}

Who needs sun?

2005/09/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

The seabed gives many surprises to researchers, for example, who have found in a hydrothermal fireplace of the Pacific Ocean microorganisms that do not need the sun to perform photosynthesis.

In fact, hydrothermal fireplaces do not seem to be a good place for the presence of photosynthetic living beings. However, in the chimneys of the South American Pacific, some researchers collected samples. The microorganisms present there grew up in the laboratory and saw that to perform photosynthesis there were bacteria that use sunlight and sulfur. The researchers were surprised because the real residence of these bacteria does not reach any ray of light!

These bacteria seem to use the geothermal radiation that comes off in the hydrothermal chimney instead of the sun to perform photosynthesis. Therefore, photosynthetic organisms are likely to live in more places than expected. In addition to planet Earth, researchers have suggested the presence of such living beings on another planet.