At the close of the 1970s, the two-domain classification scheme long used by most biologistsprokaryotes versus eukaryoteswas upended by the discovery of an entirely new group of organisms: archaea. Initially thought to be bacteria, these single-celled microbesmany of which were first found in seemingly unlivable habitats like the volcanic hot springs of Yellowstone National Parkwere in fact so different at molecular and genetic levels as to constitute...