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QFT “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."

There are a few things that make bacteria more resilient. Many actually do burst, especially after repeated freeze-thaw cycles, but compared to most eukaryotic cells a combination of a bit more simple structure, potentially size but also more robust cell hull allow them to survive better. However, there are also specialists that can survive extreme events (though a few eukaryotes such as the tardigrades (water bears) also fall into that category. Adaptations include changes in the lipid composition (toward shorter, unsaturated fatty acids) to keep it more fluid at low temperature as well as accumulation of metabolites and proteins that prevent crystallization, for example.

There is a better way.. I propose that we proactively fight to undo our contribution to climate change and convert solar and wind power to electric generation wherever possible. Or so it seems to me (:-