'Virus-eater' discovered in Antarctic lake

First of the parasitic parasites to be discovered in a natural environment points to hidden diversity.

A genomic survey of the microbial life in an Antarctic lake has revealed a new virophage — a virus that attacks viruses. The discovery suggests that these life forms are more common, and have a larger role in the environment, than was once thought.

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110328/full/news.2011.188.html

Antarctic microbes live life to the extreme..

Another strange discovery is a previously unknown Deinococcus — a group of bacteria known as the world's toughest — capable of tolerating γ-ray exposures 5,000 times greater than those survived by any other known organism, despite living 15 metres beneath the permafrost. These levels of radiation have never existed on Earth, so the source of the bacterium's resistance is a mystery.

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110404/full/news.2011.207.html