IIRC, Yellowstone springs are also where they discovered Thermus Aquaticus.
A remarkable bacteria that can live in water almost 180 degrees hot, also yields TAQ polymerase, the enzyme that allows PCR DNA technology.
That’s why many older cases have been solved if they had degraded or insufficient DNA samples to test. With taq polymerase, you can make quarts of the stuff if you want to.
It was invented by a crazy San Diego surfer dude Kary Mullis(brilliant and eccentric) who doesn’t believe that CO2 is the driving force behind land based recordings of increasing temperature.
He also has some other wacky views, but he had really interesting observations about the data.
Thank you for the post.