Optica. "Glass-like shells of diatoms help turn light into energy in dim conditions." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 November 2022. <www.sciencedaily.com / releases / 2022 / 11 / 221122125309.htm>.

The study was published in Scientific Reports. Diatoms are a large group of unicellular algae with characteristic hard, lightweight, porous shells made of silicon dioxide, called frustules.

The distinctive feature of diatoms is a rigid cell wall made of a glassy substance and perforated with intricate hole ...

About 20 per cent of the oxygen we need is generated by a group of plant-like organisms called diatoms, living in the world’s oceans. That’s more than all the world’s rainforests put together.

These tiny, single-celled marine life forms have existed for at least 100 million years and are the basis for much of the life in the oceans, but they also have rigid shells that can be used to ...

In nature, however, the salinity varies widely among different species of diatoms—from 0 (diatoms can exist for some time even in distilled water) to more than 150‰, when salt deposition begins.

Scientists since the late 1990s have found only a handful of genes that influence diatom shell formation. The work with Thalassiosira pseudonana identified large, previously unknown subsets.

It’s easy for wind to pick up dried-out diatoms, but it’s not going to blow them straight out of ocean water. So how were marine diatoms ending up on the winds of 3 million years ago?

Nov 22, 2022 Glass-like shells of diatoms help turn light into energy in dim conditions (Nanowerk News) A new study has revealed how the glass-like shells of diatoms help these microscopic organisms ...