In this week’s Tech Tuesday chat with Theunis Janse van Rensburg of Bandwidth Blog, we get a bit of a biology lesson!
Investigating photosynthesis
Once again we look to nature to solve – or advance – our own technology. A breakthrough has been made as scientists have finally unpacked the final stage of a plant’s photosynthesis. This is something that we always knew about, but never really unpacked on a deeper level. With this discovery, we can potentially see a big change in generating green energy more effectively.
To listen to my chat with Theunis, Click HERE!
Scientists at the National Accelerator Laboratory, captured the elusive final missing step with the help of a high-tech X-ray laser. They captured the process of how a plant creates oxygen, and they did so in atomic detail.
The team used “extremely high-resolution images” to observe Photosystem II: a protein complex found in plants that harvest energy from sunlight, and ultimately, produce the oxygen we breathe.
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The results clearly show how nature has optimised photosynthesis and is helping scientists develop artificial photosynthetic systems that mimic photosynthesis. This work aims to harvest natural sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into hydrogen and carbon-based fuels.
To listen to my chat with Theunis, Click HERE!
The researchers believe that this discovery will help in the development of clean energy sources. “It’s really going to change the way we think about Photosystem II,” said co-author Uwe Bergmann, a scientist and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Once again nature comes through and shows us that we have not yet learned nor understood it in depth.
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What does this mean for us??
With this discovery, we can now hopefully look forward to more efficient ways to produce energy – and on a greater scale – be a lot more gentle on mother nature.
Producing green energy could potentially be a force to be reckoned with in the near future with things like Solar panels becoming an effective and efficient tool. We have always wanted to use the sun’s energy to its absolute full potential.
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