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OKIsItJustMe

(19,933 posts)
Mon Jun 4, 2012, 06:23 PM Jun 2012

Snapshots of active photosynthesis

http://www.teknat.umu.se/english/about-the-faculty/news/newsdetailpage/snapshots-of-active-photosynthesis.cid191324
[font face=Serif][font size=5]Snapshots of active photosynthesis[/font]

[font size=4](2012-06-04) Working with researchers in the US and Germany, Johannes Messinger at Umeå University is opening new avenues to understand photosynthesis and create artificial photosynthesis. Using x-ray analysis, they have managed to see the structure of molecules under conditions where photosynthesis can occur, and they have also found that calcium plays a critical role in decomposing water.[/font]

[font size=3]The solar energy reaching the earth is 5,000 times greater than all energy consumption in the world. To be able to exploit this source of energy and store it would help solve humans’ more and more acute energy problems.

Two major research projects at Umeå University are devoted to developing artificial photosynthesis by imitating plants’ extremely successful way of making use of energy from the sun. Both projects (“solar fuels” and “artificial leaf”) are directed by Johannes Messinger, a professor at the Department of Chemistry, Umeå University.

To be able to create an “artificial leaf,” researchers need to study the ingenious system that plants have used for millions of years on earth. We need to answer two crucial questions: What molecules are necessary to break down water in plant photosynthesis? What is their role, that is, how do they function and when?

In collaboration with American and German colleagues (there are a total of 36 authors of the publication), Johannes Messinger has devised a tool to investigate plant photosynthesis systems while they are active. Using ultra-short x-ray flashes, they have succeeded in performing structural analyses of isolated photosynthesis molecules from plant photosystem II at room temperature. The movement of the atoms was registered for a period of 50 femtoseconds (10[font size="1"]-15[/font] seconds). The equipment used, an x-ray free-electron laser, is located at Stanford University in the US.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1204598109
http://dx.doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M112.365288
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Snapshots of active photosynthesis (Original Post) OKIsItJustMe Jun 2012 OP
Decomposing water!!!! Gotta read this. postulater Jun 2012 #1
+1 handmade34 Jun 2012 #2
Wow, the amount of new information we are gathering Curmudgeoness Jun 2012 #3
"Information doubling" OKIsItJustMe Jun 2012 #4
Yes, I remember an older professor I had Curmudgeoness Jun 2012 #5
It's exponential, doubling and redoubling OKIsItJustMe Jun 2012 #6

Curmudgeoness

(18,219 posts)
3. Wow, the amount of new information we are gathering
Mon Jun 4, 2012, 06:51 PM
Jun 2012

is mind-boggling. Although this is a great study, and I want to know more, I am glad that I am not still in college having to memorize all the steps in photosynthesis anymore!

OKIsItJustMe

(19,933 posts)
4. "Information doubling"
Tue Jun 5, 2012, 08:47 AM
Jun 2012

This is a concept I learned about around 20 years ago. Essentially, the information in any given field is doubling every so many years. (The rate varies between fields.)

As the information doubles, it overwhelms the ability of individuals to comprehend it all, so the knowledge of individuals becomes more and more specialized. Naturally, these specialists continue to expand the knowledge in their chosen specialty… and the doubling continues apace…

Curmudgeoness

(18,219 posts)
5. Yes, I remember an older professor I had
Tue Jun 5, 2012, 06:21 PM
Jun 2012

in Plant Physiology who told us that almost everything we were learning was not known when he was in college. He said that the processes that they had to memorize were so simple in comparison.....and I see that the things that I learned 20 years ago were simple in comparison. OMG.

I suppose that the idea of specializations makes more sense when I think about the accumulation of information. I wonder if the information doubling is exponential or grows at a rather steady rate.

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