure. Those found deep down in the Mariana trench, the deepest part of the ocean, survive under water pressure that is 16,000 lbs per square inch. That’s certainly enough to crush you or me. Since there is no sunlight at such depths and sometimes no oxygen, most of these microbes derive their energy from eating nitrates, sulfates and hydrogen.
Geothermal vents are often very acidic, and some of the extremophiles that live by them are called acidophiles. Acidophiles use special enzymes in order to avoid having their insides eaten up from the strong acids in which they live.
Scientists have found one incredible extremophile that can survive not only extreme hot and cold temperatures, under massive pressure, and with a lack of oxygen, but also dangerous radiation. Currently this special bacteria is being used by scientists to help clean up heavy metal wastes at radioactive sites, munching up toxins for its primary energy source. It is also being used to study whether or not life could exist on other planets such as Mars. From intense heat to intense radiation, extremophiles certainly go to extremes when it comes to finding their sources of energy for survival.
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Since I draw my 'power' from other people, does that make me an extremophile? I hope so, cos I kinda like the name and I don't mind being classed as 'bacteria.' *smiles* GREAT intel. Very informative and I rated it a 5.
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
Thank you and everyone else for your nice comments about this article! I actually wrote it a while ago and tried to get it published elsewhere without success. Now that is is published here, I am reworking it again to try enter it into a writing contest. I jsut learned of one extremophile that lives and eats only sulfuric acid! cheers!
This is a great intel. I loved the topic but better than that, it was condensed, easy to read, and information packed.
Great intel Eliza. Well researched, written and enjoyable to read.
Keep up the good work.
Frederick
I'd heard of these life forms but I didn't know the name nor the extent to which these things are extreme. Nuclear bugs that use radioactivity for energy? Incredible. (BTW I agree with John, extremophile sounds pretty cool.)
 | | nick Jan 3, 2010 23:16 | |
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