Systems obeying quantum mechanics are notoriously difficult to visualize, but researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed an illustration technique that displays quantum ...

We give a quick crash course on the chemistry of photosynthesis. Ohh the sunny science! The sun shines a massive amount of energy onto the Earth’s surface every day. What if people could take a cue ...

Researchers have revealed the 3D structure of lab-made light-harvesting complex II (LHCII), a key component in photosynthesis. Using cryo-electron microscopy, they found that artificial LHCII closely ...

Photosynthesis is the process that plants, algae, and even certain species of bacteria use to convert sunlight into oxygen and chemical energy stored as sugar (aka gluclose). But what are the ...

Two teams of researchers have revealed microscopic details of how oxygen is formed during photosynthesis, the process by which plants, algae and some bacteria harness sunlight to create the energy ...

Sunlight drives nearly all life on Earth, but much remains a mystery about the light-harvesting molecules on which biology depends in photosynthesis. In a new study published online June 14 in the ...

Using SLAC’s X-ray laser, researchers have finally seen the process by which nature creates the oxygen we breathe. Credit: Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Using SLAC’s X-ray laser, ...

Our insatiable appetite for energy has got us into a mess, with the burning of fossil fuels releasing greenhouse gases that are heating the atmosphere. It is enough to make you envious of plants, ...

It’s very easy to lose a single photon. That’s why it’s so impressive that photosynthetic systems rarely do. In contrast to photovoltaic cells, which currently top out at around 30 percent efficiency, ...