Chain Reaction (Song)

It had always been supposed that nothing could survive above temperatures of 50б°C (122б°F), but here were organisms basking in rank, acidic waters nearly twice that hot. For almost twenty years, one of the BrocksБЂ™ two new bacteria, Thermophilus aquaticus, remained a laboratory curiosity until a scientist in California named Kary B. Mullis realized that heat-resistant enzymes within it could be used to create a bit of chemical wizardry known as a polymerase chain reaction, which allows scientists to generate lots of DNA from very small amounts-as little as a single molecule in ideal conditions. ItБЂ™s a kind of genetic photocopying, and it became the basis for all subsequent genetic science, from academic studies to police forensic work. It won Mullis the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1993. Meanwhile, scientists were finding even hardier microbes, now known as hyperthermophiles, which demand temperatures of 80б°C (176б°F) or more. The warmest organism found so far, according to Frances Ashcroft in Life at the Extremes, is Pyrolobus fumarii, which dwells in the walls of ocean vents where the temperature can reach 113б°C (235.4б°F) ...»