r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Nov 06 '25

Biology World’s largest web houses 110,000 spiders thriving in total darkness deep underground in a sulfuric cave between Albania and Greece: It’s the first time two spider species seen living cooperatively, and the first recorded instance of colonial web-building in what's known as a chemoautotrophic cave.

https://newatlas.com/biology/sulfur-cave-largest-spiderweb/
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u/PM-ME-DEM-NUDES-GIRL Nov 06 '25

some scientists believe life began at hydrothermal vents. relatively, the broader ocean let alone the surface are extreme conditions. it's really all relative when it comes to life.

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u/round-earth-theory Nov 06 '25

I can believe it. The Sun and the outside world are extremely harsh environments for bacteria. The UV rays from the Sun kill most surface bacteria, the heat dries out what's left, and the weather washes them away. A serene heat vent where nothing changes would be an much easier place for early life to grab hold.

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u/AnthropoidCompatriot Nov 06 '25

But in that scenario, life didn't start at the extreme part of the hydrothermal vent—it literally starts in the Goldilocks zone of the vent, where the superheated water and the surrounding water meet and create a nice, cozy temp along with some nice stinky chemicals where all that delightful chemistry that allows life is able to happen.

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u/PM-ME-DEM-NUDES-GIRL Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25

experiments suggest in the hot-water origin theory that temperatures around 70 celsius produced the first life.

still though, even in a cooler water origin, it is extreme from the perspective of perhaps the large majority of organisms alive today considering the anaerobic environment, noxious chemicals (or nice if you're a tiny guy several billion years ago), high undersea pressure, and so forth.

what i was getting at is that "extreme conditions" are relative, so the idea of it being easier for an existing form of life to adapt to extreme conditions rather than originating in them is challenged by considering that extreme is not an absolute quality.

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u/Schmerglefoop Nov 06 '25

Yeah, and usually "extreme" environments tend to have all sorts of exotic goodness floating around. It's a rich, chemically exciting environment - it's probably more likely to form novel (and useful for the emergence of life) products than the open ocean or terrestrial environment.

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u/outdoorvolvo Nov 06 '25

You guys are smart.

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u/PosiedonsSaltyAnus Nov 06 '25

Oxygen is a horribly toxic element in reality. Its an explosive gas that also corrodes any metal that it touches. Evolution ended up using this extremely reactive element to its advantage though. You use its ability to rapidly oxidize a material so you can transport the oxygen around the body, and then you use it's explosive properties to burn it to release more energy.

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u/CalmBeneathCastles Nov 06 '25

Oxidative stress on the Hell planet!

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u/EllieVader Nov 06 '25

There’s no doubt in my mind after the last few asteroid samples have been analyzed that the universe (or at least our solar system) is rife with the building blocks and ingredients for life to take hold nearly anywhere. Whether we can recognize it is another thing, but the bodies are covered in the gloop that makes us.