Researchers report a newly identified amoeba that thrives in extremely hot water from California’s Lassen Volcanic National Park. The organism can eat and reproduce in hot spring temperatures reported up to about 63°C (145°F), surpassing a heat tolerance threshold previously considered lethal for complex life.
The findings, published in the journal Cell, come as part of efforts to understand how life adapts to extreme environments. All outlets describe the amoeba as a single-celled organism capable of remaining active at temperatures above 60°C. The mechanism highlighted across reports is thermal protection: the amoeba can withstand even higher conditions, up to roughly 70°C (158°F), by changing shape and forming a protective outer layer. While some outlets focus on the broader significance—placing the amoeba among known extremophiles—others emphasize the specific temperature record and the study’s experimental evidence of survival and reproduction at those levels.
