What if the key to survival was to play dead? 💀 🦠🚀 Meet Tersicoccus phoenicis, a microorganism discovered in NASA clean rooms which has perfected one of the most intriguing survival strategies in the microbial world.

🌊🦠 Life under pressure: the hidden world of Lake Baikal At depths of more than 1,600 metres, the pressure is huge, the temperature is low, and there is almost no light. 😯 From cold-loving to hot-loving bacteria, extremophilic microorganisms have adapted to survive in this challenging environment.

🪐🐻‍❄️ Can tardigrades survive Martian soil? These ‘water bears’ can live under many extreme conditions, but exposing them to Martian soil had some consequences for them. Read which ones here 👉

🚀🦠 Could bacteria survive an asteroid impact and travel between planets? Surely not every bacterium can, but @jhuartssciences.bsky.social found out that Deinococcus radiodurans and its impressive features is able to survive under pressures of up to 3GPa. Read the whole story here 👉

🚀🍄 Would you try Martian food? Mushrooms are proving to be incredibly resilient, capable of thriving under extreme conditions like microgravity and high radiation 🛰️. But they are not just extremely durable.

🧬 Meet our partner Prozomix! 🔬 Prozomix specialises in enzyme discovery & engineering, turning biological diversity into high-value biocatalysts for industry. 🌍 Together, we’re pushing biotechnology towards more sustainable solutions #XTREAMteam

How is Europe doing on zero pollution? 👀 The @ec.europa.eu’s Zero Pollution Dashboard tracks key indicators on air, water, and soil 🌍 Monitoring progress helps guide action and investment, because achieving zero pollution needs both policy and innovation. Check it out 👉 shorturl.at/hrXnt

New format unlocked 🎙️ You can now listen to XTREAM on the Vive Segovia podcast! Our coordinator, Antonio, together with Irene Sánchez from our sister project EXPLORA, shares how extremophiles will shape the future of biotechnology. Don't miss it!👉 open.spotify.com/episode/2OUJ...

🪸 Meeting an alga with a magnetic personality! 🧲 Galdieria sulphuraria can bind metal at its cell surface, so researchers think it could be used to clean mine water treatment trains. Check their review 👉

🚨🦠 Good news for lab teachers! E. coli may be used for the overproduction of recombinant hyperthermophilic P. calidifontis catalase – a common enzyme used in teaching labs which is usually difficult to get. Check how to do so 👉

Just back from Hungary! ♨️ Last week, we were sampling at the hot spring of Egerszalók. With water at around 68°C, it’s a unique place where heat, minerals and microbial life come together.

👀 Pyrodictium occultum was one of the first thermophiles discovered. The meaning behind its name, “the hidden net of fire”, gives us a glimpse of its capabilities: 👇 (1/3)

XTREAM has returned to the Arctic❄️. This week, we joined the Arctic Microbiology course at UNIS to deliver two training sessions to the students: Lucas Sánchez (@scienseed.com) spoke on scientific communication, and Aurelio Hidalgo (@uam.es) on bioprospecting. We won't forget the experience!

🗣️Today, our coordinator Antonio García Moyano shared with IE University students in Segovia his journey as researcher in Norway. 🤝Together with Irene Sánchez Andrea from EXPLORA, he highlighted how science and extreme life can inspire innovation for sustainability. 📸 @robertoarribas (IG)

⛏️🌍 When you think about extreme places, you might picture volcanoes or polar ice. But what about 4 kilometres below the Earth’s surface? 🪙 Welcome to the Mponeng gold mine in South Africa — one of the deepest mines in the world.

❄️🧹Meet one of nature’s most extreme cleanup crews! 🧊🦠 Psychrobacter and Polaromonas are official trash collectors in cold environments. They are called psychrophiles, and their optimal growth happens at 15ºC or lower! 👇 (1/3)

🌍❄️ We’re thrilled to welcome University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) to the XTREAM team, one of the northernmost research centres on the planet. 🔬✨ UNIS brings unique Arctic expertise in biology, geophysics, geology, and technology, leading cutting-edge research right in Svalbard’s High Arctic.

