Microbes flourish at deepest ocean site

At bottom of Mariana Trench, bacteria prosper despite crushing pressure, isolation

In the darkest, deepest part of the ocean, microscopic life thrives under extreme pressures and isolation from the world above. Surprisingly, bacteria in the West Pacific’s Challenger Deep gobble up more oxygen than does the life in a nearby shallower area, researchers report March 17 in Nature Geoscience.