"In 1993, John Baross and Jody Deming of the University of Washington published a paper entitled "Deep-sea smokers: Windows to a subsurface biosphere?" In this paper, the two oceanographers advanced the idea that the interior of Earth is home to microbes capable of living, under high pressure, at tempratures above that of boiling water--as much as 150oC. They called these organisms "super thermophilic." This bold prediction was supported when John Parkes of Bristol, England, discovered intact microbes at 169oC in a deep-sea drill core."

Baross, J. A. and Holden, J. F. 1996. Overview of hyperthermophiles and their heat-shock proteins. Advances in Protein Chemistry 48:1-35.

Hei, D. J. and Clark, D. S. 1994. Pressure stabilization of proteins from extreme thermophiles. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 60:932-939.

Holden, J. F. and Baross, J.A. 1995. Enhanced thermotolerance by hydrostatic pressure in deep-sea marine hyperthermophile /Pyrococcus/ strain ES4. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 18:27-34.

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