There are three forms of life. Eukaryotes, which include humans and all plant and animal life, and bacteria which we’re all familiar with. However the third, archaea, are another form of single-celled organisms and scientists just made a wild discovery involving these extreme creatures.
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00:00There are three forms of life on Earth, eukaryotes, which include humans and all plants and animal
00:08life, and bacteria, which we're all familiar with.
00:11However, the third, archaea, are another form of single-celled organisms, and scientists
00:16just made a wild discovery involving them.
00:18Experts found nine phyla of these organisms to have produced hydrogen gas enzymes.
00:23What's more, they found evidence that they've been doing so for billions of years.
00:26One of the study's lead authors had this to say about it.
00:29Scientists have only recently begun to think about using hydrogen as a source of energy,
00:33but archaea have been doing it for a billion years, adding that biotechnologists now have
00:37the opportunity to take inspiration from these archaea to produce hydrogen industrially.
00:42This type of process has been seen in other life forms before, however it was only relatively
00:46recently discovered eight years ago.
00:48Now it has been discovered in archaea, a type of life form known for living in extreme environments
00:53like hot springs, around volcanoes, and in deep sea vents.
00:57The researchers say this discovery could not only be useful industrially, it could also
01:01help us understand how all eukaryotes, including humans, came to be in the first place.