SEP 27, 2004 - Life is a Gas may just be the cure to what ails the human species, on a lot of different levels. For one thing, if the research described in this online article (originally published by the National Academy of Sciences) bears fruit, there may be vast oceans of underground methane just waiting to power civilization into the future. For another thing, the very idea that humongous subterranean hydrocarbon deposits have been part of Earth from creation instead of being the products of the decay of organic matter stands prevailing scientific theory on its head. Which is just the kind of thing a civilization needs now and then. Think continental drift, which was a crazy notion fifty years ago . . . or muse on astrology, which is still considered a crazy notion in many quarters.
