SoylentNews

Phoenix666 writes:

Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have grown underwater chimney-like structures capable of generating enough electricity to power a light bulb. The team linked several of these chimneys to get the required electricity. Their findings indicate that the seafloor equivalents of these chemical gardens might just have contributed the electricity needed for the Earth's first organisms to develop.

One popular theory as to how life took root on Earth, called the alkaline vent hypothesis, supposes that life came into being underwater aided by warm, alkaline chimneys. Ranging in size from a few inches to tens of feet, these chimneys form naturally at bubbling hypothermal vents on the seafloor.

It's possible that, when the Earth was still young, chimneys like these generated electrical and proton gradients across the mineral membranes that distinguish their compartments. These gradients emulate vital life processes to generate energy which could have been used by early organisms. The chimney's special ability to transfer electrical currents is key to the whole process.

The research would seem to have implications for the prospect of life on Europa as well.

The original news release is available from NASA JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory): Researchers Use 'Seafloor Gardens' to Switch on Light Bulb

Original Submission