A few years ago, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Sasha Wagner, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, proved false what scientists had thought for years. Soot-like molecules that formed an ancient carbon pool deep in the Pacific Ocean did not, in fact, originate from wildfires on land.
![](https://news.rpi.edu/sites/default/files/styles/sixteen_by_nine_small/public/wagnerhydrothermalvents_27367.jpg?itok=p9sz2-oc)