Its surface is no more unpleasant than the inside of a volcanic vent, where bacteria thrive.

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In Sweden he visited a plant where refuse is rotated in an unused rotary kiln for three days, allowing bacteria that thrive in that temperature to quickly degrade it into fertilizer and bits of plastic.

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However, harmful bacteria tend to thrive in the acidic environment that is created when we eat sugary foods to the detriment of beneficial bacteria, which increases the risk of tooth decay.

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"The large number of beverages and soda fountain machines containing E. coli is still of considerable concern... and suggests that more pathogenic strains of bacteria could persist and thrive in soda fountain machines if introduced, " the authors wrote.

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Extremophiles comprise principally bacteria, which have the remarkable ability to thrive in conditions that would be hazardous to other lifeforms - extremes of temperature, radiation, salinity, and metal toxicity.

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Bacteria, in contrast, often just lurk in the environment (like tetanus), and may thrive on many hosts (as does bubonic plague, for example).

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