Photosynthesis
14 May, 2020
570 Biology
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss photosynthesis, the process by which green plants and many other organisms use sunlight to synthesise organic molecules. Photosynthesis arose very early in evolutionary history and has been a crucial driver of life on Earth. In addition to providing most of the food consumed by organisms on the planet, it is also responsible for maintaining atmospheric oxygen levels, and is thus almost certainly the most important chemical process ever discovered.
→ Listen on BBC Sounds website
Guests
- Nick Lane
5 episodes
Reader in Evolutionary Biochemistry at University College London - Sandra Knapp
2 episodes
Botanist at the Natural History Museum -
John Allen No other episodes
Professor of Biochemistry at Queen Mary, University of London
Reading list
-
The Emerald Planet: How Plants Changed Earth's History
David Beerling (Oxford University Press, 2008) Google Books → -
Molecular Mechanisms of Photosynthesis
Robert E. Blankenship (Wiley-Blackwell, 2014) Google Books → -
Discoveries in Photosynthesis
Govindjee, J. T. Beatty, H. Gest, J. F. Allen (eds.) (Springer, 2005) Google Books → -
Life on a Young Planet: The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth
Andrew H. Knoll (Princeton University Press, 2004) Google Books → -
Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World
Nick Lane (Oxford University Press, 2003) Google Books → -
Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution
Nick Lane (Profile Books, 2010) Google Books → -
Nature's Palette: The Science of Plant Color
David Lee (University of Chicago Press, 2008) Google Books → -
Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet
Oliver Morton (Fourth Estate, 2009) Google Books → -
Revolutions that Made the Planet
Tim Lenton and Andrew Watson (Oxford University Press, 2011)
Related episodes
-
Plankton
5 Oct, 2023 570 Biology -
Carbon
15 Jun, 2006 540 Chemistry -
The Origins of Life
23 Sep, 2004 570 Biology -
Fungi
15 Feb, 2018 570 Biology -
Mitochondria
1 Jun, 2023 570 Biology -
Nuclear Fusion
30 Oct, 2014 530 Physics -
The Proton
26 Apr, 2018 530 Physics -
The Cell
13 Sep, 2012 570 Biology -
Water
28 Mar, 2013 540 Chemistry -
Macromolecules
29 Dec, 2011 570 Biology
Programme ID: b0435jyv
Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0435jyv
Auto-category: 570 (Biology)
Hello (First sentence from this episode)
Hello. Three and a half billion years ago, this planet was a hostile and barren place.