IDEAS about how sunlight powers life on Earth may be out-of-date. Two groups
of researchers have found new sources of bacterial photosynthesis in the world’s
oceans, which could alter models of global ecology.
“Authors of photosynthesis textbooks will have to eat their words,” says
biophysicist Paul Falkowski of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
“I know, because I’m one of them.”
Together, the newly found bacteria may make up more than 10 per cent of the
bacteria on the ocean surface. And while the researchers don’t think the
bacteria can “fix” atmospheric carbon dioxide, both groups say the microbes…
