New research from Washington University in St. Louis explains the cellular processes that allow a sun-loving microbe to "eat" electricity—transferring electrons to fix carbon dioxide to fuel its growth.
Materials Science
Mar 22, 2019
3
2537
(Phys.org)—Describing how living organisms emerged from Earth's abiotic chemistry has remained a conundrum for scientists, in part because any credible explanation for such a complex process must draw from fields spanning ...
Biochemistry
Dec 13, 2012
20
0
Photosynthesis, the process by which plants and other organisms convert sunlight into chemical energy, has been a major player during the evolution of life and our planet's atmosphere. Although most of the ins and outs of ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 12, 2021
0
1633
A few specialist microbes survive conditions analogous to those of Mars' early history, reports a new publication in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Science—and this may be thanks to a broad range of adaptations. The hydrothermal ...
Astrobiology
Jan 28, 2022
0
98
Climate change may be putting cyanobacteria that are crucial to the functioning of the ocean at risk as the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases and the acidity of ocean water changes.
Environment
Apr 27, 2017
8
564
A unique housing arrangement between a specific group of tree species and a carbo-loading bacteria may determine how well tropical forests can absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to a Princeton University-based ...
Environment
Sep 15, 2013
0
0
All life on the planet relies, in one way or another, on a process called carbon fixation: the ability of plants, algae and certain bacteria to "pump" carbon dioxide (CO2) from the environment, add solar or other energy and ...
Environment
Jun 23, 2016
2
164
A team of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory developing a bioinorganic hybrid approach to artificial photosynthesis have achieved another milestone. Having generated ...
Materials Science
Aug 25, 2015
0
2774
Plants rely on a process called carbon fixation—turning carbon dioxide from the air into carbon-rich biomolecules—for their very existence. That's the whole point of photosynthesis, and a cornerstone of the vast interlocking ...
Biotechnology
Apr 29, 2022
0
251
There is still so much we don't understand about the origin of life on Earth.
Cell & Microbiology
May 4, 2024
0
119
