Microplastics are now a ubiquitous part of our daily physical reality. These minuscule fragments of degrading plastic now suffuse our air, our soil, the food we eat and the water we drink. They’re ...

More than 3 billion years ago, on an Earth entirely covered with water, photosynthesis first evolved in ancient bacteria. In the following millions of years, those bacteria evolved into plants, ...

Alizée Malnoë ascends a spiral staircase to Myers Hall’s fourth floor “greenhouse,” one lacking windows. Just within stands metal shelving, housing trays of seedlings haloed by grow lights. She ...

With artificial photosynthesis, humankind could utilize solar energy to bind carbon dioxide and produce hydrogen. Chemists have taken this one step further: They have synthesized a stack of dyes that ...

Plants have small pores on the underside of their leaves, known as stomata. When the sun rises, these pores open and the plants absorb carbon dioxide (CO 2) from the atmosphere, which they need, in ...

Photosynthesis is the starting point for almost every food chain, sustaining most life on Earth. You would be forgiven, then, for thinking nature has perfected the art of turning sunlight into sugar.

A research team led by the University of Bern has decoded a mechanism by which an inconspicuous succulent regulates the uptake of carbon dioxide via the leaf surface so finely that it receives enough ...

Cross sections of C3 rice (left) and C4 sorghum (right) shoots. Both grain crops evolved from a common ancestor, but sorghum evolved to photosynthesize more efficiently. LA JOLLA (November 20, ...

In order for trees to grow, they need to control their water balance meticulously. A study shows how trees react to drought -- and revises previous perceptions. In order for trees to grow, they need ...