Nature's smallest factory: The Calvin cycle - Cathy Symington
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TEDEd Animation
Let’s Begin…
A hearty bowl of cereal gives you the energy to start your day, but how exactly did that energy make its way into your bowl? It all begins with photosynthesis, the process that converts the air we breathe into energizing glucose. Cathy Symington details the highly efficient second phase of photosynthesis -- called the Calvin cycle -- which converts carbon dioxide into sugar with some clever mix-and-match math.
In addition to being highly abundant in chloroplasts, Rubisco is the most abundant enzyme on the planet. What reasons can you think of to explain why this might be the case? What might this be important for?
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Meet The Creators
- Educator Cathy Symington
- Producer Darcy Vorhees
- Director Tom Beuerlein
- Narrator Addison Anderson
