How Did Plants Develop Photosynthesis?

When the last Apollo mission was on its way to the Moon four decades ago, one of the astronauts took a snapshot that is among the most famous in NASA history. It is known as the "blue marble" photograph because it shows Earth, from about 28,000 miles away, as a bright, swirling and mostly blue sphere… Over time, through the transfer of genes aided by a parasite, the absorbed bacteria became a functional part of the protist, enabling it to transform sunlight into nourishment. "The three of them made it happen," says Rutgers University evolutionary biologist Debashish Bhattacharya.