Eating the sun the everyday miracle of how plants power the planet

‘Eating the Sun’ is the story of the discovery of a miracle: the source of life itself. From the intricacies of its molecular processes to the beauty of the nature that it supports, ‘Eating the Sun’ is a wondering tribute to the extraordinary process that has allowed plants to power the earth for billions of years. Photosynthesis is the most mundane of miracles. It surrounds us in our gardens and parks and countryside; even our cityscapes are shot through with trees. It makes nature green – the signature of the pigments with which plants harvest the sun; wherever nature offers us greenery, the molecular machinery of photosynthesis is making oxygen, energy and organic matter from the raw material of sunlight, water and carbon dioxide. We rarely give the green machinery that brings about this transformation much thought, and few of us understand its beautifully honed mechanisms. But we are dimly aware that those photosynthetic mechanisms are the basis of our lives twice over: the ultimate source of all our food and the ultimate source of every breath we take. ‘Eating the Sun’ will foster and enrich that awareness. And by connecting aspects of photosynthesis that are vital to our lives, to the crucial role its molecular mechanisms have played through more than two billion years of the earth's history, ‘Eating the Sun’ will change the way the reader sees the world. "Photosynthesis is the most mundane of miracles. It surrounds us in our gardens, parks and countryside; even our cityscapes are shot through with trees and window boxes. Wherever nature offers us greenery, the molecular machinery of photosynthesis is making oxygen, energy and living matter from the raw material of sunlight, water and carbon dioxide." "Few of us understand its beautifully honed mechanisms, or the profound role that the carbon cycle it drives has played in the history of the earth. Eating the Sun will foster and enrich that awareness. It connects the inspiring stories of the scientists who have fathomed the depths of photosynthesis to the crucial role the molecular mechanisms they discovered have played out in more than two billion years."--Jacket 'Eating the Sun' is the story of the discovery of a miracle: the source of life itself. This book explains how biologists discovered photosynthesis and through it found a new understanding of the history of our planet and how life is inconceivable without it. Traces the science of photosysthesis and its relevance in both history and the modern world, exploring the phenomenon's key role in confronting today's environmental challenges.