Life on the edge

That throws up a tricky problem for engineers sending space craft to explore these alien worlds. What if the craft were to carry its own cargo of Earth microbes which set up home there?One major problem for any accidental interplanetary microbe would be how to survive the punishing radiation bombardment in space. Most would be rapidly frazzled en route. Most, but not all.

Deinococcus radiodurans, nicknamed "Conan the Bacterium", is listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the "world's toughest bacterium". By rapidly replacing its DNA, it can survive cold, dehydration, vacuum, acid and a hefty radiation dose. Its Latin name means "terrifying berry that withstands radiation".

www.astrobiology.com/ (the Astrobiology Web) is good, and takes you to some great places. The wiki page on astrobiology also provides a good overview, and has great links.

Having said that, it's unfortunate that the creature pictured is used as an example. It is in fact only ten years old, and was devloped in the underground laboratories in Berlin from DNA taken from lobsters and wombats.

thx for the link

Check out the fractal patterns in that creature