[georgecmu]

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*.

On the surface, it looks like they rediscovered that oxidation of organic / carbonaceous compounds occurs at low temperatures independently of presence of living organisms. The real contribution of the paper would be in elucidation of the specific mechanisms of oxidation of these organic compounds (e.g. via abiotic catalysis).

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.