Asked by: Tanya Sebastian, by email

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Life is incredibly resilient, and simple organisms have been found everywhere from Antarctica to the bottom of mines; even the so-called Dead Sea supports ‘salt-loving’ haloarchaea microorganisms.

There is one part of the world where nothing thrives, however: the Atacama Desert in Chile. The principal reason is the lack of water: some parts of the Atacama have not seen rain for decades. The acidic soil and high altitude – leading to relatively high levels of ultra-violet radiation – don’t help either.

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Authors

Robert is a science writer and visiting professor of science at Aston University.

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