Forget sunlight—earthquakes might be the ultimate underground power source! 🔋 A groundbreaking study by researchers at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry shows how seismic activity could sustain entire ecosystems deep beneath Earth’s surface, and the implications for alien life are out of this world.
When rocks fracture during quakes, newly exposed chemical bonds react with water to produce hydrogen and hydrogen peroxide. This sparks a chain reaction creating an invisible "subterranean power grid" ⚡ that feeds microbes through electron transfers between elements like carbon and sulfur. Talk about nature’s ultimate battery!
"This discovery rewrites the rules of where life can thrive," researchers say. With 95% of Earth’s prokaryotic organisms living in darkness, the findings solve a long-standing mystery about their energy sources—and suggest fault zones on Mars or Jupiter’s moon Europa could host similar life forms. 👽
The study, published in Science Advances, advises future space missions to hunt for oxidized materials near planetary fault lines. Who knew earthquakes might hold the key to finding our cosmic neighbors?
