Scientists in Lyon, a French city famed for its cuisine, have
discovered a quick-cook recipe for copious volumes of hydrogen (H2).
The breakthrough suggests a better way of producing the hydrogen
that propels rockets and energizes battery-like fuel cells. In a few
decades, it could even help the world meet key energy needs — without
carbon emissions contributing to the greenhouse effect and climate
change.
It also has profound implications for the abundance and distribution
of life, helping to explain the astonishingly widespread microbial
communities that dine on hydrogen deep beneath the continents and
seafloor.
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| Nature produces hydrogen through "serpentinization." When water meets the ubiquitous mineral olivine under pressure, the rock absorbs mostly oxygen (O) atoms from H2O, transforming olivine into another mineral, serpentine -- characterized by a scaly, green-brown surface appearance like snakeskin. The complex network of fracturing and created by serpentinization also creates habitat for subsurface microbial communities. Image from Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, Canada. (Credit: Matt Schrenk, Michigan State University) |
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