ASM: Cold, high, ultrasmall and infinite.
I think we humans should surrender: we are clearly surpassed by microbes.
Cold: ‘Snow mould’ thrive under packed snow in the Rockies.
High: In a Peruvian valley rimmed by 6000 metre peaks, bacteria bloom at the barren foot of a retreating glacier.
Ultrasmall: Many bugs pulled from an ice sample from a 120,000 year old Greenland glacier, 3000 meters down, were less than 0.2 of a micron (compared to a typical bacteria of some 1.5-6 microns). They are naturally tiny and don’t swell up, even when given the chance to gorge.
Infinite: There are probably more bacteria in our gut then there are cells in our bodies.