Methane

Massive extrachromosomal elements named after the hive-minded cyborg villains in Star Trek may be the first of their kind.

Brood X’s emergence tunnels—numbering in the hundreds per square meter of soil—give researchers a special opportunity to study how such extreme soil aeration affects the ecosystem.

Biological production of this greenhouse gas, once thought to be the reserve of anaerobic microbes, occurs in these widespread, photosynthesizing cyanobacteria.

Insulating tundra soil with snow increased the abundance of microbial species involved in carbon dioxide and methane release.

The materials are a previously unaccounted-for source of methane and ethylene, researchers find.

Researchers also found seasonal variations in atmospheric methane on the planet that may have a geological or biological origin.  

Two previously overlooked archaeal strains fill an evolutionary gap for microbes.

Certain microbes express genes in a methane-production pathway, offering an explanation for puzzlingly high levels of the gas in some lakes.

Microorganisms continually challenge our assumptions of what life can achieve.

NASA’s Curiosity rover finds chemical signatures that point to the possibility of life on Mars.

The World Meteorological Organization finds that the atmospheric gases behind climate change reached a new record high in 2011.