Purple Earth
Here is an interesting fact of how you all could have been beautifully purple like me.
In 2007, a team of geneticists at the University of Maryland suggested that early life on Earth might have been purple. Whereas plants now use chlorophyll to harness the sun’s rays, ancient microbes used retinal (a form of vitamin A) to photosynthesise. Retinal is a simpler molecule and easier to produce in a low-oxygen environment such as that of early Earth. It absorbs green light and reflects back red and violet, which would make the microbes appear purple. The team believes microbes using chlorophyll evolved to absorb those red and blue wavelengths that retinal did not use. In the end, the more efficient chlorophyll-using microbes prevailed (which is why plants are green, not purple).
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 at 10:14 am by Barry. You can leave comments below, or subscribe to our monthly news at the top of the page for more updates like these.Leave a comment
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