Mat-like photoautotrophic microbial communities thrive in volcanic vents, or fumaroles, at 6,051 meters above sea level, making this the highest known natural microbial habitat, according to microbial ecologist Steve Schmidt from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and his collaborators. Meanwhile, drawn from a nearly opposite extreme habitat, the ultrasmall brown-purple microorganism Herminiimonas glaciei sp. nov. recently earned the distinction of being the "only species isolated from Greenland ice that has been fully characterized and validly named," according to Jennifer Loveland-Curtze of Pennsylvania State University in State College and her collaborators.

Thermophilic bacteria can degrade woody plant biomass from poplar and switchgrass, without any high-temperature chemical treatment-a key step toward developing renewable petroleum substitutes, according to Michael Adams of the University of Georgia, Athens and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and his collaborators there and at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo. Details are published in the July Applied and Environmental Microbiology (75:4762-4769).