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Researchers at Syracuse University have made a striking discovery at Lassen Volcanic National Park that could reshape scientific thinking about the limits of complex life. Working amid steam rising from deep within the Earth, the team identified living organisms in a water sample taken from the park’s geothermal areas.
The organism turned out to be an amoeba – a tiny, single-celled life form capable of movement and feeding without a rigid body. It was found in parts of the park where the water is neutral, neither acidic nor alkaline, an environment long thought to be hostile to complex cellular life at such temperatures.
In laboratory conditions, the researchers observed something unexpected. The amoeba, which initially appeared lifeless, not only survived the heat but actually thrived. The organism was able to divide at temperatures of up to 63°C (145°F) – conditions that are lethal to the cells of humans, animals and multicellular plants.
Life beyond 158°F
To test its thermal limits, scientists gradually increased the water temperature to 64°C (147°F), and then even to 70°C (158°F). Remarkably, the amoeba was not destroyed. At these extreme levels, it entered a dormant, cyst-like state that could later reactivate when temperatures dropped.
According to the study, the finding took the researchers by surprise. Until now, no other known eukaryotic organism – one made up of cells with a nucleus and internal structures – had been shown to survive under such intense heat.
Previously, some fungi and algae were known to withstand temperatures of up to 60°C (140°F), but no higher.Beyond that point, their cells fail. By contrast, human cells begin to die at around 43°C (109°F). The discovery pushes the boundaries of scientific understanding of where life can exist. “We’ve been looking in one direction, but there may be many more extremely resilient organisms that we haven’t found yet,” said Angela Oliverio in a university press release.
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