❄️🐧 The South Pole is not only conquered by penguins… but also by scientists! 🔬🧬 The Czech Antarctic Research Program from Masaryk University is on a scientific expedition to Antarctica to get to know it better. Check their steps here 👉

🌱🌐 Transforming the EU into a modern, resource-efficient, and competitive economy is not an easy task, but that is why we have the European Green Deal. 🍃 This initiative aims to cut emissions by at least 50% by 2030. Learn how 👉

🏛️🖼️ @eabrown18.bsky.social led some research through the great art houses of Europe to discover if they had extremophilic mould in their collections. When she asked, everyone answered that they didn’t, but was it true? 🤔👉 shorturl.at/Hl6tH

🦠😠 This halophile wants no other bacteria nearby! Marinilactibacillus shows inhibitory effects against other bacteria, such as S. aureus. This could be interesting to produce alternative antimicrobial agents. Read the whole story 👉

❌💊This ancient extremophile lives in an ice cave and is resistant to 10 modern antibiotics! 💪Psychrobacter SC65A.3 has more than 100 genes related to resistance, which suggests that some extremophiles act as “reservoirs” of resistance genes. Check it out: doi.org/hbpn39

A fungus known for causing fungal skin infections shows potential beyond its pathogenic role. ✨ Rhinocladiella similis is being studied as a eukaryotic model organism in simulated extraterrestrial settings, like Martian-like conditions. Name a better glow-up!

Check this archaeon that can live in a volcano! The Weizmann Institute of Science determined that Pyrococcus furiosus can do it, but, how? Check the answer 👉

We are still thinking about our consortium meeting last week!💫 Thank you all for coming ☺️ 👉 Read how it went here: xtream-project.eu/news/xtream-...

🗓️ Consortium meeting time! 💫 One year after our kick-off, we’re meeting again in person, this time hosted by @uam.es. We are really happy to share our latest extremophile discoveries, and discuss the next steps together! 🔬

🚀🦠 NASA’s “cleanrooms” are now the home of some extremophiles. These places are designed to avoid contamination, but 26 bacteria were able to survive there. To know how they managed to do so, click here 👉

🔬The @csic.es is also part of the XTREAM team! Meet the largest public research institution in Spain and one of the most prestigious in Europe. The Centre of Astrobiology is an institution within CSIC that works to learn more about extremophiles. Learn more about them 👉https://www.csic.es/es

🚺💪Today we celebrate all the talented and inspiring #WomenInScience. Much work is still needed for gender equality in STEM. Thanks to all the hardworking women researchers for showing girls around the world that Science is also for them. #11F #WomenInSTEM #InternationalDayofWomenandGirlsinScience

🚨 Breaking news! We welcome @uaveiro.bsky.social (UA) as a new partner in XTREAM! Bem-vindos à equipa!🎉 At UA, CICECO develops sustainable methods to recover high-value compounds from extremophiles, using computational tools and lab work to move biomolecules toward industrial use.🌱🛠️

👉 Follow NEXTMARINE and subscribe to the first joint newsletter with sibling projects @xtream-project.eu , @EXPLORA Project, and @Xtremolife, laying the foundation for joint activities across the Horizon Europe cluster.: lnkd.in/dE2AhAiu

🚫💦If I tell you: waterless place, I am sure you will think about a place like this: a desert. Specifically, we are talking about the Gobi Desert. 🌏This desert occupies the third part of Mongolia and is one of the most important desert areas in the world due to its intact landforms and features.

👩🚀 Building life-supporting ecosystems in space is one of the greatest challenges in science. A challenge that extremophiles might be able to tackle! 🦠In a recent review in Nature, researchers addressed microbial functions and ecological advantages of microorganisms in Martian analogue environments.

