If your hoover became super smart, it would not only pick up dust from your floors, but it would also suck carbon dioxide out of the air and ‘eat’ it! That's right, today we're going to talk about an organism that's a bit like this ‘super hoover’ - they're called ‘carbon capture microbes’.

With the ‘Carbon Catcher’, it is like opening a ‘green net’ made of countless tiny pores, which is so fine and powerful that it can catch and lock every strand of carbon dioxide molecules floating in the air. These microorganisms, like environmental engineers in the microcosm, have the amazing ability to convert carbon dioxide into organic matter. Under their unremitting efforts, carbon dioxide, originally regarded as the main culprit of the greenhouse effect, is broken down step by step into harmless and even beneficial compounds, some of which become the nutrients needed for the growth of plants, while others are converted into fresh oxygen, which is released back into the air.

Carbon-capturing microbes are special little fellows that can do a lot of things: they can ‘eat’ carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the air and convert the gas into something useful for themselves, such as energy or materials for building their bodies. Just as the plants in your home take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen through photosynthesis, these microorganisms do a similar job, but in a more varied and complex way. There are two main types of these microbes, photosynthetic bacteria and chemoenergetic autotrophs. Photosynthetic bacteria work on sunlight, like small green power stations, while chemoautotrophs ‘eat’ minerals and other compounds to survive in harsher environments, like ‘survival experts’.

Think of carbon capture microorganisms as the chef in the kitchen, except that their raw material is carbon dioxide from the air. This ‘chef’ will go through a series of ‘cooking’ processes to turn the carbon dioxide into ‘delicacies’ such as sugars, fats, and proteins, all of which are nutrients they need to survive and reproduce. These are the nutrients they need to survive and reproduce. Like the chef, they need the right ‘flavourings’ - such as water, minerals, sunlight or other chemical energy - to complete the ‘cooking’. to complete the ‘cooking’.

Carbon-capturing microbes not only play an important role in nature, but they could also be a ‘secret weapon’ in the future fight against climate change. Imagine putting these microorganisms on factory chimneys or planting them on rooftop gardens in cities and letting them tirelessly ‘eat’ the carbon dioxide in the air. Wouldn't that be much more clever than turning on a big fan to blow away air pollution?

Scientists are investigating how these microbes can be used to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from industry. For example, some laboratories are already exploring ways to turn carbon dioxide into usable fuels or plastics through the action of microorganisms, which not only reduces emissions but also turns waste gases into ‘treasure’. If these techniques are successful, we could see these microbes become ‘all-round workers’ in factories in the future, helping us to solve the carbon emissions problem.

Although these microbes may look small, their potential is huge. As technology advances, we may increasingly use these ‘tiny superheroes’ to help combat global climate change. Perhaps one-day carbon capturing microbes will become as common as smartphones and become an integral part of our lives.

Overall, carbon-capturing microbes give us a glimpse of the possibilities for a green future. They are quietly changing the world in their way, and all we have to do is find the best way to work with these microbes to maximise their potential. Who knows, maybe shortly, the planet's carbon emissions problem will be greatly improved by these little guys.

（Writer：Juliy）