Emily Conover writes:

For photosynthesis, one photon is all it takes.

Only a single particle of light is required to spark the first steps of the biological process that converts light into chemical energy, scientists report June 14 in Nature.

While scientists have long assumed that the reactions of photosynthesis begin upon the absorption of just one photon, that hadn’t yet been demonstrated, says physical chemist Graham Fleming, of the University of California, Berkeley. He and colleagues decided “we would just look to see was it really true that one photon was enough to start the whole thing off.” [Continue reading…]