Like you and me, microbes need some metals in their diet to stay healthy. The metals help the microbes fully "digest" food. After a good meal, the microbes that gain energy by chemically reducing nitrate release a harmless byproduct: nitrogen, the gas that makes up 78% of Earth's atmosphere.
Collaborative research from the labs of Washington University's Daniel Giammar and Jeffrey Catalano finds a lack of available metals may be responsible for more nitrous oxide than previously thought.
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