The biological effects of light Lights, camera ... reaction:
Charting the biological effects of light in billionths of a
second March 20, 1998 Scientists using extremely high powered
X-rays and a pulsed laser have succeeded in taking the first
"snapshots" of a photoactive protein molecule as it converts
light energy into chemical energy, a process that takes less
than one billionth of a second. The finding, reported in today's
issue of Science, provides the first direct structural evidence
of how light can be converted into chemical energy--the initial
stage of processes as different, and as fundamental, as
photosynthesis and vision. It also may suggest a powerful new
mechanism for the development of optical computers. The ability
to record this ultra-rapid conversion results from a recent,
million-fold improvement in time resolution of X-ray
measurements that can now record changes in the shape of the
working protein that occur in billionths of a second. The
experiments, only the second of their type, were p