ERC-funded planetary microbiology
Microbes might be part of the solution. Or at least part of the accounting, which is usually where nature hides the knife.
H2 escape is not a decorative arrow.
TODO: Replace this CSS placeholder with final AQUA illustration.
Mission
AQUA investigates how microbial hydrogen oxidation can alter the availability of hydrogen for atmospheric escape. That matters because hydrogen escape is one of the routes by which planets lose water over geological time. The project links microbial metabolism, geochemical gradients, atmospheric processes, and planetary habitability without sanding off the difficult edges.
TODO: Add a precise one-sentence ERC project summary once final grant wording is approved.
01
Microbes might modulate escape fluxes before anyone gets sentimental about habitability. TODO: Replace with the confirmed AQUA hypothesis text.
02
Fieldwork goes where hydrogen, water, rock, and microbial metabolism refuse to stay in separate conceptual boxes. TODO: Add confirmed sites.
03
From microbial hydrogen oxidation to planetary water budgets, with the inconvenient middle scales left in. TODO: Add methods and models.
04
Scientists, fieldworkers, model builders, and collaborators working across microbial metabolism, geochemistry, and planetary escape. TODO: Add people.
Dispatches
A placeholder long-form dispatch for the AQUA project launch and its inconveniently coupled science.
A brief placeholder update for small project notes that should appear in lists without needing a full article.
A placeholder fieldwork dispatch for future notes from sites where hydrogen, water, rock, and microbes meet.
Join
TODO: Add openings, collaboration calls, student opportunities, and contact details for people who enjoy difficult gradients and honest uncertainty.