An international team of scientists have unlocked a key piece of Earth’s evolutionary puzzle by decoding the structure of a light-harvesting “nanodevice” in one of the planet’s most ancient lineages of cyanobacteria.

The discovery, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides an unprecedented glimpse into how early life harnessed sunlight to produce oxygen—a process that transformed our planet forever.

The team, including Dr. Tanai Cardona from Queen Mary University of London, focused on Photosystem I (PSI), a molecular complex that converts light into electrical energy, purified from Anthocerotibacter panamensis —a recently discovered species representing a lineage that diverged from all other cyanobacteria roughly 3 billion years ago.

Most sunlight received by photovoltaic panels is converted to and lost as heat, increasing their temperature and deteriorating their performance. Here, the authors propose a multi-energy generation photovoltaic leaf concept with biomimetic transpiration and demonstrate much improved performance.

A new memorandum has firmed up China and Russia’s intent to lead the construction of a new lunar base to be completed by 2036, as NASA talks about scaling back its own lunar ambitions.

NRG Energy announced Monday that they plan to acquire 18 natural gas facilities across nine states, including Texas.