Deep below the ground, radioactive elements disintegrate water molecules, producing ingredients that can fuel subterranean life. This process, known as radiolysis, has sustained bacteria in isolated, ...

Researchers working at the University of Missouri (MU) claim to have produced a prototype of a nuclear-powered, water-based battery that is said to be both longer-lasting and more efficient than ...

In the icy bodies around our solar system, radiation emitted from rocky cores could break up water molecules and support hydrogen-eating microbes. To address this cosmic possibility, a team modeled a ...

Dmitry Polyansky (left) and David Grills in the pulse radiolysis lab where the research was conducted. Here, Grills programs a syringe pump that delivers the catalyst to the radiolysis cell. Polyansky ...

New work suggests that the radiolytic splitting of water supports giant subsurface ecosystems of life on Earth — and could do it elsewhere, too. Scientists poke and prod at the fringes of habitability ...

Scientists poke and prod at the fringes of habitability in pursuit of life’s limits. To that end, they have tunneled kilometers below Earth’s surface, drilling outward from the bottom of mine shafts ...

Radiolysis of water may provide a continuous flux of an electron donor (molecular hydrogen) to subsurface microbial communities. We assessed the significance of this process in anoxic marine sediments ...

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When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Deep below the ground, radioactive elements disintegrate water molecules, producing ingredients ...