We all know how plants generate oxygen from light, water, and CO2 but scientists have now found that metal nodules on the ocean floor are producing oxygen in pitch-black darkness, with zero help from living organisms. This mind-blowing discovery, published in Nature Geoscience, could potentially flip our understanding of life’s origins.

“Where could aerobic (life that requires oxygen) have begun?” wonders Andrew Sweetman, the study’s lead author and a professor of Seafloor Ecology at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) in Oban, UK. The marine scientists stumbled upon this ‘dark oxygen’ phenomenon by sheer accident while exploring the seabed over 13,000 feet down between Mexico and Hawaii. They were there to study the effects of mining metal nuggets such as cobalt, nickel, and rare earth metals essential for electronic gadgets.