Let’s play a fun game of “Real or Dr. Who alien.” Creatures that eat electricity?
Yeah, those are totally real.
Hi everyone, Julian here for DNews. Some people live to eat. I eat to live. Seriously, the
idea that I have to feed this stupid body every day until I die sounds exhausting. I
wish I could just plug into a wall, charge overnight, and go about my day.
Of course that’s not how things work. Everyone needs food, and I should be grateful that
I get it because it’s game over if I don’t. If you remember high school biology, it all
has to do with cellular respiration. Your cells break down glucose from the food, runs
it through a three step process, and by the end of it you get the energy your cells need
to do work in the form of adenosine triphosphate, or ATP.
The last step of that process, oxidative phosphorylation, is the real moneymaker. Basically electrons
are transported down a chain and eventually combine with oxygen. The process forces protons
across a membrane and in order to normalize the electrochemical gradient, the protons
travel through a pump that generates tons of ATP. That’s also why you need to breathe:
without the oxygen the electrons have nowhere to go and you die. Side note: cyanide kills
you because it keeps oxygen and electrons from combining and you die. So not enough
oxygen or too much cyanide and your cells run out of energy and starve themselves and
you die. Isn’t learning fun?
Anyway some bacteria decided that the first two steps of cellular respiration were for
chumps and cut straight to the good part. They literally absorb electrons from the surrounding
rocks or metals and use them to create ATP. In a sense, they’re eating electricity.
And they may be more common than you think. It’s not that there’s just one species
of electric bugs, but thus far at least two genera have been discovered: Shewanella and
Geobacter. And they have some interesting practical uses. By making electrons flow they
generate a current, so it’s possible they could be used as a living fuel cell. Some
Geobacter species can also be used to help clean up the environment. For example one
species can clean groundwater contaminated with uranium by using the uranium ion as an
electron acceptor. This changes it from a form that dissolves easily in water to one
that doesn’t. The uranium falls out of the water, and all you have to do is scoop it
up. Albeit with some nice thick gloves on.
These bacteria can also give us new ideas of what life can look like, and the bare minimum
amount of energy needed to sustain it. When we’re scouring alien worlds, maybe we’ll
put some electrodes in the ground and see if anybody shows up for dinner.
Speaking of scouring alien worlds, the internet is full of them, and you can set up your very
own. No domain extension will help you tell your story like a DOT COM or DOT NET domain
name. And because you watch DNews, you can get 15% off Domain Dot Com’s names and web
hosting by using the code DNews when you check out.
In the search for extraterrestrial life, bacteria is probably your best bet because everything
down here on earth is just loaded with the stuff… Everything. If you want to become
a germaphobe, check out Julia’s video.
What’s the strangest life form you’ve heard of? Want us to do a vid on it? Let us
know in the comments, subscribe for more, and I’ll see you next time on DNews.