13 Extremophiles
SOME OF THE FIRST AMERICAN VISTORS to Yellowstone, who began to record their journeys into the wilds of northwestern Wyoming during the early 1870s, noted the horrible taste of the water from the hot springs. A visitor with the Hayden party compared the taste of the water at Soda Butte to a “a diabolic julep of lucifer matches, bad eggs, vinegar and magnesia.
Halt there, right at the vinegar comment – that’s acetic acid, of course. Which led researchers to consider that, amongst the volcanic stews of Yellowstone, there might be some crazy organism that can tolerate insane temperatures, and still find a way to break down and ferment cellulose into the organic acid known as acetic acid and, possibly, its cousin among the two-carbon alcohols, ethanol.
Or even more complex fuels.
These are the extremophiles organisms that survive incredibly hot temps and have amazing properties.
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