If all goes as planned, the microbes multiply so profusely that they turn the liquid in the test tube cloudy. Melanie looks through a microscope in her lab at the microbes sampled from hydrothermal vent fluids. Because most of these microbes have never before been studied, there is a lot to learn about them. Melanie, however, is most interested in the larger picture. The microbes can also provide clues about the physical environment in which they live.
Scientists still don t have a clear picture of the dynamics of hydrothermal vents.
But by determining which chemicals the microbes from different areas around the vents require to survive, Melanie can make inferences about which chemicals are present in the water and the circulation patterns of the fluids erupting from the vents. Melanie gets a buzz cut in honor of Mariner right-fielder Jay Buhner. Scientists are also interested in these microbes and the vent ecosystems they inhabit because of what they might tell us about the origin of life on Earth. Scientists hypothesize that life on Earth may have evolved under environmental conditions similar to those surrounding hydrothermal vents and that the first organisms may have been fueled by chemical energy instead of sunlight. Some scientists also think that similar conditions conducive to life may exist on other planets and moons such as on Jupiter s moon Europa.