When we think of life on Earth, we often picture lush rainforests, coral reefs, or bustling cities. But nature doesn’t just thrive in the obvious places.
In his captivating new book Super Natural: How Life Thrives in Impossible Places, science writer Alex Riley takes us far from the familiar and into the bizarre, extreme environments where life not only survives—it flourishes.
Meet the Tardigrade: The Indestructible “Moss Piglet”
You might not have heard of a tardigrade, but this tiny creature has a cult following for good reason.
First spotted back in 1861 and described rather adorably as a “puppy-shaped animal pawing about,” tardigrades—also called “water bears” or “moss piglets”—are cute under a microscope. But don’t let their cuddly nickname fool you.
These little guys are nearly indestructible.
Riley is clearly in awe of them, and it’s easy to see why.
Tardigrades can handle just about anything: freezing cold, boiling water, crushing pressure, lethal radiation, and even the vacuum of outer space.
Their trick? They can dry out almost completely and still stay alive. In this state, they don’t even age.
It’s no wonder scientists believe life, once it starts, is incredibly hard to wipe out—thanks in no small part to these resilient little creatures.
The Strangest Survivors on Earth
Tardigrades aren’t alone in their extreme talents.
Nature is full of oddities that defy our understanding of what “living conditions” even mean.
There are fish that swim in waters colder than freezing, fungi that thrive inside the radioactive remains of Chernobyl, and turtles that can hold their breath for six months straight.
And then there are the bar-headed geese—birds that fly straight over the Himalayas at dizzying heights of 8,000 meters.
That’s the kind of altitude where jetliners cruise and oxygen is in short supply.
But these birds manage it, possibly doing so for tens of millions of years, even before the mountains rose beneath them.
Their bodies are finely tuned machines, with super-efficient lungs and blood cells.
When Nature Creates Catastrophes—and Then Rebuilds
One of Riley’s most fascinating insights is how destruction in nature often paves the way for renewal. Take the oxygen we breathe: it wasn’t always so abundant.
Around two billion years ago, photosynthetic bacteria started pumping it into the atmosphere—essentially polluting it at the time.
The result? A massive extinction event. But eventually, new organisms evolved to take advantage of this toxic gas, including us.
Something similar happened 440 million years ago when the first trees spread across the massive landmass of Pangaea.
They gobbled up so much CO₂ that the Earth suddenly cooled, triggering a devastating ice age that wiped out 85% of species.
It’s a stark reminder that nature is always in flux, always reshaping itself.
Chernobyl: A Grim But Hopeful Case Study
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster left behind a ghost town and a scar on human history.
But as Riley points out, it also became an unintentional experiment in how nature rebounds.
With people gone, wildlife has returned in full force—even in areas soaked with radiation.
Turns out, what ecosystems can’t cope with isn’t radiation—it’s us.
In fact, the late James Lovelock, father of the Gaia theory, once provocatively suggested dumping radioactive waste in rainforests just to keep people away.
His point? Nature recovers if we stop interfering.
The Resilience of Life—and Our Place in It
Riley’s message isn’t that everything is fine—far from it.
He’s deeply concerned about climate change, habitat loss, and mass extinctions.
But Super Natural is also a hopeful book. It reminds us that life on Earth is more stubborn, more creative, and more adaptable than we often give it credit for.
Sure, human civilization may be teetering on the edge of crisis, but the tardigrades? They’ll be just fine.
And one day, maybe millions of years from now, life will morph into new, unimaginable forms.
Riley’s ultimate takeaway is both humbling and comforting: the planet may not always be home to us, but life itself will carry on.