microbes + electricity = forest rings. Biology is SO COOL!
"Our hypothesis is that with the forest rings, millions of micro-organisms are creating a massive, low-voltage electrical field that causes their food, the chemicals, to come forward to them. The bacteria don't have to move - the food keeps coming to them along the electrical field they have created," explained Hamilton.
This, he said, also poses an intriguing question: "Are micro-organisms changing and modifying geology?"
"It is a new paradigm for us. What science doesn't understand is the most interesting, and we're having a lot of fun working on the many pieces of the strange puzzle. This is beyond science fiction - it is unbelievable."
This is the proposed explanation for hundreds of perfect circles of stunted trees in northern Ontario, many of which are over 1-km wide (the photos are impressive).
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/tech/science/forest-rings.html
This, he said, also poses an intriguing question: "Are micro-organisms changing and modifying geology?"
"It is a new paradigm for us. What science doesn't understand is the most interesting, and we're having a lot of fun working on the many pieces of the strange puzzle. This is beyond science fiction - it is unbelievable."
This is the proposed explanation for hundreds of perfect circles of stunted trees in northern Ontario, many of which are over 1-km wide (the photos are impressive).
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/tech/science/forest-rings.html