Anammox bacteria transform ammonia to nitrogen in fewer steps than more common bacteria, and require much less oxygen, and therefore energy, to do so.

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Bacteria evolved the necessary chemistry to "fix" nitrogen from the air, about two billion years ago.

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Plants, bugs, trees, worms, bacteria and men are mostly carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen.

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Then anaerobic bacteria take that nitrate and turn it into harmless nitrogen gas.

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These creatures, now called anammox bacteria, transform caustic and hazardous ammonium into dinitrogen, the harmless nitrogen gas that makes up 78% of the air we breathe.

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