Chimneys

And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof The prancing and pawing of each little hoof. As I drew in my head and was turning around Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound. --From Clement Moore's "A Visit From St. Nicholas" Even though it's been more than a century since Clement Moore wrote his holiday classic, St. Nick hasn't changed much--he still shows up as "chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf" when Christmas rolls around.

There may be no harsher place for Earth life to survive--and no more difficult place to study it--than the sea floor vents called black smokers. Crushing pressures, brutally hot water and corrosive gases sharply limit the time researchers can spend on site, even in deep-ocean submersibles, and corrode most sensors left behind.