Podcast Summary: "The Amazing Extremophiles"
Podcast: Unexplainable (Vox)
Air Date: February 11, 2026
Host: Bird Pinkerton
Featured Guest: Elizabeth Henff, artist & biologist; Brad Vogel, Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club
Main Theme & Purpose
This episode dives into the hidden microbial life thriving in one of New York’s most polluted waterways—the Gowanus Canal. It explores the notion of "extremophiles": microbes able to survive and even remediate extremely toxic environments. The episode also investigates the scientific, historical, and artistic significance of these organisms, drawing parallels to comic book superpowers.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. The Gowanus Canal: A Toxic History
[01:08–08:58]
- Bird Pinkerton introduces a comic book trope—ordinary people exposed to toxic waste gaining superpowers—and contrasts this with the grim reality of the Gowanus Canal.
- She tours the canal with Brad Vogel, member of the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, describing the polluted waterway: "It's a gray day in November and I'm on a narrow street in a low lying part of Brooklyn..." (Bird, 01:23).
- Historical context: originally a creek and marshland used by the Lenape, later transformed by European settlers and industry.
- "All the bad uses kept getting pushed down into Gowanus. It was a sewer, literally." (Brad Vogel, 05:39)
- 19th-century and modern pollution includes coal tar, heavy metals, and sewage. The EPA declared the canal a Superfund site in 2010.
2. Life Amidst Toxicity: Discovery of Extremophiles
[12:02–15:59]
- Elizabeth Henff, artist and biologist, is drawn to the question: What lives in the toxic sludge?
- "Toxic sludge at the bottom of the canal is not the most hospitable place for life...if there's a lot of life going on, it's probably invisible." (Elizabeth Henff, 12:58)
- Community scientists collected "black mayonnaise"—sludge from the canal bottom—using protective gear and PVC pipes.[13:54]
- DNA analysis identified at least 455 microbial species—organisms called extremophiles.
- "These are organisms that love being in extreme environments." (Elizabeth Henff, 15:59)
3. Microbial Superpowers: Survival and Remediation
[16:09–18:07]
- These extremophiles have evolved metabolic pathways to degrade and neutralize pollutants:
- "This community as a whole is able to degrade a whole cocktail of different contaminants." (Elizabeth Henff, 16:36)
- Capable of breaking down coal tar and solvents like toluene.
- Some microbes "fix" heavy metals: inactivating their toxicity so they’re less likely to be absorbed by plants or animals.
4. Supervillains Among Us: Antibiotic Resistance
[18:07–18:41]
- Some Gowanus microbes possess antibiotic-resistant genes, a potential threat if pathogens acquire this resistance.
- "Is the environment kind of increasing its capacity for antibiotic resistance...if you have a new emergent pathogen, then it would be more likely that...it’s also carrying those resistant genes." (Elizabeth Henff, 18:19)
5. Learning from Extremophiles: Scientific and Environmental Potential
[19:14–21:31]
- Henff proposes two ways extremophiles could help us:
- Resource Recovery: Use microbial specificity to extract rare earth elements or heavy metals from waste.
- "Living organisms are actually quite good at...producing proteins that are specific to particular kinds of metals." (Elizabeth Henff, 19:41)
- Waste Remediation: Engineer or optimize microbes/environments to enhance their pollutant-degrading abilities.
- "Are there some tweaks, genetic engineering tweaks that we can make to have these organisms be more efficient?" (Elizabeth Henff, 20:17)
- Consider bioreactors and environmental adjustments (e.g., more oxygen).
- Resource Recovery: Use microbial specificity to extract rare earth elements or heavy metals from waste.
6. Collaboration & Biofilms: Microbial Communities as Teams
[21:31–23:47]
- Henff, blending scientific inquiry and artistic practice, observes how biofilms—layers of cooperating microbes—may work together to degrade complex pollutants.
- "The first organism will do the first couple of steps, hand it off to the next one..." (Elizabeth Henff, 22:49)
- She draws an analogy to the human digestive system: multi-step processing by different parts.
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- On the canal’s legacy:
- “All the bad uses kept getting pushed down into Gowanus.”
—Brad Vogel (05:39)
- “All the bad uses kept getting pushed down into Gowanus.”
- On discovering life where none was expected:
- “If there’s a lot of life going on, it’s probably invisible.”
—Elizabeth Henff (13:08)
- “If there’s a lot of life going on, it’s probably invisible.”
- On microbial superpowers:
- “This community as a whole is able to degrade a whole cocktail of different contaminants that they’re challenged with.”
—Elizabeth Henff (16:36)
- “This community as a whole is able to degrade a whole cocktail of different contaminants that they’re challenged with.”
- On danger of antibiotic resistance:
- “It’s just not great to have big reservoirs of antibiotic resistant microbes hanging around.”
—Bird Pinkerton (18:41)
- “It’s just not great to have big reservoirs of antibiotic resistant microbes hanging around.”
- On potential environmental applications:
- “Living organisms are actually quite good at...producing proteins that are specific to particular kinds of metals.”
—Elizabeth Henff (19:41)
- “Living organisms are actually quite good at...producing proteins that are specific to particular kinds of metals.”
- On microbial cooperation:
- “The first organism will do the first couple of steps, hand it off to the next one, which will do the next few, and so on and so forth.”
—Elizabeth Henff (22:49)
- “The first organism will do the first couple of steps, hand it off to the next one, which will do the next few, and so on and so forth.”
- On the wonder of extremophiles:
- “They are the stuff of literal comic book fiction. And yet even though they don't wear spandex or particularly care about saving us, they are nevertheless real, super powered organisms living in our midst, our very small, not all that friendly neighborhood extremophiles.”
—Bird Pinkerton (23:47)
- “They are the stuff of literal comic book fiction. And yet even though they don't wear spandex or particularly care about saving us, they are nevertheless real, super powered organisms living in our midst, our very small, not all that friendly neighborhood extremophiles.”
Timestamps for Key Segments
- [01:08] Bird introduces the comic book connection and begins the Gowanus history
- [03:09] Brad Vogel defines "feral pockets" and introduces the Gowanus Dredgers
- [05:12] Gowanus’s industrial and pollution history
- [10:01] (Break)
- [12:02] Elizabeth Henff’s entry into Gowanus sludge research
- [14:55] Discovery of hundreds of microbial species—extremophiles
- [15:59] Explanation of what "extremophiles" are
- [16:36] Microbes’ abilities to break down and neutralize toxins
- [18:19] Concerns about antibiotic resistance
- [19:14] Microbes as a path to resource recovery and improved cleanup
- [21:31] The possibility of harnessing or enhancing microbes’ powers
- [22:01] Artistic inquiry into how microbial communities cooperate
- [22:49] The biofilm teamwork analogy
- [23:47] Reflecting on the marvel of these organisms
Conclusion
"The Amazing Extremophiles" explores the surprising discovery of microbial life in an environment where little was expected to survive. These extremophiles are real-world analogues to comic super-beings, holding immense promise for environmental science—from cleaning up pollution to resource extraction—while also raising essential questions about risks like antibiotic resistance. Ultimately, the episode stands as a testament to resilience in unlikely places, scientific curiosity, and the mysteries still hidden in the world around us.