microbes
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Microbes Might Be Gatekeepers of the Planet’s Greatest Greenhouse Gas Reserves
Massive greenhouse gas reserves, frozen deep under the seabed, are alarmingly now starting to thaw. That’s according to an international team of scientists whose preliminary findings were recently reported in the Guardian. These deposits, technically called methane “gas hydrates”, are often described as “fiery ice” due to the parlour trick of burning atop a Bunsen…
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Ancient Microbes Spring to Life After 100 Million Years Under the Seafloor
Scientists have revived microbes found deep beneath the seafloor in 100-million-year-old sediment, dramatically expanding our view of where life exists on Earth and for how long.
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Life Is Thriving 2,600 Feet Beneath The Seafloor
You won’t see many living things above the ocean surface hundreds of miles southeast of Madagascar—an albatross or the occasional fishing vessel may break up the hours of solitude. But beneath the surface, lava from Earth’s mantle has uplifted a long, underwater mountain range with a flat top extending 5 kilometres above the seafloor. Its…
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The Inside Of Earth Holds Up To 23 Billion Tons Of Life
It may seem fantastical, but there is a living world deep, deep beneath our feet. Go below the soil, beyond the bedrock, and you’ll find a hot, sweaty underworld teeming with life that puts the surface biosphere to shame.