A Bacteria exhale electricity rather than oxigen

 These bizarre bacteria rely on two proteins, which band together in a single hair-like structure called a pilus. Many of these pili lie just beneath the bacterial membrane and help push the snorkels out of the cell and into the surrounding environment, thus allowing the microbe to breathe.

This discovery not only reveals something unexpected about the bacteria's biology but could also pave the way for new technologies, from powerful microbe-powered batteries to new medical treatments for bacterial infections.

The bacteria belong to the genus Geobacter and can be found all across the world, growing deep underground in soils that are totally devoid of oxygen. Humans rely on oxygen to convert food into usable energy and to sop up electrons that are left over from this metabolic process. If the leftover electrons accumulated, they would quickly become toxic to the body.

Just like humans, Geobacter microbes generate waste electrons during metabolism, but they don't have access to oxygen like we do. So, to get rid of their excess electrons, the bacteria coat themselves in thin, conductive filaments, called nanowires, which can shuttle electrons out of the microbes and to other bacteria or minerals in the environment, such as iron oxide. 

These thin nanowires are 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair and can transport electrons over huge distances, hundreds to thousands of times the original microbe's body length.