The actual publication is available here: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw9065
The present study challenges the traditional view that the *respiration of
organic carbon to CO2* is an exclusively intracellular process, revealing that
*organic compound respiration can occur spontaneously in an extracellular
context in soils*.
Compare to this paper from 2003:
https://sci-hub.kvnp.top/10.1016/s0360-1285(03)00042-x
Coal oxidation at low temperatures is the major heat source responsible for
the self-heating and spontaneous combustion of coal and is an important source
of greenhouse gas emissions. This review focuses on the chemical reactions
occurring during low-temperature oxidation of coal. Current understanding
indicates that this process involves consumption of O2, formation of solid
oxygenated complexes, thermal decomposition of solid oxygenated complexes and
generation of gaseous oxidation products. Parameters, such as mass change,
heat release, oxygen consumption, and formation of oxidation products in the
gas or solid phase, have been used to qualitatively and quantitatively
describe the oxidation process. Reaction mechanisms have been proposed to
explain the characteristics of consumption of O2, and formation of oxidation
products in the gas and solid phases. Various kinetic models have also been
developed to describe the rate of oxygen consumption and the rates of
formation of gaseous oxidation products in terms of the rate parameters of the
relevant reactions, oxidation time, temperature, and initial concentration of
oxygen in the oxidising medium.