Credit: © Olivier Le Moal / stock.adobe.com
Well, what do you make of this:
When sunlight shining on a leaf changes rapidly, plants must protect themselves from the ensuing sudden surges of solar energy. To cope with these changes, photosynthetic organisms have developed numerous tactics. Scientists have been unable, however, to identify the underlying design principle. A physicist has now constructed a model that reproduces a general feature of photosynthetic light harvesting, observed across many photosynthetic organisms…
“Our model shows that by absorbing only very specific colors of light, photosynthetic organisms may automatically protect themselves against sudden changes — or ‘noise’ — in solar energy, resulting in remarkably efficient power conversion,” said Gabor, an associate professor of physics and astronomy, who led the study appearing today in the journal Science. “Green plants appear green and purple bacteria appear purple because only specific regions of the spectrum from which they absorb are suited for protection against rapidly changing solar energy.”
University of Californian- Riverside, “Why are plants green?” at ScienceDaily
Paper. (paywall)
Note: It’s not been reported that any careers were harmed as a result of this discussion.