This article introduces life in extreme environment and the utilisation of extremophil microorganisms in biotechnologies.

An extremophile is an organism that thrives under "extreme" conditions. The term frequently refers to prokaryotes and is sometimes used interchangeably with Archaea. In this module, however, you will find that extremophiles come in all shapes and sizes, and that our understanding of the phylogenetic diversity of extreme habitats increases daily.

On the picture we can see Diatoms from the Mono-lake (California).