Learning how nature splits water

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This image portrays the water-splitting catalytic cycle with the Mn4Ca structure in the middle.
This image portrays the water-splitting catalytic cycle with the Mn4Ca structure in the middle.

About 3.2 billion years ago, primitive bacteria developed a way to harness sunlight to split water molecules into protons, electrons and oxygen, the cornerstone of photosynthesis that led to atmospheric oxygen and more complex forms of life -- in other words, the world and life as we know it.


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