From Photosynthesis Basics to Renewable Energy Breakthrough

[jpak]

http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=46533

About 3.2 billion years ago, primitive bacteria developed a way to harness sunlight to split water molecules into protons, electrons and oxygen, the cornerstone of photosynthesis that led to atmospheric oxygen and more complex forms of life -- in other words, the world and life as we know it.

Recently, an international team led by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have taken a major step toward understanding this process. Their work, detailed in the November 3, 2006, issue of the journal Science, could help researchers synthesize molecules that mimic this catalyst, which is a central focus in the push to develop renewable energy technologies.

The team, which includes scientists from Germany's Technical and Free Universities in Berlin, the Max Planck Institute in Muelheim and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, used an innovative combination of x-ray spectroscopy and protein crystallography to yield the highest-resolution structures yet of the metal catalyst.

The metal catalyst resides in a large protein complex, called photosystem II, found in plants, green algae and cyanobacteria. The system drives one of nature's most efficient oxidizing reactions by using light energy to split water into oxygen, protons and electrons.

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[phantom power]

1. photosynthesis is the inverse of oxidation, isn't it?

[EST]

2. My first thought, even before reading the whole article.

Sloppy reporting, probably, as well as a lack of proofreading by knowledgeable people.