1. Extremophiles- Life on the edge
Objective: Define Extremophile, give examples of conditions where some extremophiles live and study one extremophile enough to write a cartoon about its life.

2. Extraterrestrial life- Under what conditions can it exist?
Discuss extremes of different planets.
Images from NASA,

3. If and when we find life in space, what do you expect we’ll find?
ET, Mission to Mars, MIB 3

4. What is an extremophile?
Organisms that live where nothing else can
Extremozymes- enzymes that work under extremes

5. What happens to us at extremes?
Temperature pH
Salt concentration
Extreme conditions cause proteins to denature, which is why fevers can be dangerous.

6. Extremophile “Extreme” “loving”
Thermophiles-
high temperatures
Psychrophiles- low temperatures

7. Chemical Extremes Acidophile Alkaliphile Halophile Dead Sea
Mono Lake- soda lake

8. More Extremophiles… Endolith- Lives inside rocks or pores of minerals
Anaerobe- Lives without the presence of oxygen
Giardia

9. Life at the Extreme!
1. Carlsbad Caverns National Park: Lechuguilla Cave 2. Yellowstone National Park: Hot Springs 3. Great Salt Lake State Park 4. Cruise Ship over Hydrothermal Vents 5. Kamchatka 6. Indonesia: Kawah Ijen Lake 7. Deep sea trenches

10. Can life exist without carbon?
Chemolithoautotrophic (rock-eating) bacteria
These bacteria feed on the sulfur, iron, and manganese minerals

11. Can anything live in boiling water?
The bacteria produce colors which depend on the temperature of the water which favors one bacterium over another.
heat-loving microbes include photosynthetic algae, organic matter degraders, and chemolithoautotrophic (rock-eating) bacteria.

12. Our Cells can’t be frozen without serious, long term damage.
Wood frogs can create an antifreeze-like solution in their blood that lets them literally freeze solid (no beating heart or brain activity) until spring thaws then it comes out unharmed.

13. Life in the Abyss
By Peter Tyson
Posted
NOVA

14. The location: Hydrothermal Vents
*Pitch darkness
*poison gas
*heavy metals
*extreme acidity
*enormous pressure
*water both frigid & searing
The Organisms:
*Blind shrimp,
*giant white crabs
*Tubeworms
*Others

15. No Sunlight No sunlight = no plants
Therefore - all vent life belongs to the animal kingdom.
All other life ever identified, on land or in the sea, gets its energy either directly or indirectly from the sun.
Chemosynthesis: Energy from chemicals! Tiny microbes oxidize the hydrogen sulfide that diffuses out of the vents, providing nutrients for animals higher up the food chain.

16. Sea anemones and barnacles flourish in complete darkness, drawing energy from breaking down highly toxic chemicals found in the smoke

17. Pressure is on Normal Pressure: 14.7 pounds per square inch.
*The pressure on every part of this octopus's body is over 3,000 pounds per square inch.
*At such pressures, any air pockets, such as lungs, would be crushed flat as a deflated balloon.
*Vent animals have evolved bodies with no such air spaces.

18. Acids and Toxins In the vent: *deadly toxicants. *hydrogen sulfide
this gas is lethal to most organisms, including many creatures that live within wafting distance.
pH of waters coming out of black smokers:
2.8
There are "naked" snails around hydrothermal vents that could not form their calcium carbonate shells because the water was too acidic.

19. And the Winner is… Tardigrades (Water Bears) can withstand:
*Temperatures from just above absolute zero to well above 100oC
*Pressures greater than any found in the deepest ocean trenches
*The vacuum of outer space
*Solar radiation, gamma radiation, ionic radiation— at doses hundreds of times higher than would kill a person.
*They can go without food or water for nearly 10 years, drying out to the point where they are 3% or less water, only to rehydrate, forage, and reproduce. (source: wikipedia)

20. You may use Halftone on your iPad or hand draw.
Your Task
Create a 3 to 5 picture comic strip telling the story of your assigned extremophile.
Requirements:
3 to 5 pictures
One sentence captions with each picture.
Must read like an actual comic strip (story-like).
Description of environment must be included.
You may use Halftone on your iPad or hand draw.

21. Please count off by sevens!
Meet the Champions
1. Pyrolobus fumarii 2. Crypotendoliths 3. Alkaliphilic bacteria 4. Deinococcus radiodurans 5. Bacillus substilis 6. Halophilic bacteria 7. Foraminifera
Please count off by sevens!