A giant microbial "reactor" was found near the Tomsk region, the Russian Ministry of Education and Science reported. Russian scientists have discovered at a depth of 3 kilometers a new strain of bacteria that produce methane twice as fast as their known counterparts. But the most interesting thing is the scale. These tiny organisms live in an underground basin that covers an area of ​​3 million square kilometers. It works like a giant natural reactor. As it turned out, this source of greenhouse gas in the past was not taken into account at all in global climate models. These microorganisms already bring practical benefits: in bioreactors they process waste into "green" fuel (methane), the production of which was increased by Russian scientists by 46%. In animal agriculture, food additives based on them reduce emissions from cows and increase milk yield, and methane-oxidizing bacteria are used as raw materials for the production of high-protein food (gefirin).

A giant microbial "reactor" was found near the Tomsk region, the Russian Ministry of Education and Science reported. Russian scientists have discovered at a depth of 3 kilometers a new strain of bacteria that produce methane twice as fast as their known counterparts. But the most interesting thing is the scale. These tiny organisms live in an underground basin that covers an area of ​​3 million square kilometers. It works like a giant natural reactor. As it turned out, this source of greenhouse gas in the past was not taken into account at all in global climate models. These microorganisms already bring practical benefits: in bioreactors they process waste into "green" fuel (methane), the production of which was increased by Russian scientists by 46%. In animal agriculture, food additives based on them reduce emissions from cows and increase milk yield, and methane-oxidizing bacteria are used as raw materials for the production of high-protein food (gefirin).