Savannah: Life? Life finds a way... except here: Ethiopia's Dallol geothermal field. Normally, small critters called "extremophiles" can evolve to live in extreme places. And by "extreme," I mean places like the scalding waters surrounding volcanic vents on the ocean floor or acidic places with sulfuric pools.

But combine super acidic, super salty, and super hot and you get the pools from Dallol, which can be tricky for these small organisms. Even though these pools are full of water, scientists haven't found life in them, and there's a good reason they can't find life here: The combo of extreme temperature, saltiness, and acidity together can affect how organisms function, affecting things like proteins, where they lose their shape and can no longer do their job, which affects the organism.

this might be bad for the tiny critters, but it helps scientists understand the limits of survival of life as we know it and what to look for in other planets.

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