When deciding about the habitability of a celestial body, the probability that such a body can support human life is all we wonder about. If a body can not support human life, we conclude that it is uninhabitable and contains no lifeforms on its own. We decide that it is not the home of the much expected Aliens we hope to "shake hands with" some day. We have almost described what we want the aliens to be like. Our expectations is for them to be able to survive in our world and for us to be able to survive in theirs. But what if the aliens are more alien than we can even begin to imagine?

Imagine lifeforms that can survive in the clouds of Jupiter, the methane maria (seas) or lacūs (lakes) of Titan, the immense radiation of Mars, below the thick layers of ice of Europa or even the hellish conditions of Venus. How about lifeforms that can survive in the absence of oxygen and water, two major requirements for life as we know it.

Well, these lifeforms don't live in our science fiction movies, neither do they reside in the world of fables. They are here, sharing "our" planet with us. These lifeforms are called Extremophiles. They refer to organisms that are capable of surviving in extreme conditions that would result in the death of several other lifeforms. They can be found in various branches of the tree of life and include Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukaryotes.

Extremophiles include organisms such as:

• Thermophiles: These include microorganisms such as Alicyclobacillus and Pyrolobus fumarii, which can survive at temperatures which exceed 110 degrees Celsius. i.e they are capable of surviving in boiling water.
  
  Photo Credit

• Acidophiles: These are organisms which are capable of thriving at PH levels ranging between 1 and 5. Examples of acidophiles include Thiobacillus acidophilus, Crenarchaeota, etc.

• Psychrophiles: Sometimes referred to as Cryophiles, these refer to organisms which are capable of surviving in extremely cold environments. Examples are Xanthoria elegans, Pseudomonas syringae, etc.

• Halophiles: These refer to organisms which are capable of thriving in high salt concentrations. Examples include Wallemia ichthyophaga, Salinibacter ruber, etc.

• Piezophiles: Sometimes referred to as Barophiles, these are organisms which dwell on the ocean floors where the pressure usually goes above 370 atm. Examples include xenophyophores, Halomonas salaria, etc.

It should be noted that some extremophiles can survive multiple extreme conditions. Some of such organisms include thermoacidophiles and haloalkaliphiles. Some extremophiles are however obligate extremophiles i.e they can not survive in conditions which differ from the the extreme conditions to which they are adapted.

After looking at this, extraterrestrial lifeforms might not seem like objects of fiction. While it might not yet be as advanced as human life(maybe we are the most technologically advanced form of life in the whole universe), life might exist in every corner of the Universe but it might not be life the way we know it. Let's make a toast to the mysteries the future would unravel.

---

---

FURTHER READING

• https://www.britannica.com/science/extremophile
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremophile
• https://lco.global/spacebook/what-are-extremophiles/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halophile
• https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/extremophile.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acidophile

---

---

---

Thank you for sparing your time to go through this. I remain your humble little boy.

---

---

I am @Illuminatus, I am a Nigerian and I am neither a terrorist, a scammer nor a spammer.

---

---

GIF made by @foundation