Can life exist in the Antarctic ice, in the deep subsurface, in dilute sulfuric acid, in hot springs-even on Mars? What degree of high or low temperature, pressure, or salt concentration can living cells tolerate? In recent years, scientists have discovered many single-cell creatures that exist in-in fact, are perfectly adapted to-extreme environments that were considered uninhabitable just one or two decades ago. In Life on the Edge , author Michael Gross explores how microorganisms adapt to their hostile environments and how they affect our current definition of the "normal" conditions for life. He also describes the vast implications of these extremophiles and other amazing creatures-from potential breakthroughs in medicine and biotechnology to the search for life elsewhere in the universe.
- ISBN10 0738204455
- ISBN13 9780738204451
- Publish Date 25 January 2001 (first published 21 March 1998)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 5 March 2021
- Publish Country US
- Publisher INGRAM PUBLISHER SERVICES US
- Imprint Perseus Books
- Format Paperback (UK Trade)
- Pages 224
- Language English