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Re Freeman Dyson's prediction - actually we already directly convert energy from sunlight, using the chlorophyll we eat, believe it or don't. We just don't make

Re Freeman Dyson's prediction - actually we already directly convert energy from sunlight, using the chlorophyll we eat, believe it or don't. We just don't make that chlorophyll. Amazing Discovery: Plant Blood Enables Your Cells To Capture Sunlight Energy Posted on: Tuesday, May 12th 2015 http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/chlorophyll-enables-your-cells-captureuse-sunlight-energy-copernican-revolution http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/chlorophyll-enables-your-ce...

hossbeast 9y ago
That article gives off a vibe of complete nonsense.
- eesmith 9y ago
  I'll add to that. Even if humans could convert sunlight into energy as well as plants (they can't), we would only be able to generate about 15 kCal/hour. https://hplusbiopolitics.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/photosyntheti-people/ https://hplusbiopolitics.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/photosynth... . That's well less than 1/10th of what we need just for basic metabolism. Of course, we aren't covered with chloroplasts, not even close. So we're talking at best a teeny-tiny amount of what we need to live. There's very little reason for evolution to conserve these pathways[0]. Especially since we know that people can survive and be healthy on a meat-only diet in the arctic, where they are covered in clothes. This includes western Europeans who have not had any genetic adaptations for that climate or diet. [0] The photosynthetic systems must not be digested, must be transported through the blood to the whole body, make it through the cell walls to get to the mitochondria, be maintained at the right concentration, with some way to excrete the waste products.
  - gus_massa 9y ago
    Relevant [what if] xkcd: "Green Cows" https://what-if.xkcd.com/17/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/17/ It's a similar analysis, but it uses cows instead of humans.
Nomentatus 9y ago
This is what you need to pay attention, the research. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24198392 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24198392 If you're going to downvote empirical studies, please provide a relevant bibliography or citations.

hossbeast 9y ago

That article gives off a vibe of complete nonsense.

eesmith 9y ago
I'll add to that. Even if humans could convert sunlight into energy as well as plants (they can't), we would only be able to generate about 15 kCal/hour. https://hplusbiopolitics.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/photosyntheti-people/ https://hplusbiopolitics.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/photosynth... . That's well less than 1/10th of what we need just for basic metabolism. Of course, we aren't covered with chloroplasts, not even close. So we're talking at best a teeny-tiny amount of what we need to live. There's very little reason for evolution to conserve these pathways[0]. Especially since we know that people can survive and be healthy on a meat-only diet in the arctic, where they are covered in clothes. This includes western Europeans who have not had any genetic adaptations for that climate or diet. [0] The photosynthetic systems must not be digested, must be transported through the blood to the whole body, make it through the cell walls to get to the mitochondria, be maintained at the right concentration, with some way to excrete the waste products.
- gus_massa 9y ago
  Relevant [what if] xkcd: "Green Cows" https://what-if.xkcd.com/17/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/17/ It's a similar analysis, but it uses cows instead of humans.

Nomentatus 9y ago

This is what you need to pay attention, the research. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24198392 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24198392 If you're going to downvote empirical studies, please provide a relevant bibliography or citations.