Why Plants Evolved to be Green

why is green the dominant color of terrerestrial plants? That's easy. Chlorophyll molecules absorb light at the red and blue ends of the spectrum. It is the middle of the spectrum (the green part) that is reflected and gives plants their characteristic color. A more efficient photosynthetic pigment would be black, absorbing all colors, soaking up all the energy of sunlight, reflecting nothing. The reflected green light of plants is wasted energy. So perhaps the real question is. Why isn't gra...

 How Photosynthesis Builds Energy Against Entropy

No law of physics is more basic than the law of entropy, the tendency of the universe to move toward disorder and death. But life bucks the tide. using available free energy wherever it can get it, and hereabouts the most abundant source of energy is sunlight. The mayflower constructs its tiny oasis of order by drawing upon a corresponding increase of disorder at the center of the Sun, where hydrogen is fused into helium. There, deep at the heart of our planet's star, is the source of the ene...

 Spring Recapitulates Evolution

Spring provides a kind of annual recapitulation of the evolution of life on Earth, an opportunity to celebrate anew the greening of the planet three and a half billion years ago by the first photosynthesizing bacteria. All life—the whole glorious parade along the path—depends upon the photosynthesizers. As spring dresses the deciduous woodlands in its Easter best, the nonphotosynthesizers get moving too. Suddenly the woods are skittering, fluttering, munching. singing. From rock-hard seed...