Nature, Published online: 29 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00199-9Methanol is metabolized into the natural gas methane by many microbes living under Earths surface, but its source has been unclear. It emerges that some bacteria convert formate molecules into methanol and transfer it to methane-metabolizing archaea. Such a metabolic transfer of methanol between microbes has not been reported before.