Photosynthesis

For decades, scientists assumed that life on Earth emerged through a chain of highly improbable flukes. But a new theory suggests it may have instead arrived just in time.

A new NASA-led study suggests that photosynthetic microbes could thrive in hidden bubbles of meltwater below patches of ice on Mars. This could be one of the easiest places to search for extraterrestrial life "anywhere in the universe," the team says.

Plants found to photosynthesize 160 feet beneath the surface of the Arctic Ocean offer tantalizing prospects for the future.

Fossils from Australia provide the first direct evidence that photosynthesis was happening at least 1.75 billion years ago.

This frilly slug lives in the mangroves of southeastern Asia and Australia, lounging in shallow pools of water and scraping up algae from which it gains the ability to photosynthesize.

The animations highlight emissions from different human and natural sources, with the main contribution coming from the burning of fossil fuels.

For the first time, researchers have observed how just one particle of light can trigger photosynthesis in bacteria — finally revealing the first step of the crucial process.

Researchers have serendipitously discovered that a key step in photosynthesis can occur much earlier in the process than previously believed.