A study led by Aradhna Tripati, a geochemist from UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, examines the interplay between methane and microbes to learn more about how the two have regulated climate change throughout Earth’s history. According to Tripati, microbes play an instrumental role in transforming methane– a problematic greenhouse gas– into carbon dioxide, which enables photosynthesis and poses a lesser threat to Earth’s ozone layer. A better understanding of how microbes and methane interact could allow us to control methane release as global warming prompts increased methane leaks from permafrost.

Source: Methane and microbes – making life happen UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, 22 July 2016

Read more about Aradhna Tripati and her fellow researchers’ study in Nature Communications