EXTREMOPHILES

(From Clive Thompson) "The Berkeley Pit is a copper mine that was abandoned in 1982; it's 1,780 feet deep and a mile and a half wide. In the last twenty-five years, it has filled with water, and as the water has soaked up the residual arsenic, aluminum, cadmium and zinc, the pond has turned as acidic as vinegar. In 1995, a couple hundred geese landed on the water and instantly died. Nice. Nonetheless, Don and Andrea Stierl -- two chemists who live nearby -- wondered if any lifeforms could endure such grim surroundings, so they pulled out some of the pond's goo and cultured it in Petri dishes. Whaddya know: They've found 142 organisms in the muck, and have isolated 80 chemical compounds that exist nowhere else. Better yet, it looks as though some of those compounds might be useful in killing tumors!" (for more)

The secret word is Adapt