The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Scientists have come to realize that in the soil and rocks beneath our feet there lies a vast biosphere with a global volume nearly ...

Sensor readings seemed to show that oxygen was being made on the seabed 4,000 meters (about 13,100 feet) below the surface, where no light can penetrate. The same thing happened on three subsequent ...

Oxygen, the molecule that supports intelligent life as we know it, is largely made by plants. Whether underwater or on land, they do this by photosynthesizing carbon dioxide. However, a recent study ...

Potato-sized lumps of metal on the seafloor are generating oxygen, a new study has found. Scientists previously believed that oxygen was strictly formed as a byproduct of photosynthesizing plants.

A robotic chemist working autonomously in a lab has developed an oxygen-producing catalyst from minerals found in Martian meteorites. The same procedure could one day be used to provide oxygen for ...