We live in a solar-powered world. Photosynthesis is the process by which some organisms (notably plants and cyanobacteria) harness the energy of sunlight to power their own metabolism, in the process creating the sugars (food) which provide a source of energy for all sorts of other organisms, not to mention releasing oxygen as well. Photosynthesis is the reason our planet is the way it is, from the diversity of life to the composition of the atmosphere. In this episode, we discuss the diversity of photosynthesis and photosynthesizers, what we know about the evolutionary history of the process, and how it has profoundly changed the world.

In the news: freshwater plesiosaurs, endothermy evolution, whale shark diets, and bone-crushing dogs.

Time markers:
Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00
News: 00:08:30
Main discussion, Part 1: 00:43:30
Main discussion, Part 2: 01:45:30
Patron question: 02:31:00
Please forgive our mismatched audio in the Intro and News sections.

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The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome.
More music like this at http://ocremix.org.

Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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