In some places, the earth's interior rumbles the ground - for example, Iron Springs, outside the bustling city of Manitong Springs in central Colorado.

Every few seconds a gust of water poured out of the narrow pipes and splashed into a concrete basin, partly dyed bright orange.

"Whenever I see this color, I'm very cautious because sometimes it's not the chemical reaction that is rusted. It's biology - the whole world of unexplored and undiscovered microbes."

Henriksen uses metal files to sample microorganisms that are invisibly scattered in colorful puddles on the basin. "Just like birdwatchers keep looking for birds, I'm always looking for evidence of what we can't see - microbes are everywhere," he said.

Henrikson said that the “incredible ability of microorganisms to survive and thrive in these unusual places made him wonder if these tiny creatures would provide solutions to some of the biggest problems of humanity.

Kyndal Prahl, a former undergraduate student and current lab member at Henriksen, explained the idea is “to occupy the smallest part of the world, you can’t even see and manipulate these microorganisms for a larger purpose.”

So they and a small group of researchers have begun the smallest treasure hunt to find outstanding microorganisms that can help us avoid many confusions - which has brought them into distant and familiar places.

Microbial Alchemy

"Microorganisms are the alchemists of nature," said Braden Tierney, a microbiologist at Harvard Medical School.

"They are able to take almost any compound or chemical from anywhere in the world and turn it into something else to survive," he said. "Basically, they are turning everything we might think is inert, metal or waste into something that can be used to live."

This allows microorganisms to flourish in some of the most incredible places, such as in high pressure, super cold or truly salty places. Microorganisms that live in these challenging environments are called extreme particles.

A few years ago, Tierney began to wonder if he could somehow exploit these extraordinary microbial abilities. He said he conducted a study from a bay next to the Fengshui Island in Sicily that contained a series of shallow water volcanic vents that “just naturally spray carbon dioxide into the ocean,” he said.

Tierney thought, “Wow, I bet there are microorganisms out there that are really good at eating carbon dioxide.” So he and a small team returned to the bay with Sicilian scientists to taste the water of the microorganisms.

"We found a microorganism that is very effective in consuming carbon dioxide," he said, affectionately calling it chonkus.

"In short, it gets sinking quickly," Tierney said. This means that Chonkus absorbs more carbon dioxide and then drops to the bottom, which can be easily collected and disposed of. This makes it an ideal candidate for one day to scale up, sucking a lot of planetary warm carbon dioxide from the sky.

This discovery encourages Tierney to believe that there must be other microorganisms there doing countless, extraordinary things that humans can use.

So he and Henriksen co-founded a nonprofit called the Two Borders project to find microorganisms that could detach carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to help mitigate climate change, grow crops in hostile environments, help dying corals climb mountaineering, capture rare soil, capture rare earth metals for human use and clear dangerous waste waste sites.

Their task is simple. "We travel to microbial life around the world," Tierney said.

Hunting takes the team to coral reefs in the Red Sea, soils in the Mojave Desert, springs across Colorado, and volcanic vents in Papua New Guinea. “The unusual place is probably the most interesting place to discover different things,” Henrikson said.

In fact, Tierney said he and his team have isolated microorganisms with "extensive physiology" and are equally "unique and useful" for chonkus. These include other bacteria that can grab carbon from the air, and others that are associated with corals that appear to produce antibiotics.

The team suspected there were other useful microorganisms there, but they thought they might not have to go that far to find unusual places. They are now turning their attention to people’s homes!

One person's sludge is another person's entrepreneurship

Chris Beuret said: “You have encountered hillsides and go everywhere in my career, where he teaches building management at Colorado State University and has worked in maintenance facilities for many years, including ships in Colorado, California and the Gulf of Mexico.

Beuret said he saw countless pipe clogs and drip pots filled with viscose, which are usually accumulated by microorganisms. The characteristics of mucus vary with geography. In Florida, for example, HVAC contractor Brian Orr filled the entire bucket with "this gel-like glass." Recently, due to the change from copper to aluminum tubes, he and his team began to observe something similar to "elephant snot-a clear or white gooey, which would be very, very fast."

Henriksen first proposed the idea of ​​searching for these sludge in small corners and crevices, when he came across a paper that “had to be scared of this person, fear of scientists. The tentacles of this person have confused tentacles that keep them growing out of the shower.”

He concluded: “Shower heads, what the dishwasher grows and the weird things about hot water heaters, they’re really weird.”

They may also be extreme The environment may also force microorganisms to find ways to grab carbon from around and survive. In other words, maybe the secret thing to lower carbon dioxide levels-your roommate.

The two border projects are working with a global citizen science support platform called Citsci and are now in contact with homeowners nationwide to investigate whether their residence is interesting. They have received 120 inquiries from which 47 curious noses and beers are solicited.

"It's the idea that anyone can become a microbiologist," said Emma Lopez, a rising senior at Colorado State University who works in the Henriksen lab.

Like all samples, researchers will sequence the DNA of these microorganisms to approve organisms, search for new species, and determine whether they are useful to humans.

Krista Ryon is the operations director for two border projects, where she performed the group's genome sequencing. She said some of her colleagues are responsible for keeping billions of cells collected and grown. "Although I immediately killed the place where I opened the cells and then took the DNA out of them," she said. "But we did this to form this photo of this community in the entire sample."

From microbial discovery to deployment

However, there is still a way. Even if they can find another or two microorganisms with superpowers that humans can use, there is no guarantee that these microorganisms can use them to really help.

“What microbes are surprising in what they do,” said Lisa Stein, a climate change microbiologist at the University of Alberta. “But can we incorporate their processes into a system that can be expanded and deployed for economic competitiveness?”

For example, “Once you have a microorganism that consumes carbon, you still have to do something about it.” Even if the microorganisms can capture carbon, “carbon has to go somewhere.” There are a range of potential destinations, including mineralizing it into rock, storing it in soil or using it to produce fuel, but they are at different stages of development.

The approach adopted by the two border projects along with other groups working similarly is not completely new. Stan said scientists have been developing biologically for decades to target new microorganisms. In her opinion, it was “a lens in the dark because we have covered many of these ecosystems extensively in the past.”

But Stein acknowledges that microorganisms are constantly evolving, especially in the face of climate change. And she had never seen anyone sample in a house like this before. "Honor of them having this idea," she said. "That was very innovative." Barker agreed that the effort deserves serious consideration. “I’m glad they’re working on it,” she said. “I think all innovations involve some uncertainty that will pay off.”

Still, the best way to lower CO2 levels may not be found in your shower head, but by reducing emissions. To date, carbon capture work has proven to be energy-intensive and difficult to scale.

Back at Colorado State University, Henrikson agreed that the road from microbial discovery to widespread deployment was a long time. “We have to focus on things that can work in the real world, not just discovering creatures that are interesting for our own sake,” he said.

He entered the walk-in refrigerator, where he stored all the samples he and the team collected - from volcanic vents and mineral springs, to half the world, to people's homes with condenser tubes and freezer dripper wires. This is a living microbial library.

"I looked at the shelf of these small tubes, and every test tube I know is full of DNA or microorganisms that can do amazing things," Henrikson said. "You just have to go out and explore - go out and discover."