Climate and Environment

Explore the World From a New Lens with Nature Photography

Posted on by Riley Bell

Each year, on June 15, we celebrate Nature Photography Day. This globally recognized day was designated by the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) to embrace the value of nature and encourage the enjoyment of nature photography.

Photography helps us explore the natural world and advance conservation efforts to protect plants, nature, and wildlife both locally and globally. One of the great things about Nature Photography Day is that you can participate wherever you are, with whatever equipment you have—nature is all around us!

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Cell-Free Artificial Photosynthesis with Frog Foam

Posted on by Michele Arduengo

We owe a lot to frogs and toads. They help us welcome in spring and summer with their peeps, croaks and snores in the evenings. They serve as bioindicator species that alert us to damaged or toxic environments. And, now, they may even help us kick the fossil fuel habit through an artificial photosynthesis matrix.

Skipper sitting on a foam nest of the meadow frog. A protein in the foam nest may provide a matrix for a cell-free artificial photosynthesis system.
A foam nest on a plant. Proteins from the foam could be useful in cell-free photosynthesis.

Biofuels, based on harvesting and converting plant biomass to fuel have been touted as an alternative to nonrenewable fossil fuels. The argument for them goes something like this:  Nature has a means for converting sunlight energy to chemical energy (photosynthesis). Why not just let Nature do the work for us, and harness that power?

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