Alien life on Teesside

Here in the Teesside region, we have one of the deepest mines in Europe. At Boulby mine, they mine potash and salt, but the scientists have been interested for quite some time. They've been down there looking for dark matter.

Now it seems they're interested in the lifeforms that they find almost a mile underground, in pitch black, bone dry, extremely salty environment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23522734

I guess it makes sense really. If you're trying to determine where else in the universe life might exist, you kind of want to know what life might be like if it is in an environment that until recently, textbooks said was a definite 'no no'. I guess it doesn't get much harsher than nearly a mile underground in salt, with no sunlight, virtually no water, and until the mine shafts were put there, no oxygen.