How plants bind their green pigment chlorophyll

Chlorophyll is the pigment used by all plants for photosynthesis. There are two versions, chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b. These are structurally very similar to one another but have different colors, blue-green and yellowish ...

Plants display nature's optofluidic machinery

If you place a houseplant next to a sunny window, you may notice the leaves bending toward the light. Plants don't have a brain, so the vast majority of movement is controlled by the interaction of light and fluid within ...

Marine algae implants could boost crop yields

Scientists have discovered the gene that enables marine algae to make a unique type of chlorophyll. They successfully implanted this gene in a land plant, paving the way for better crop yields on less land.

Warmer means windier on world's biggest lake

Rising water temperatures are kicking up more powerful winds on Lake Superior, with consequences for currents, biological cycles, pollution and more on the world's largest lake and its smaller brethren.

Designing a dye you can count on

Natural substances such as chlorophyll and the heme pigment of red blood cells contain colorful molecules known as porphyrins. They owe their exceptional visual characteristics to a ‘macrocyclic’ chemical structure ...

A small protein in bacteria overlooked up to now

The biological process of photosynthesis is found at the beginning of nearly all food chains. It produces oxygen to breathe and provides the energetic foundation for using biotechnological processes to synthesize biofuels ...

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