Write a brief summary of this article Bacteria have been around for at least 3.5 billion years longer than humans, dinosaurs, and even plants! As a matter of fact, bacteria were probably the first creatures to appear on Earth, back when our planet was a tempestuous mass of lava, swirling gases, and boiling water.

Proteins, the building blocks of life, emerged out of this “primordial soup”, and the very first bacteria were simply collections of these proteins that had a genetic blueprint and could reproduce. Why did they become so successful? Well, there are two main reasons.

First, bacteria can reproduce incredibly fast. Bacteria create offspring by simply dividing in two (a process known as binary fission), sometimes as quickly as once every 20 minutes. At that rate, one bacterium could give rise to a billion in just 10 hours' time!

Also, since bacteria are very simple organism, their entire DNA string is very short. This means that mutations – changes in the genetic code – occur more frequently in bacteria than they do in other organisms. This ability to mutate frequently allows bacteria to adjust to changes in their environment. If temperatures get hotter, bacteria with genes that have mutated to withstand high temperatures will survive and pass this trait along to their offspring – and since they can reproduce quickly, a large culture of the new, heat-resistant bacteria will soon develop!

Together, these two abilities – to reproduce quickly and to mutate – have allowed bacteria to survive for billions of years in nearly all conditions.