© WSUPools of hot water like this are the home to bacteria that can eat and breathe electricity.
Unlike thousands of tourists who trek to admire the park's iconic geysers and hot springs every year, the WSU graduate student was traveling with a team of scientists to hunt for life within them.
After a strenuous seven mile walk through scenic, isolated paths in the Heart Lake Geyser Basin area, the team found four pristine pools of hot water. They carefully left a few electrodes inserted into the edge of the water, hoping to coax little-known creatures out of hiding -- bacteria that can eat and breathe electricity.
After 32 days, the team returned to the hot springs to collect the submerged electrodes. Working under the supervision of Haluk Beyenal, Paul Hohenschuh Distinguished Professor in the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, Mohamed and postdoctoral researcher Phuc Ha analyzed the electrodes.
Voila! They had succeeded in capturing their prey -- heat-loving bacteria that "breathe" electricity through the solid carbon surface of the electrodes.
The WSU team, in collaboration with colleagues from Montana State University, published their research detailing the multiple bacterial communities they found in the Journal of Power Sources.
Comment: Why do incidences of this mysterious phenomenon seem to be increasing? Several mechanisms have been proposed, including methane gas releases, magnetic pole reversals, and concussive injury from micro-meteorite explosions high up in the atmosphere. All three possibilities are cause for worry.