Photosynthesis rocks my world!

I'm teaching Plant Biology in summer school and I've been bombarding my students with complicated metabolic pathways such as photosynthesis and cellular respiration. It's so easy to get caught up in the details and new terminology - so I was inspired to bring it back to the basics during the July 14th show! (click here for podcast) 

We worked our way musically through the simplified chemical reaction of photosynthesis, beginning with carbon dioxide, water, and light - the necessary ingredients for the process. By the end of the show, we had released oxygen as a byproduct and made sugars, which store chemical energy for later use - whether it be used by the plant or the organisms that eat the plant.

A quick YouTube search led me to some creative songs about photosynthesis - including this one that student, David Levitz set to Britney Spears for extra credit in his Biology class!

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Artists featured included: Animal Collective, matt pond PA, The Olivia Tremor Control, The Flaming Lips, Big in Japan, Maoi, Feist, Richard Shindell, Akron/Famiy, Fleet Foxes, TV on the Radio, Bloc Party, Frou Frou, Sia, Darko, The Starlight Mints, and Frank Turner.