TINY CRITTERS. BIG MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS.

Steamy vents. Sulfurous mud pots. Spouting hot, mulicolored springs (above).

These majestic joys of America’s oldest national park attract not only tourists—but heat-loving creatures that have figured in many scientific breakthroughs.

One bug yielded a heat-friendly, DNA-copying enzyme that works at high temperatures. The enzyme led to PCR tests used today in everything from forensics and genetic testing to accurate COVID checks. What else? And how, exactly?

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