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Underwater mud can conduct electricity, possibly with the help of bacteria in the sediment - a result that helps explain the large amount of electrical activity researchers have detected in ocean sediments, a study published in this week's in Nature reports.
The finding could change how researchers think about microbes' contributions to geochemical processes.
...some bacteria have so-called nanowires, hair-like extensions on the cells' surface that can conduct electricity.
De Beer, who researches sediments on the ocean floor, envisions taking advantage of this phenomenon to produce energy in-situ during deep sea dives. The electrical current in sediment may not be enough to fuel something as large as a submersible, he said, but it could fuel a light bulb or more importantly, deep sea monitoring equipment.