The tiny creature that secretly powers the planet | Penny Chisholm

TED Talks Daily

TED

Creativity, Business, Design, Inspiration, Society & Culture, Science, Technology, Education, Tech Demo, Ted Talks, Ted, Entertainment, Tedtalks

4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 2 July 2018

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Oceanographer Penny Chisholm tells the story of a tiny ocean creature you've probably never heard of: Prochlorococcus, the most abundant photosynthetic species on the planet. A marine microbe that has existed for billions of years, Prochlorococcus wasn't discovered until the mid-1980s -- but its ancient genetic code may hold clues to how we can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This TED Talk features microbial oceanographer and author Penny Chisholm, recorded live at TED
0:07.0	2018.
0:09.4	I'd like to introduce you to a tiny microorganism that you've probably never heard of.
0:15.7	Its name is Prochlorococcus, and it's really an amazing little being.
0:20.6	For one thing, its ancestors
0:22.7	change the earth in ways it made it possible for us to evolve.
0:27.6	And hidden in its genetic code is a blueprint
0:30.3	that may inspire ways to reduce our dependency on fossil fuel.
0:37.5	But the most amazing thing is that there are 3 billion, billion, billion of these tiny cells
0:43.3	on the planet, and we didn't know they existed until 35 years ago.
0:48.3	So to tell you their story, I need to first take you way back.
0:52.9	Four billion years ago,
0:54.4	when the Earth might have looked something like this.
0:57.5	There was no life on the planet,
0:59.5	there was no oxygen in the atmosphere.
1:02.2	So what happened to change that planet
1:04.7	into the one we enjoy today?
1:08.3	Teaming with life, teeming with plants and animals. Well, in a word, photosynthesis.
1:16.2	About two and a half billion years ago, some of these ancient ancestors of prochlorococcus evolved so
1:22.5	that they could use solar energy and absorb it and split water into its component parts of oxygen and hydrogen.
1:31.0	And they used the chemical energy produced to draw CO2 carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere
1:36.7	and use it to build sugars and proteins and amino acids, all the things that life is made of.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -2459 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from TED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of TED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.