Summary:
- The extreme pressure at the bottom of the ocean, up to 15,000 pounds per square inch, is supporting a diverse ecosystem of deep-sea life.
- Researchers found that this high pressure allows certain microbes to thrive by converting chemicals like hydrogen and methane into energy, which then supports other deep-sea organisms.
- This discovery challenges the previous understanding that the immense pressure at the ocean floor would be too extreme to support much life, and it reveals new ways that deep-sea ecosystems can be sustained.