i remember learning about extremophiles (literally meaning extreme-lovers), ancient organisms that survive in very extreme environments, adapting to crazy things such as underwater sulphuric outflows, extremely saline-rich waters, Antarctic temperatures, etc. they fascinated me because of their ability to survive in such ridiculously extreme situations. although still carbon-based, they also expanded the definition of life.
it is in this same spirit of extremism that i find these ultra-massive stars so fascinating. these stars are the ones your grandfather told you bedtime stories about: spewing out ultra-hot plasma at velocities on the order of thousands of metres per second, erupting in supernovae near the end of their lives, and spending there (assumed) final days as exotic stellar objects such as neutron stars, pulsars or black holes. studying these types of objects usually result in some sort of modification or restructuring of the laws of physics, as these extreme-etoiles are usually at the limit of our understanding of the universe.
