"Instead of bubbling the gases within the fluids before the reaction, the main innovation of the new reactor is that the fluids are driven by the gases themselves, so there is very little chance for them to escape," Hudson said.

The researchers used their design to combine hydrogen with CO2 to produce an organic molecule called formic acid (HCOOH). This synthetic process resembles the only known CO2-fixation pathway that does not require a supply of energy overall, called the Wood-Ljungdahl acetyl-CoA pathway. In turn, this process resembles reactions that might have taken place in ancient oceanic hydrothermal vents.

"The consequences extend far beyond our own biosphere," Sojo said. "Similar hydrothermal systems might exist today elsewhere in the solar system, most noticeably in Enceladus and Europa -- moons of Saturn and Jupiter, respectively -- and so predictably in other water-rocky worlds throughout the universe.