Latest Methanogen Stories

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Although some have estimated a third of the Earth's biomass lives in our planet's rocks and sediments, little is known about these hard to reach organisms. A new report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), with possibly wide reaching implications, looks to study one group of methane-producing microbes that live deep in the cracks of hot undersea volcanoes. Because of the alien nature of these...

Matt Shipman, North Carolina State UniversityResearchers have long known that landfills produce methane, but had a hard time figuring out why "“ since landfills do not start out as a friendly environment for the organisms that produce methane. New research from North Carolina State University shows that one species of microbe is paving the way for other methane producers.Specifically, the researchers found that an anaerobic bacterium called Methanosarcina barkeri appears to be the key...

McGill microbiologist looks at Martian-like environment on Earth and finds evidence of bacteriaResearchers at McGill's department of natural resources, the National Research Council of Canada, the University of Toronto and the SETI Institute have discovered that methane-eating bacteria survive in a highly unique spring located on Axel Heiberg Island in Canada's extreme North. Dr. Lyle Whyte, McGill University microbiologist explains that the Lost Hammer spring supports microbial life, that...

The Earth's original atmosphere held very little oxygen. This began to change around 2.4 billion years ago when oxygen levels increased dramatically during what scientists call the "Great Oxidation Event." The cause of this event has puzzled scientists, but researchers writing in Nature have found indications in ancient sedimentary rocks that it may have been linked to a drop in the level of dissolved nickel in seawater."The Great Oxidation Event is what irreversibly changed...

U.S. scientists say they've discovered microbes can directly convert carbon dioxide and water to methane without generating hydrogen. Pennsylvania State University Professor Bruce Logan said his team made the discovery while studying making hydrogen in microbial electrolysis cells. We kept getting all this methane, he said. We may now understand why. Methanogenic microorganisms produce methane in marshes and dumps but scientists thought the organisms turned hydrogen or organic materials,...

A tiny microbe can take electricity and directly convert carbon dioxide and water to methane, producing a portable energy source with a potentially neutral carbon footprint, according to a team of Penn State engineers."We were studying making hydrogen in microbial electrolysis cells and we kept getting all this methane," said Bruce E. Logan, Kappe Professor of Environmental Engineering, Penn State. "We may now understand why."Methanogenic microorganisms do produce methane...

The benefits to animals of omega 3 fatty acids in fish oils have been well documented "“ helping the heart and circulatory system, improving meat quality and reducing methane emissions.These last two benefits may only apply to cows but lowering emissions is important for the environment, as methane given off by farm animals is a major contribution to greenhouse gas levels. Today (Monday 30 March) researchers from University College Dublin reported that by including 2% fish oil in the diet...

In terms of diversity and sheer numbers, the microbes occupying the human gut easily dwarf the billions of people inhabiting the Earth. Numbering in the tens of trillions and representing many thousands of distinct genetic families, this microbiome, as it's called, helps the body perform a variety of regulatory and digestive functions, many still poorly understood.How this microbial mélange may be linked to body weight changes associated with morbid obesity is a relevant and important...

Huge methane gas bursts on Mars appear to be caused by bacteria rather than volcanic activity, U.S. government scientists said Thursday. The researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., did not say what bacteria created the methane, the principal component of natural gas. But their findings, published in the journal Science, suggest the possibility of present-day microbes living on the fourth planet from the sun, The New York Times reported. On Earth, bacteria known...

Editor's Note: Each Wednesday LiveScience examines the viability of emerging energy technologies - the power of the future. Hydrogen is the cleanest and most abundant fuel there is, but extracting it from water or organic material is currently not a very efficient process. Scientists are therefore studying certain bacteria that exhale hydrogen as part of their normal metabolism. "The production of hydrogen by microorganisms is intimately linked to their cellular...