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Science 20 July 2001:
Vol. 293. no. 5529, pp. 418 - 419
DOI: 10.1126/science.293.5529.418
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News Focus

BIOGEOCHEMISTRY:
'Inconceivable' Bugs Eat Methane on the Ocean Floor

Carl Zimmer

Most of the methane that rises toward the surface of the ocean floor vanishes before it even reaches the water. On page 484 of this issue, a team of researchers provides the clinching evidence for where all that methane goes: It is devoured by vast hordes of mud-dwelling microbes that belong to a previously unknown species of archaea. These methane-eating microbes--once thought to be impossible--now look to be profoundly important to the planet's carbon cycle.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)