In 2022, off the Italian island of Vulcano, where carbon dioxide bubbles up from volcanic vents on the seabed, a 2FP team found a novel cyanobacterium - an aquatic organism able to make its own food - they say can absorb CO2 more efficiently than any other known microbe.
Volunteers who sign up to the "Extremophile Campaign" will be asked to take photos of any microbial growth around their home - "think slime, crusty mats, stringy growth," the project's website prompts - and answer questions about what they see.
"Unusual colors, smells, textures, and other data" can help scientists identify areas of interest, Tierney said. If they want to explore anything further, they will send a DNA sampling kit for volunteers to use and mail back to them. These results will be added to an open-sourced database of extremophile microbes.
This sounds like a novel approach to harvest what nature does better than humans. Wonder how likely it is though to reliably probe these areas without contamination by the volunteers... Could be a fun thing to do with my son were we living in the US.