Together, with peer scientists from Britain, Ireland, Iceland, and the U.S., Dr. Ballard searches for the origin of life in the planets most unforgiving environment: the darkness and chill of waters thousands of feet beneath the surface. Here, on the slopes of the Mid-Ocean ridges that divide the earths tectonic plates, are formations called chimneys, where molten lava superheats the ocean, mixing in the nutrients and hardening magma that allows life to thrive against the odds.

• Bob Ballard