New #XTREAMteam! Meet Wageningen University, a pioneer in innovation for sustainable change. Its mission is to explore nature's potential to improve quality of life, combining cutting-edge research and education in life sciences, human well-being, biodiversity and climate.👉 www.wur.nl/en.htm

🍉❄️Sometimes snow is not white. The appearance of red-tinted snowpacks, also known as “watermelon snow”, is the result of algae communities creating a unique scenario around seasonal changes.

🌍The European Digital Twin of the Ocean: a virtual replica of the seas. An interactive tool to provide ocean knowledge and simulate future scenarios, helping protect marine ecosystems and support a sustainable blue economy. Discover more👉 research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/european-dig...

🦠🧬How can we study microorganisms that can’t be cultivated in the lab? Have a look at this brief interview with microbiologist Yunha Hwang to learn more about the potential of computational approaches for exploring microbial diversity. 👉 news.mit.edu/2025/3-quest...

💪Everyone behaves differently under pressure, but this archaeon takes it to the next level! Haloferax volcanii, an archaeon from the Dead Sea, can switch to a tissue-like multicellular form when exposed to mechanical pressure. Read more about this fascinating twist doi.org/10.1126/scie...

🧬Nature loves exceptions—and the genetic code is no different. 👀Researchers have found that certain archaea reassign TAG from a stop signal to encode the amino acid pyrrolysine instead, creating a distinct genetic code that evolved independently several times. Take a look! doi.org/10.1126/scie...

🚨News on life at the extreme! Meet Incendiamoeba cascadensis, “the fire amoeba”. A single-cell amoeba that can survive at +60 °C! The study has not yet been peer reviewed, but in the meantime, it questions the limits of eukaryotic life known until now. ✨ Read more here👉 doi.org/10.1038/d415...

Smells like extremophiles! 🦠👃 Microorganisms produce a wide range of molecules with different purposes, from pure waste to defence mechanisms, or even as communication tools.

👀What does 50 years of astrobiology look like? 50 years of publications from three leading journals have been analyzed to map how research topics and communities in astrobiology have evolved. As we start a new year, it’s a great reminder of how science grows and adapts. 👉 doi.org/10.1017/S147...

Up for a swim? ⚠️Not possible at Poás Lake, except for extremophiles!

☀️In high-altitude wetlands, microbes face harsh solar radiation every day. This study reveals how they pause photosynthesis under peak light, then bounce back strong later in the day—along with major shifts in community structure. Curious about the details? 📄 doi.org/10.3390/micr...

Today we spotlight Syngens!✨Our partner and reference in synthetic biology. 🧬Syngens’s AI-driven predictive DNA design helps us explore extreme aquatic environments more effectively and sustainably. 👉 syngens.ai

Happy Holidays from the XTREAM team! Thank you for joining us during our first year exploring life at the extremes. To not miss anything so far, have a look at our new blog entry 👉 xtream-project.eu/news/celebra... Stay tuned for what 2026 is bringing! 🙌 #Extreme #HappyHolidays #NewYear

🔵This week, we introduce the European Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership. 70+ partners, 30+ countries, and the European Commission, together to align and boost a sustainable #BlueEconomy across the EU sea basin. 👉 bluepartnership.eu

🎬Have a look at exclusive behind-the-scenes content 🎟️Mark your calendars with our upcoming events 🗞️Discover our latest news and findings Where? On our shared newsletter! Our first issue is already out. Don’t miss the adventures of the XTREAM team and sister projects! 📬http://eepurl.com/jpH-_M

🌊Researchers are exploring extremophile communities and their adaptations in hyperalkaline oceanic muds at the Mariana forearc. Read the full story 👉 communities.springernature.com/posts/serpen...

👏🤩Rumours are true, XTREAM is on Instagram! Special content of our journey and extremophiles like you have never seen before 🦠✨. 📲Check our profile and join the adventure! www.instagram.com/reel/DRuUuXG...