Extremophiles

New word of the day ... in this article:

Shotgun sequencing finds nanoorganisms

Banfield has been trying to understand how the extremophiles - microbes that live in extreme environments - live together and generate the acid drainage that makes such mines toxic hazards. The green runoff from the mine, captured and treated by the Environmental Protection Agency, is a hot 108 degrees Fahrenheit, as acidic as battery acid, and loaded with toxic metals - zinc, iron, copper and arsenic.

I'm not much of a scientist, but if I understand this concept - my Brother's Chevy Vega was crawling with extremophiles (based on how fast it turned to rust!)