IT'S LIKE NATURE DOESN'T EVEN NOTICE US:

Bacteria devoured methane from gulf oil spill (Eryn Brown, 106/11, Los Angeles Times)

Scientists investigating the fate of the oil and natural gas that spewed into the Gulf of Mexico during last year's Deepwater Horizon spill established quickly that bacteria had consumed much of the propane and ethane that leaked from the well.

Now they have found that bacteria also made short order of the most abundant hydrocarbon released during the spill — methane — likely consuming most of the 200,000 metric tons the well ejected within 120 days of the onset of the leak from the BP well, according to research published Thursday in the journal Science.