The flourishing of lifeforms, such as “extremophiles”, creatures that apparently thrive on radiation and acid, in places on Earth generally deemed “inhospitable” are giving encouragement to scientists hopeful of finding life elsewhere in the universe.
There’s hardly a niche on Earth that hasn’t been colonised. Life can be found in scalding, acidic hot pools, in the driest deserts, and in the dark, crushing depths of the ocean. It has even found a toehold in the frigid polar regions and in toxic dumps.
