Tight-Knit Microbes Live Together to Make a Vital Nutrient

Nitrogen is fundamental to all life on Earth. Organisms use it to make amino acids and nucleic acids — the building blocks of proteins and DNA — among other vital molecules. Luckily, four-fifths of the atmosphere is nitrogen. Unluckily, in gaseous form it is inert and biologically unavailable: Every nitrogen atom is locked to another with a triple bond, which takes an extraordinary amount of…

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