Hottest Fixer: Undersea-vent microbe sets nitrogen record

A spherical microbe from the weird world of hot-water ocean vents has trumped the nitrogen-processing powers of all organisms previously studied.

Like some soil microbes and bacteria living in pea plants and their relatives, the microbe known as FS406-22 turns plain nitrogen (N2) into a form that other living creatures can use, explains Mausmi P.