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Biochemistry

Gas with an ancient history

Researchers persist in tackling our ignorance of what life was like way back in Earth's history. Evidence of methane production in ancient microbial ecosystems now emerges from 3.5-billion-year-old rocks.

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Figure 1: Inclusive evidence.

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Canfield, D. Gas with an ancient history. Nature 440, 426–427 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/440426a

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