In an era of rapid climate change and expansion of desertification, the extremely harsh
conditions of drylands are a true challenge for microbial life. Under drought conditions …

Highlights•The hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert is one of the most abiotic places on
Earth.•The Atacama Desert's core is a polyextreme environment for all forms of …

The global cryosphere, Earth's frozen water, is in precipitous decline. The ongoing and
predicted impacts of cryosphere loss are diverse, ranging from disappearance of entire …

Melanin, a widespread pigment found in many taxa, is widely recognized for its high
refractive index, ultraviolet (UV) protection, radical quenching ability, metal binding, and …

Two rover missions to Mars aim to detect biomolecules as a sign of extinct or extant life with,
among other instruments, Raman spectrometers. However, there are many unknowns about …

Rock-inhabiting fungi (RIF) constitute an ecological group associated with terrestrial rocks.
This association is generally restricted to the persistent colonisation of rocks and peculiar …

Fungi are generally easily dispersed, able to colonise a wide variety of substrata and can
tolerate diverse environmental conditions. However, despite these abilities, the diversity of …

Our knowledge on the Microbiology of the Atacama Desert has increased steadily and
substantially during the last two decades. This information now supports a paradigmatic …

Melanins are a class of biopolymers that are widespread in nature and have diverse origins,
chemical compositions, and functions. Their chemical, electrical, optical, and paramagnetic …

Halites, which are typically found in various Atacama locations, are evaporitic rocks that are
considered as micro-scaled salterns. Both structural and functional metagenomic analyses …