Science Friday ‘Fire Amoeba’ Likes It Hot, And A Faraway Lava Planet
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Dec 18, 2025 Angela Oliverio, a microbiologist from Syracuse University, shares the thrilling discovery of Incendiamoeba cascadensis, a heat-tolerant amoeba thriving at a scorching 145°F. She explains its unique survival traits and implications for the search for extraterrestrial life. Meanwhile, Johanna Teske, a planetary scientist, delves into the lava planet TOI-561b, noting its unexpectedly low density and potential atmosphere as observed by the James Webb Space Telescope, and discusses the scientific significance of studying such extreme worlds.
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Discovery In A Boring Hot Stream
- Angela Oliverio and a colleague sampled a plain-looking hot tributary near Boiling Springs Lake in Lassen National Park.
- Back in Syracuse they incubated the sample and after a week an amoeba emerged alive and moving.
Eukaryotic Heat Limit Rewritten
- Incendiamoeba cascadensis grows and divides at about 145°F, exceeding the previous eukaryotic upper-temperature limit.
- Its genome shows expanded thermal stress and proteostasis gene sets that likely support heat tolerance.
Rapid Shape-Shifting Escape Behavior
- The amoeba rapidly shifts between a long worm-like form and a classic amoeboid blob, which may help it escape extreme conditions.
- This fast morphological change is a potential behavioral mechanism for surviving high temperatures.